There is no getting around the fact that this 1949 movie is great fun, and a pristine print is finally available on DVD from Warner Home Video. It should come as no surprise that the film is so faithful to Ayn Rand's eminently readable, marathon 1943 novel since Rand wrote the screenplay herself and in true individualistic fashion, demanded that not a word of it be changed during the filming. Consequently, every scene is full of dialogue with her cerebral polemics, sometimes heavy-handed but often sharply clever, much of it highlighting her philosophy of objectivism. She has the ideal partner-in-crime in director King Vidor, who brings his trademark melodramatic flourishes to a feverish pitch here. The result is often laughable for its excesses but irresistible for the Baroque style Vidor fluidly instills with every preposterous story turn.
At the core of the time-spanning plot is Howard Roark, a supremely talented, uncompromising architect whose ego reigns supreme and whose selfishness ultimately marks him as a true success in his field. Interestingly, while Roark's designs bear a deliberate resemblance to Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style, they more importantly retain a timeless, contemporary feel. His philosophical adversary is Ellsworth Toohey, an architectural critic for the New York Banner, a pompous elitist who values mediocrity as a means to subdue the masses. In between Roark and Toohey is the Banner's owner, tycoon Gail Wynand, whose successful climb out of his Hell's Kitchen background has given him unprecedented power to influence the masses. While he is Toohey's boss, Wynand gradually comes to admire Roark's talent and individualism.
Complicating matters considerably is Dominique Francon, the headstrong daughter of a successful architect, whose primal attraction to Roark is mixed with self-loathing over what she envisions as his doomed visions. Roark's polar opposite can be found in his former classmate and rival architect Peter Keating, a man devoid of ideals and more than willing to accommodate the masses to ensure his livelihood. Their various interactions eventually lead to a melodramatic climax which has Roark secretly designing an expansive low-income housing project only to see it bastardized in construction. His fate hangs in the balance as he cannot reconcile the compromise made to his vision.
While obviously too old in the early scenes, Gary Cooper is able to tap into Roark's darker side while dexterously maintaining his heroic standing. In quite a contrast to the amiable speech he gives in the climax of Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", he delivers the particularly lengthy, verbose courtroom speech with conviction. In only her second film, a 22-year old Patricia Neal is certainly a sizzling, glamorous presence as Dominique, and she makes the most of her rather impossible role even though Vidor seems to be encouraging her to go overboard frequently. Nowhere is this more evident than the hilariously over-the-top first encounters between Roark and Dominique when she thinks he is a lowly, testosterone-charged quarry worker (with one big gyrating drill!) As Wynand, Raymond Massey is able to lend surprising humanism to a man who finds in Roark his one opportunity to take a heroic stand. Robert Douglas overdoes Toohey's effete manner, but he does become the villain you love to hate. The weak link in the cast is Kent Smith as the simpering Keating, melting way too easily in the background. Adding immeasurably to the film's Baroque dimensions are the crescendo-filled music of the legendary Max Steiner, the deep shadows pervasive in Robert Burks' masterful cinematography, and the almost expressionistic sets by Edward Carrere and William L. Kuehl (note how ludicrously huge Wynand's office is). With no accompanying commentary track, the 2006 DVD contains just two extras - the original theatrical trailer and a strictly by-the-numbers short, just eighteen minutes, on the making of the film.
At the core of the time-spanning plot is Howard Roark, a supremely talented, uncompromising architect whose ego reigns supreme and whose selfishness ultimately marks him as a true success in his field. Interestingly, while Roark's designs bear a deliberate resemblance to Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style, they more importantly retain a timeless, contemporary feel. His philosophical adversary is Ellsworth Toohey, an architectural critic for the New York Banner, a pompous elitist who values mediocrity as a means to subdue the masses. In between Roark and Toohey is the Banner's owner, tycoon Gail Wynand, whose successful climb out of his Hell's Kitchen background has given him unprecedented power to influence the masses. While he is Toohey's boss, Wynand gradually comes to admire Roark's talent and individualism.
Complicating matters considerably is Dominique Francon, the headstrong daughter of a successful architect, whose primal attraction to Roark is mixed with self-loathing over what she envisions as his doomed visions. Roark's polar opposite can be found in his former classmate and rival architect Peter Keating, a man devoid of ideals and more than willing to accommodate the masses to ensure his livelihood. Their various interactions eventually lead to a melodramatic climax which has Roark secretly designing an expansive low-income housing project only to see it bastardized in construction. His fate hangs in the balance as he cannot reconcile the compromise made to his vision.
While obviously too old in the early scenes, Gary Cooper is able to tap into Roark's darker side while dexterously maintaining his heroic standing. In quite a contrast to the amiable speech he gives in the climax of Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", he delivers the particularly lengthy, verbose courtroom speech with conviction. In only her second film, a 22-year old Patricia Neal is certainly a sizzling, glamorous presence as Dominique, and she makes the most of her rather impossible role even though Vidor seems to be encouraging her to go overboard frequently. Nowhere is this more evident than the hilariously over-the-top first encounters between Roark and Dominique when she thinks he is a lowly, testosterone-charged quarry worker (with one big gyrating drill!) As Wynand, Raymond Massey is able to lend surprising humanism to a man who finds in Roark his one opportunity to take a heroic stand. Robert Douglas overdoes Toohey's effete manner, but he does become the villain you love to hate. The weak link in the cast is Kent Smith as the simpering Keating, melting way too easily in the background. Adding immeasurably to the film's Baroque dimensions are the crescendo-filled music of the legendary Max Steiner, the deep shadows pervasive in Robert Burks' masterful cinematography, and the almost expressionistic sets by Edward Carrere and William L. Kuehl (note how ludicrously huge Wynand's office is). With no accompanying commentary track, the 2006 DVD contains just two extras - the original theatrical trailer and a strictly by-the-numbers short, just eighteen minutes, on the making of the film.