1974 School Magazine

THE GREAT GA.TSEY COMEBACK "The Great Gatsby", supposedly "the greatest film of the decade", has begun yet another series of gimmicks in all commercial fields ranging from cookingware to haircuts, fashions, stationery and whisky. AII have been triggered by the 1974 film despite the fact that there were already two earlier versions - a 1926 silent film and a 1949 version starring Alan Ladd. But even so, Para- mount Pictures decided to try to make another "blockbuster" as successful as their two previous box-office hits "Love Story" and "The God- father". To achieve this, they paid thousands of dollars to various manufacturers to "Gatsbyize" their products. Before the release date date they also distributed stills of the film to stores all over the world to attract the attention of customers. In "Gatsbyizing" products, manufacturers hoped to sell because of the expected enormous success of the film. The makers of the film hoped that the advertising would force people to think that they must go to see what it was all about. Penguin Books re-issued its paperback edition of the book in a new covet showing Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, thus attracting many who would not otherwise have a Fitzgerald novel. Another factor intended to help the film's success was the issue of the film's sound-track, two records of jazz and nostalgic songs of the 1920's. There have, of course, been many other recent films that go back to the Twenties. "The Godfather" is one and "Bonnie and Clvde" is another. Others, set a little later, includ" "Th. Sing", "Paper Moon", and "The Way We Were." One wonders why the sudden rush of nostalgia? The world is looking backwards rather than forwards and it seems that the current fashion is to go back at least fifty years. Is this because of the opulence of the era and its atmosphere of a fairy-tale when compared with today's economic crises? Previous box-office hits havb usually been made from novels that are best-seilers, but "Gatsby" is more important than that, It is about a supposed bootlegger,.Jay Gatsby, who uses his money to revive a wartime romance with the rich Daisy Buchanan who has, in the meantime, married someone else because, as she says, she was tired of waiting. From then on, the book tells of the tragedy which follows when he seeks to carry ouf his dream of getting Daisy for himself. It is a perfect picture of the irresponsibility of some wealthy people of the jazz age. Some have said that the film is too long while others have said it does not grip their emotions. To me it was successful because it followed Fitz- geraid's original story very carefully. Even if, after all the advertising, the public did not take the bait quite. as eagerly as had been expected, it is doing very well in the world's cinemas. Even if you do not enjoy its plot, the film is worth seeing for the lavish settings alone. Sally Jane Munro IVC

Belinda Patey, IIIC

Fiona Reath, VID

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