Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Great Gatsby [1974]

Though the plot suffers from a strange inertia, given Fitzgerald's over-the-top Jazz Age material, the sets, chiefly architect Stanford White's 1902 Rosecliff Manor in Newport, Rhode Island, are a feast for the "Me Generation's" appetite for excess. They give form to the early 1970s' overwrought fascination with nouveau riches and male vanity, all in front of a Gilded Age backdrop. Eagerly awaited is Baz Luhrmann update, coming soon. (Please stay tuned for a special "Great Parties in Film" post coming in December dedicated to these particular scenes).

Architect: Stanford White Rosecliff Manor, Newport, Rhode Island 1902 
Also, Art Direction by Robert W. Laing & Gene Rudolf  
Set Decoration by Peter Howitt & Herbert F. Mulligan