The Fountainhead
|
DVD Cover Information Actor: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey Director: King Vidor Brand: Warner Brothers DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0 Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1 Running Time: 112 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-11-07 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Model: 65716 Studio: Warner Home Video Product features:
|
| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $5.92 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $6.39 | ||
| Collectible | Collectible Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $25.00 |
Your purchase is protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Amazon.com automatically transfers your payment to the merchant so you'll never need to pay a merchant directly. Amazon.com A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee covers both the delivery of your item and its condition upon receipt.
Movie Reviews of The Fountainhead
Movie Review: High Noon for Grandpa Cooper
Summary: 1 Stars
Super star Gary Cooper was one year shy of the half-century mark when he lobbied, and to the horror of many, was awarded one of the most coveted male roles in movie history: Howard Roark. As described in Ayn Rand's still exhilirating masterpiece, The Fountainhead, Roark was a l9/20-year-old brilliant social rebel who battled society to live the way he wanted to and to build buildings the way he designed them. He was a dynamic, feisty, fearless rebel who moved and talked like the genius he was.
The book starts off with Roark being kicked out of college because he refused to compromise his dreams of becoming not a good architect, but a great one.
When Warner Brothers announced it had brought the movie rights to Ayn Rand's landmark novel, many in the film colony saw the Howard Roark part as a shoo-in for rebel-in-residence John Garfield. Charismatic, intense, gorgeous, a brillant artist, he had already created a niche in movies with his bad boy, smart, edgy roles,like the one in the Joan Crawford hit, "Humoresque" where he proved unforgettable as the troubled, snarling master violinist, Paul Boray.
Cooper's image in private and on screen was that of a laconic, good-natured boy-next-door who might have parked his horse outside. Very rarely did he move or talk fast and his style was slow-moving and sleepy. In his role of Howard Roark he looks like the grandfather of the young rebel. Probably one of the most excruitiating scenes on film is Roark's big courtroom speech. Cooper resembles an old man, or an ageing cowpoke,whose wandered onto the wrong set, reading text off a teleprompter and at times his eyes bug out at some of the really high tone philosophy that author Ayn Rand wrote.
Cooper was later to say that he understood nothing aboutt the script or his role. Director King Vidor was later to write that he was appalled by the casting because equally badly cast was Patricia Neal in the juicy role of Roark's love interest--icy, brilliant, surreal Dominique Francon. Neal was a pretty, fresh-faced ingenue who photographed well.
Again, many in the film colony thought Ida Lupino was the perfect actress for the role. She was considered the "poor man's Bette Davis" and had turned in extraordinary performances in "They Drive By Night" and "The Hard Way." Rand said she wrote the Dominique Francon character and later the Dagney Taggart personae in "Atlas Shrugged" with Greta Garbo in mind. But Garbo had already quit movies. Barbara Stanwyck was so obsessed with starring in The Fountainhead that she gave studio mogul, Jack Warner a copy of the book with a note saying she "was born" to play Dominique Francon.
Cooper can't be entirely faulted for his fatal miscasting. Ayn Rand actually pushed for him to be cast. This was an era when the tiny circle of super stars truly believed their own immortality. Stars like Cooper were brainwashed to think "their fans" would love them in any role. Because the Howard Roark role was considered "hot," every male star lobbied for it. Cooper probably was elated and thrilled to have snatched this prize from under the noses of his cohorts. Unfortunately, his hideous mistake and all of those who supported his casting will live forever on DVD and Turner Classic Movies.