Review of The Fountainhead (1949) by Fernando E — 05 Oct 2012

The Fountainhead (1949) â" Directed by King Vidor, Produced by Henry Blanke, Written by Ayn Rand.

King Vidor in this film has tried his best to capture the essence and intensity of the book, but has unfortunately fallen short all through the film.

The performances of Gary Cooper as Howard Roark, Patricia Neal as Dominique Francon and the other cast in the movie were wooden and forgettable at best. The cast killed the intensity of the original characters in the book. The final nail in the coffin was Gary Cooperâ(TM)s performance in the courtroom scene where he narrates the speech that gets him acquitted. Iâ(TM)m yet to see a performance worse than Cooperâ(TM)s lifeless and soulless narration of such a passionate speech. The editing was shoddy and the background score was a bit much for me to digest.

The Fountainhead, being a powerful story of a manâ(TM)s war to save his integrity and his quest to retain his individuality against a society that abhors everything about individualism could have been unraveled on screen in a much better way. It is no surprise that Ayn Rand criticized the film.

Lastly, I wouldn't recommend watching this film if youâ(TM)re a fan of the book as it would be a thoroughly disappointing experience.