A classic of American literature, though some people think its florid style marks it out as a camp classic, Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" simply had to be filmed and yet perhaps it was always one of the great 'unfilmable' novels to begin with. It was King Vidor who finally did bring it to the screen and Vidor, more than anyone, knew what 'florid' meant and was probably the director most capable of capturing the novel's hysteria and there's certainly a lot of hysteria on show.
It's about an architect, Howard Roark, clearly modelled on Frank Lloyd Wright, but the real theme of the film is fascism and the freedom of the individual. It might seem to be about architecture but equally it could be about McCarthyism, (how it slipped under the radar of the HUAC is a bit of a mystery). Roark's played by a miscast, over-aged Gary Cooper. Vidor had wanted Humphrey Bogart for the part, (an even greater piece of miscasting in my opinion), but Rand insisted on Cooper and to be fair he does carry it off.
As the spoiled, over-wrought young woman who loves him, abuses him and, in turn, is abused by him Patricia Neal is excellent and there's also a superb performance from Raymond Massey as the newspaper magnate Neal marries. Visually, too, it's extraordinary; there are shots here that could have been lifted from "Citizen Kane" while, at the same time, being almost unbearably 'literate', (Rand also wrote the screenplay). There's nothing remotely naturalistic about it; this was as over-the-top, visually, verbally, in every way, as it was possible to get. A camp classic, then, or a masterpiece or maybe both? It's certainly one of a kind and it really should be seen.
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