Adaptations

Kathleen Norris on ADAPTATIONS

As a writer I’m interested in how books are adapted for film. I loved 1974’s version of The Great Gatsby (above) because so many of its lines came directly from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, but I suspect that this fidelity added to the static quality of the film. Bruce Dern is magnificent as the boorish Tom Buchanan, and Lois Chiles, as an insouciant golf pro, enlivens every scene she’s in, but there’s little romantic spark between the two stars, Robert Redford as Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy.