The Fountainhead
by King Vidor
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Actor: Gary Cooper, Kent Smith, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Robert DouglasDirector: King Vidor
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Robert Burks
Editor: David Weisbart
Producer: Henry Blanke
Writer: Ayn Rand
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Fountainhead
DVD Review: Be less lazy and read the book.
Summary: 3 Stars
Don't get me wrong, the movie is enjoyable but one must keep it in its proper historical perspective. But the movie serves better as a supplement to the novel.DVD Review: Fountainhead the movie, a compromise of the individual with the collective
Summary: 5 Stars
Fountainhead, the 1949 movie, is based on the 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. The theme of individualism as the key to man's progress is made in the historical setting of the twenties and thirties when collectivism (what we may now call socialism) appeared to be threatening individualism.
Though the setting is now a bit dated, the theme of individualism and the right to express it versus compromise of principle to please an unappreciative public and reap more immediate financial reward will still resonate with many today.
The book itself was an example of the theme of uncompromising individualism. It had difficulties being published and when it was, it was not well advertised. It did not appeal to the masses. It became popular by word of mouth through networks of people who were able to appreciate its themes. The book's manner of success mirrors the success of the work of the book's hero, Howard Roarke, an architect, whose work was also recognized by those with the intellectual understanding to appreciate it.
But the film is a compromise of these principles. A quick glimpse of the cover demonstrates that the movie was marketed as a romance. Many of the more graphical sexual encounters in the book are toned down. A rape becomes a kiss. A marriage that ends in a divorce becomes an engagement that is broken. Discussions of atheism are deleted. Reference to a 'temple to humanity' is eliminated and its role in the plot is combined into another building.
For the absolute individualist, as was the hero of the book, such compromises by the author, who also wrote the screenplay, seems out of character. The book's hero speaks of the integrity of a building and describes how building facades designed to appeal to the public are a compromise to a buiding's integrity. One can make the same case with respect to a book and this film. We might ask if the book's integrity was compromised in the facades that were incorporated into the movie that allowed it to become more acceptable to the viewing public.
Yet, for those who haven't read the book, who are not aware of these compromises of integrity, the themes of individualism, work for the sake of work with uncompromising quality and integrity, and the mediocrity that results from collectivism, will still be communicated.
In the movie, Patricia Neal does an excellent job as Dominique, the heroine, who understands the themes of quality and individualism. Dominique is so pained by the inability of the masses to see these qualilties that she purposefully puts herself into situations to avoid contact with the people who exhibit these admirable qualities. She does so because she does not want to see the persons and their work hurt by the unseeing and inappreciative masses.
The quality people she tries to avoid also include the hero, an architect, Howard Roarke, played by Gary Cooper in the movie. A complicated love triangle ensues between Roarke, Dominique, and Wynand, a newspaper editor who can see the truth but makes his living by marketing Enquirer type journalism to the masses. Though romance is involved, it is a subordinate theme of the individual (uncompromising quality and integrity) versus the collective (mediocrity and mass misery).
Gary Cooper plays the brilliant and uncompromising individualist and artistic architect, Howard Roarke. Cooper is less convincing in his role than is Patricia Neal as Dominique. But Cooper, like Patricia Neal, was a big name star at the time and certainly helped ticket sales for the movie.
Overall the movie is an example of what the book appears to declare to be wrong with the world. It is a product of the collective. In this case that collective includes the movie producers in addition to the individual author and screenwriter. The movie compromises the integrity of the original book so that the movie can be more markettable to the masses. This is evident in its marketting, skipping over more controversial social topics, and using a condensed plot to maintain the focus of an audience expected to have a limited attention span.
If Ayn Rand had the integrity of her character, Howard Roarke, she would have planted explosives in the movie studio production lab and destroyed the original master film.
For those who are a fan of the book, I still suggest viewing the movie, but with caution. One must be willing to compromise the individual efforts of Ayn Rand with the collective influence of the movie industry in order to view this movie.
For those who have not read the book, the movie is still a good watch and still engages the questions of individualism and collectivism. I suspect that those who find personal resonance with the themes in the movie will also want to read the book. If the movie viewer does read the book, then the movie did some good, and may have redeemed itself.
DVD Review: Campy as Rocky Horror Picture Show, LOL Funny
Summary: 1 Stars
Wow, this movie was so, so very campy. Too think that dialogue this bad actually exists is truly amazing. It only makes you wonder what people ever saw in Ayn Rand in the first place. I guess those were much simpler times. I mean, compare the objectivism of Ayn Rand with a philosopher of today like Eckart Tolle. It's like comparing black and white to color. It is nice to know that we have evolved in our notions and beliefs over the past 60 years. Now back to the movie. Gary Cooper walks through this movie like he's a zombie. Patricia Neal over acts as Dominic so badly it's painful. The other characters are so over the top, omg. The music score by Max Steiner famous for Gone with the Wind is pretty good however. The set design was also pretty cool to behold. All in all, this is a very overrated movie. I mean, even Rotten Tomatoes gave it I think an 82%. I would have given it a 45% and most of that for the musical score, set design, and direction by King Vidor. See it if you want some High Camp in your life and some real over the top melodrama of days gone by. Otherwise, skip it and go rent Citizen Kane.DVD Review: Liked the book - glad I read it before I watched the movie
Summary: 3 Stars
I recently read "The Fountainhead" and was curious as to how it would be made into a movie. I am also a Gary Cooper fan and wondered how he would play the main character.
The movie comes across as a series of monologues rather than good dialogue. The characters appear to be talking at each other rather than with each other. The actors do their best with the material, but unless you've read the book it would be difficult to follow what's happening on the film.
Not recommended for anyone who has not read the book. I found the movie to be a nice diversion, but before you spend money on the movie spend money on the book.
Ayn Rand's forte is philosophy, not screenwriting.
DVD Review: A movie with a true message
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this to be an excellent presentation of the book Fountainhead. It is a great movie a movie that has meaning in the world of today, a message that has meaning for all people of all time. An individual that can remain true to his own creativity and stand against those who seek only to be part of the pack. Ayn Rnad's Howard Roark played by Gary Cooper is an inspiration to all - or should be.
Description of The Fountainhead
Based on the novel by philosopher Ayn Rand, this is the story of architect Howard Roark. An idealist, Roark believes he can balance his values with the needs of society. His mentor disagrees - encouraging him to compromise his integrity rather than suffer for his artistic goals.Exhibiting a darker edge to his hero persona, the strapping Gary Cooper has the (Frank Lloyd) Wright stuff as architect Harold Roark, a "fool visionary" who refuses to conform his artistic ideas to popular taste. His inflexibility makes enemies out of a tabloid architecture critic and a tycoon (Raymond Massey), who proclaims, "All men can be bought... there are no men of integrity." Keating (Kent Smith), a former classmate, urges Roark to take "the middle of the road so it's sure to please everybody." But Roark will not compromise, and when one of his building designs is radically altered without his consent, he resorts to drastic measures. Adapted for the screen by Ayn Rand from her towering and controversial bestseller, The Fountainhead is about as subtle as that phallic drill Roark wields so impressively, which catches the frenzied eye of the formidable Dominique Francon (Patricia Neal in her film debut). She recognizes Roark's nobility, but fears he has no chance "in a world where beauty, genius and greatness have no chance." Rand did little to dilute her polemics for the screen, resulting in melodramatic scenes that border on high camp, such as Roark and Francon's rather sexually charged discussion about limestone. Rand practiced what she preached. According to a bonus featurette about the making of the film, she refused to trim Roark's then-unprecedented six-minute courtroom speech in which he defends his actions. Even for those who don't adhere to her philosophy, The Fountainhead does offer something rarely seen on screens these days, a man of unshakable principles. And Hollywood could sure note Rand's object lesson about the perils of mediocrity and catering to "the mob." For Cooper fans, The Fountainhead is an essential addition to your DVD library. --Donald Liebenson
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