The Fountainhead is a
1949The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :source: http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1949.shtml- Awards :Academy Awards:*Adam's Rib*The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr...
AmericanThe cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
based on the best-seller
book of the same nameThe Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. It was Rand's first major literary success and its royalties and movie rights brought her fame and financial security....
by
Ayn RandAyn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
. The movie stars
Gary CooperFrank James “Gary” Cooper was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
as Howard Roark,
Patricia NealPatricia Neal is an American actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal, in Packard, Whitley County, Kentucky...
as Dominique Francon,
Raymond MasseyRaymond Hart Massey was a Canadian-born American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company...
as Gail Wynand,
Robert DouglasRobert Douglas was born as Robert Douglas Finlayson in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire on 9 November 1909. He was a successful stage and film actor, a television director and producer....
as Ellsworth Toohey and
Kent SmithKent Smith was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater, and television.Born Frank Kent Smith in New York, New York, Smith made his acting debut on Broadway in 1932 in ] and, after spending a few years there, moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The...
as Peter Keating. The film was directed by
King VidorKing Wallis Vidor was an acclaimed American film director whose career spanned nearly seven decades.He was born in Galveston, Texas, where he survived the great Galveston Hurricane of 1900...
, with the
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
written by Rand.
The story follows the struggles of Howard Roark, an
individualisticIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
architect.
Rand demanded that the entire speech that Howard Roark gives at the end of the film be read exactly as in the original novel.
The Fountainhead is a
1949The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :source: http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1949.shtml- Awards :Academy Awards:*Adam's Rib*The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr...
AmericanThe cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
based on the best-seller
book of the same nameThe Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. It was Rand's first major literary success and its royalties and movie rights brought her fame and financial security....
by
Ayn RandAyn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
. The movie stars
Gary CooperFrank James “Gary” Cooper was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
as Howard Roark,
Patricia NealPatricia Neal is an American actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal, in Packard, Whitley County, Kentucky...
as Dominique Francon,
Raymond MasseyRaymond Hart Massey was a Canadian-born American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company...
as Gail Wynand,
Robert DouglasRobert Douglas was born as Robert Douglas Finlayson in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire on 9 November 1909. He was a successful stage and film actor, a television director and producer....
as Ellsworth Toohey and
Kent SmithKent Smith was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater, and television.Born Frank Kent Smith in New York, New York, Smith made his acting debut on Broadway in 1932 in ] and, after spending a few years there, moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The...
as Peter Keating. The film was directed by
King VidorKing Wallis Vidor was an acclaimed American film director whose career spanned nearly seven decades.He was born in Galveston, Texas, where he survived the great Galveston Hurricane of 1900...
, with the
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
written by Rand.
Plot
The story follows the struggles of Howard Roark, an
individualisticIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
architect.
Production
Rand demanded that the entire speech that Howard Roark gives at the end of the film be read exactly as in the original novel. Vidor initially agreed, but when shooting commenced on the scene, he decided to tighten it up a bit. Upon hearing this, Rand called the head of the studio demanding that the whole speech be filmed. Rand won out, and Vidor filmed the entire speech. The scene goes on for nearly six minutes, one of the longest speeches ever in a feature film.
Max SteinerMax Steiner was an Austrian American composer of music for theatre productions and films. He probably is known best for the score he composed for Gone with the Wind and for the score and theme song for the film A Summer Place.Steiner was born Maximilian Raoul Steiner in Vienna, Austria-Hungary...
composed the film's score, excerpts of which were included in RCA Victor's tribute to the composer, an album featuring the
National Philharmonic OrchestraThe National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. It was founded by RCA producer Charles Gerhardt and orchestra leader / contractor Sidney Sax due in part to the requirements of the Reader's Digest...
conducted by
Charles GerhardtCharles Gerhardt may refer to:*Charles Frédéric Gerhardt , French chemist*Charles H. Gerhardt , American general*Charles Gerhardt , American conductor...
and released on LP in 1973 and digitally remastered for CD.
The film was released in VHS format in 1990 and in 2006 as a DVD.
Adaptation from novel
While the movie is an abridged version of the original novel, the general tone and intent was not significantly affected. However, there are significant differences. In the book, Gail Wynand contemplates suicide several times, and when giving in to the strikers and letting his paper denounce Roark he feels that he had in effect killed himself, even if remaining physically alive. In the film, he actually does kill himself after successfully securing Roark to complete his dream of the Wynand Building. This ties in with another minor variation from the novel, in which Dominique marries Keating, divorces him to marry Wynand, and eventually divorces
him to marry Roark. In the movie, Dominique merely breaks off her engagement to Keating (in the novel, there was no such engagement; the marriage was abruptly proposed by Dominique and sealed the same day) to marry Wynand and is subsequently freed to marry Roark by Wynand's suicide.
Cast
- Gary Cooper
Frank James “Gary” Cooper was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
as Howard Roark
- Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal is an American actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal, in Packard, Whitley County, Kentucky...
as Dominique Francon
- Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian-born American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company...
as Gail Wynand
- Kent Smith
Kent Smith was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater, and television.Born Frank Kent Smith in New York, New York, Smith made his acting debut on Broadway in 1932 in ] and, after spending a few years there, moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The...
as Peter Keating
- Robert Douglas
Robert Douglas was born as Robert Douglas Finlayson in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire on 9 November 1909. He was a successful stage and film actor, a television director and producer....
as Ellsworth M. Toohey
- Henry Hull
Henry Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London...
as Henry Cameron
- Ray Collins
Ray Collins may refer to:*Ray Collins *Ray Collins *Ray Collins *Ray Collins *Ray Collins...
as Roger Enright
- Moroni Olsen
Moroni Olsen was an American actor.Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Mormon parents who named him after the prophet Moroni. After having worked on Broadway he made his film debut in a 1935 adaptation of The Three Musketeers...
as Chairman
- Jerome Cowan
Jerome Cowan was an American film and television actor. He appeared in over 100 films but is probably best remembered for two roles in classic films: Miles Archer, the doomed private eye partner of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Thomas Mara, the hapless district attorney who has to...
as Alvah Scarret
External links