Thanks OA,
I agree and am glad I read the book before seeing it.
Another scene I liked was when Roark told the board no when they tried to add columns and other nonsense.

Agreed. Especially the Monadnock Valley story. That would be worth an entire episode right there--beginning with Roark telling the younger man what he had just built, flashing back to when Caleb Bradley granted him an "interview," and ending with Steven Mallory furiously describing how Monadnock was a con that went sour when it made more money than its builders intended.

"The Man in the High Castle" can you see that on netfix by chance?

Hi MikeMarotta,
Yes I also liked the surprise Dominique received at that moment. I thought she looked crazy in the scene where she threw the sculpture.
Regards,
DOB

If Gary Cooper had been 15 or 20 years younger, he might have been the best Howard Roark anyone could have found. He was 47 years old in 1948 - a bit advanced in years to be just starting out in a career as an architect.

Agreed, Temlakos! Patricia Neal didn't fit this role. She appeared "wooden" to me as though she froze in place and read her lines off cue cards. She did a much better job in the 1951 "Day The Earth Stood Still".

Thanks Temlakos,
I would have loved to see Atlas Shrugged as a 2 part epic in the early 60's With ,Audrey Hepburn as Dagny, Lee,Marvin as Hank Reardon, John Wayne as Ellis Wyatt, Raymond Burr as John Galt, Paul Newman as Ragnar and Marcello Mastroianni as Francisco, Charles Durning as Wesley Mouch, Henry Fonda as Dr Stadler

Agreed. I normally think that 80 pages of a novel will translate into 1 hour of a movie. So The Fountainhead could be a marvelous 9 hour miniseries. I never have thought that Gary Cooper was right for the role of Roark; too much baggage from playing bumpkins in movies such as "Man of the West", "Meet John Doe", and "Along Came Jones". He seemed stiff as Roark, probably because he was being directed to play outside his normal earthy portrayals. I think Ayn Rand picked him as Roark based on his physical attributes, not on his persona. An actor from the Golden Age of Hollywood that would have been a good Roark was Burt Lancaster. On the other hand, Patricia Neal was spot-on as Dominique. I remember that actor Ron Ely tried to remake The Fountainhead in the early '80's, but nothing ever came of it. He starred in the Tarzan TV series of the '60's.

Yes and they also made some of the characters who were over acting look like basket cases.

Are you aware that Ayn Rand wrote the screenplay and chose the director? Compressing a book into a movie will always disappoint the fans of the book. We own a copy of every remake of Pride and Prejudice. You will note that absolutely zero Elfish grammar or philology appeared in any of the 6 LOTR/Hobbit movies. And where was all that narrative when Gregory Peck was Captain Ahab? And, tell me true: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

According to Ayn Rand's theory of objective aesthetics, you have to take the movie as it is delivered, as a work of art in its own right, independent of anything else. Consider the statue of Laocoon and His Sons Attacked by Serpents. The statue depicts a scene from a myth with several variations. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C...) An aesthetic judgment of the statue must be independent of the stories behind it. So, too, with the movie version of The Fountainhead.

Three. Of which I rate We The Living as the best.

I could have written a better script than the Atlas Shrugged movie. Not bragging that I am a great writer, but, in a way, that is the point. It would be a matter of knowing what to cut and what to leave in.A lot (and I mean a lot) of it could be straight copy from the book, as Ayn Rand had already done most of the book herself. Some of the matter in the scenes reads like instructions to the camera man (logical, since she was a screen writer before her success as a novelist).
For instance, that scene where Philip Rearden
tries to get a job with Rearden (most likely to
get himself installed in the place as a spy),
Rearden turns him down, and Philip makes a
not-so-subtle threat to have the government in-
stall him; Rearden looks at him; Philip sees the
industrial dangers right in front of him, and breaks out into a cold sweat.

In a mini-series, that Winston Tunnel incident
could make an excellent morality-play episode
all by itself; of course, dialogue or some sort of
flashbacks, or both, would have to be added to
explain the motivations of the road foreman,
trainmaster, etc. Also maybe some written ma-
terial across the screen identifying the guilty
passengers who deserve what they get.

I would love it.

True.

I am glad they all were produced, although I am not sure I would read The Fountainhead if I saw the movie first and had not read Atlas Shrugged.

But Toohey was benign. He was polished, graceful, and cultured. He could be crude for effect, but he was truly and evil genius. The part could have been played many ways. Every actor brings his own interpretation of every role.

Hi diessos ,
I enjoyed watching it even though it was very condensed. A lot was missing from the book.
A good remake would be great. It won't likely happen as it would bomb at the box office.
Plus most of the popular box office stars would sabotage the message as it is opposed to their collectivist philosophy.
Regards ,
DOB

I read that after the movie was declared finished, Ayn Rand insisted that the courtroom scene be re-shot until Gary Cooper could get it right. He apparently did not understand what he was saying.

Are you aware that Ayn Rand wrote the screen play? It was shot as she intended. Any technical details were the domain of the director, King Vidor, who was Ayn Rand's personal choice.

Thanks for sharing Dags ,
Work must have come easy to him. I couldn't imagine being a lead character or any character for that matter and not reading the story 1st.

If I channeled her I think she would say" what do you think your doing idiot, you can't channel" and I would have to agree.:) LOL

Gary Cooper probably represented a Roark character when this movie was made I did love the upward direction of the camera work when Roark and Dominique see each other at the Stone Quarry (then the following almost rape scene very risqué for the time) then repeated at the very end. Ivor King did ok

Thank you xba739,
Your contribution is appreciated. I will have to check out Razor's Edge.
regards,
DOB

Hi Stormi ,
Thanks for sharing. I have not seen the Blue Gardenia. Do you recommend it?

Thank you for sharing LibertyBelle.
Have a great day!

Thanks for your input.

Ayn Rand wrote the screen play and Choose the director but possibly was not involved with the editing.