The Great Gatsby (A&E)

The Great Gatsby (A&E)
by Robert Markowitz

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DVD details

Actor: Francie Swift, Martin Donovan, Mira Sorvino, Paul Rudd, Toby Stephens
Director: Robert Markowitz
Brand: A&E
Producer: Antony Root
Producer: Craig McNeil
Producer: David Roessell
Producer: Delia Fine
Producer: Jane Tanyer
Writer: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Writer: John McLaughlin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video

DVD Reviews of The Great Gatsby (A&E)

DVD Review: Not a bad movie!
Summary: 4 Stars

I've bought the 1974 version and was impressed by it. The 1974 version provided us with a perspective which is similar with the book. However, this 2000 version offered a different perspective to see the past of Gatsby and Daisy. It has more details about Gatsby and Daisy's love in the past which is origin from the movie director I think. In addition, this movie has more description of Carriway's relationship with Jordan. It's a fresh way to comprehend the book. Worthy of trying.

DVD Review: Awesome movie!
Summary: 5 Stars

I liked this movie very much! I saw the original first and was recommended to check out this version. I like this one much better than the original. Highly recommend it!

DVD Review: The Great Failure...
Summary: 1 Stars

I purchased this film after seeing Toby Stephens' excellent performance in the 2006 adaptation of Jane Eyre. He oozed charisma and owned the lead role... I have seen him in other films since then, and realize that he is a versatile and proficient actor. So, what happened here?!

First of all, this was a TGG adaptation on a shoe string budget... However, since opulence played such a major part in the story written by FSF, not having it present in the film was equivalent to cutting out a lead character.

Secondly, there was zero chemistry between the leads. Stephens' performance was exhausting, as if he were being kept on a tight leash by the director. I could almost hear the guy giving TS a cue when to flash a smile, when to drop another labourious "old sport" phraze (which had me in a fully homicidal mode after the third utterance). Most actors, including the Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino, gave equally poor, high school level performances (no offence to high schoolers intended...). I felt genuinely embarrased for everyone involved...There is more, but....who cares? The makers didn't...

Verdict: I want my money back!

DVD Review: intriguing failure
Summary: 1 Stars

This is a fascinating example of how a movie adaptation can be almost excessively faithful to a book -- transcribing dialogue line for line, including voice-over narration -- and still get the details and nuances almost entirely wrong. The diversity of the novel's social world has been completely flattened out: everybody talks the same, regardless of whether they're from Kentucky, Minneapolis, Chicago, or Queens. Daisy's voice is flat and whiny, with no enticing lilt and sparkle. The costumes are frumpy, especially Daisy's -- Mira Sorvino has been beautiful and sexy in other roles, but in this one she looks like a gawky teenager wearing shapeless cotton dresses and giant unflattering hats. (In the flashbacks, she looks like Rachel on Friends!) The relative ages are all messed up... Tom (30) is supposed to be significantly older than Daisy (23), and Tom's mistress Myrtle is supposed to be significantly older than he is (in her mid-30s).

One thing that bothered me is that the film softened Tom's character significantly. Admittedly, Martin Donovan is a great actor who probably couldn't help making his character sympathetic and nuanced. But the whole plot turns on Tom being an "alpha male," physically domineering and harsh - competitive and contemptuous with men, and instinctively controlling with women. Donovan gets the contempt, but he's too slim and articulate, and he lacks "hulking brute" sex appeal, and he's much too affectionate/respectful with women. I couldn't believe he APOLOGIZED to Myrtle after bloodying her nose -- in the book he deliberately BREAKS her nose (with one blow of his hand) as a punishment for talking back, and then ignores her wails of pain and everyone else freaking out. It's a grim scene and should show his callousness and controlling nature. Instead the movie makes it a twisted love scene, with him striking out, then apologizing, saying he didn't mean it and kissing her. Absurd.

The movie also makes a misguided attempt to turn Daisy - shallow, "careless," reckless, life-wrecking Daisy - into a sympathetic heroine. It sets up a parallel between Gatsby's 5-year longing and Daisy's... makes it look like she has been missing him and pining for him all through her marriage. But in the book, unhappiness has made her "sophisticated" and cynical, not wistful and mopey. The movie tries to give her a heart and a soul, which turns the whole story into a goopy "star-crossed lovers" Lifetime romance instead of the much darker and more ironic fable in the book.

DVD Review: Winning features are the Fitzgerald bio and his narrative text in movie
Summary: 4 Stars

Pros and cons of the 2000 (UK, 2001 US) A&E version of The Great Gatsby have been extensively discussed. Suffice it to say, I value it because, unlike the 1974 movie, the 2000 one has Nick extensively voicing Fitzgerald's (1896-1940) beautiful prose.
However, the real winner on the 2000 Gatsby DVD is the extra, namely, the A&E biography: F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great American Dreamer (1997). Narrated by Edward Herrmann, it is in 4:3 aspect and has a TT0:44:35. This A&E bio was previously available separately for $25 list but is now out of print.

Description of The Great Gatsby (A&E)

Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 01/30/2001 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Nr

Boy loses girl, boy wins her back, boy loses her again and is killed in his pool. F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic Jazz Age tragedy once again makes a somewhat rocky transition from page to screen in this A&E production starring Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino as the feckless Daisy. This version has Paul Rudd (the stepbrother who got the girl in Clueless) doing the honors as narrator Nick, who reintroduces his married cousin to his lavish-party-throwing neighbor Gatsby. Toby Stephens captures the heartbreaking single-mindedness of Gatsby, although not once does the phrase "old sport" seem to fall naturally from his lips. Director Robert Markowitz uses flashbacks of Daisy and Gatsby's prewar courtship in an attempt to explain their reckless relationship, but they do little more than slow the pace of an already leisurely 93 minutes. The costumes and sets are opulent, however, and Montreal substitutes nicely for Long Island. --Kimberly Heinrichs

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