Great Gatsbyby Anonymous

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July 24, 2004: 'The Great Gatsby' (1974) is a story of decadence and decay from the 1920s, spawned from the pen of imminent author, F.Scott Fitzgerald. It?s full of wanton greed, lust, sex and murder set during the flapper age. Robert Redford is the quintessential sexy, Jay Gatsby. He?s at once a charmer and a recluse, throwing lavish parties on his Long Island estate for the ritzy jet set, though rarely attending, accept in absentee through a bird?s eye view from his second story window. But Gatsby?s unassuming secretiveness is brought into the light when he meets gawky paramour, Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow). She?s a godless, flighty flapper, married to a wealthy playboy, Tom (Bruce Dern), and cousin to the introspective, Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston) the young man living on the cottage near Gatsby?s estate. Nick is genuine and Gatsby, sensing that he can trust Nick, confides in him his romantic interests in Daisy. The two become lovers ? a relationship which is genuine for Gatsby but shallow, fleeting and inconsequential to Daisy. She soon returns to Tom who decides to set Gatsby up with the accidental hit and run of Myrtle Wilson (Karen Black) that he has committed. Tom and Myrtle used to be an item and Tom?s impregnation is passed off as Gatsby?s, leaving Myrtle?s distraught husband, George (Scott Wilson) with murder on his mind. Despite a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and stellar production values the film generally misses its mark in recanting the tale of a millionaire playboy, brooding away in his locked mansion for the woman that he lost. There's just something about Fitzgerald's writing that doesn't translate well to the big screen. The transfer is a huge, strange disappointment. Despite being anamorphically enhanced the picture elements look as though they've been fed through a meat grinder. Age related scratches and often excessive film grain crop up throughout, while some scenes are remarkably free of either distraction. The contrast levels during the dusk scenes are way too low. Colors are generally muted and during several scenes even bleed. There are digital artifacts throughout including more than a hint of edge enhancement, aliasing and shimmering of fine details. The audio is barely stereo and really weak in its spread. There are no extras.