Dir: King Vidor | Gary Cooper, Raymond Massey Patricia Neal | US Drama 114’
If Donald Trump read books ‘The Fountainhead’ would be on his bedside table.
Although King Vidor would have preferred Bogart, Ayn Rand approved of the casting of Gary Cooper as übermensch Howard Roark in this adaptation of what Raymond Durgnat described as her “rightist critique of where American capitalism went wrong” based on Frank Lloyd Wright; but being such a monstrous egotist she was predictably dissatisfied with the result. But Vidor’s version is that rare beast, a movie that improves upon the original; its architectural theme well visualised in Edward Carrere’s vast open-plan sets recalling the office in ‘The Crowd’.
The book does however deserves credit for the most wonderful putdown when proponent of “the Gospel of Mediocrity”, architectural critic Ellsworth M. Toohey, hungrily challenges Roark to tell him to his face exactly what he thinks of him; to which he abstractedly replies “But I don’t think of you.”
An interesting companion piece to the Oscar nominated Golden Globe winner The Brutalist (2025) @RichardChatten