The Fountainhead [Not Rated]

Director: King Vidor King Vidor

Overview

In this adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel, Gary Cooper stars as Howard Roark, a fiercely independent architect. Rather than compromise his ideals, Roark takes menial work as a quarryman. He falls in love with heiress Dominique but ends the relationship when he is finally able construct buildings according to his own wishes.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/07/2006
UPC:	0012569571624
Original Release:	1949
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:52:00
Sales rank:	23,646

Special Features

New featurette The Making of the Fountainhead; Theatrical trailer; Languages: English, Français & Español (feature films only)

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gary Cooper	Howard Roark
Patricia Neal	Dominique Francon
Raymond Massey	Gail Wynand
Kent Smith	Actor
Robert Douglas	Ellsworth Toohey
Henry Hull	Henry Cameron
Ray Collins	Enright,Foreman
Moroni Olsen	Chairman
Jerome Cowan	Alvah Scarret
Paul Harvey	Businessman
Thurston Hall	Businessman
Harry Woods	Superintendent
Paul Stanton	The Dean
Bob Alden	Newsboy
Roy Gordon	Vice President
Isabel Withers	Secretary
Almira Sessions	Housekeeper
Tito Vuolo	Worker
William Haade	Worker
Gail Bonney	Woman
Dorothy Christy	Society Woman
Harlan Warde	Young Man
Jonathan Hale	Guy Franchon,Clerk
Frank Wilcox	Gordon Prescott
Douglas Kennedy	Reporter
Pierre Watkin	Official
Selmer Jackson	Official,Official
John Doucette	Gus Webb
John Alvin	Young Intellectual
Geraldine Wall	Woman
Fred Kelsey	Old Watchman
Paul 'Tiny' Newlan	Policeman,Policeman
George Sherwood	Policeman
Lois Austin	Woman Guest
Josephine Whittell	Hostess
Morris Ankrum	Prosecutor
Griff Barnett	Judge
Ann Doran	Secretary
Ruthelma Stevens	Secretary
Philo McCullough	Bailiff
Monte Blue	Gas Station Executive
Ralph Brooks	Courtroom Spectator
Glen Cavender	Pedestrian Onlooker
James Conaty	Party Guest
Bill Dagwell	Banner Shipping Clerk
Lester Dorr	Minor Role
Jay Eaton	Party Guest
Estelle Etterre	Woman at Enright party
Charles Evans	Banner Board Member
Tris Coffin	Secretary
Max Steiner	Composer

Technical Credits

Ayn Rand

King Vidor	Director
Ayn Rand	Screenwriter
Henry Blanke	Producer
Edwin DuPar	Special Effects
John Holden	Special Effects
H.F. Koenekamp	Special Effects
William McGann	Special Effects
Oliver Garretson	Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

Part 1	Peter Keating	3
Part 2	Ellsworth M. Toohey	203
Part 3	Gail Wynand	405
Part 4	Howard Roark	527

Editorial Reviews

Ayn Rand's adaptation of her own classic novel deconstructs numerous provocative and age-old societal opposites: integrity vs. conformity, the individual vs. the collective, selfishness vs. selflessness, power vs. weakness. The Fountainhead couches these in the deceptively fertile subject of architecture, and casts the unflappable Gary Cooper as the against-the-grain designer nearly Galilean in his trailblazing spirit, which comes across as either arrogantly bullheaded or defiantly courageous depending on one's analysis of the issues. Rand's plot is intricate and ever more evocative as it rolls forward, most notably in the person of the complex, flip-flopping newspaper editor (Raymond Massey), who embodies, at different times, both the spineless cowardice Howard Roark abhors and the heedless determination he prizes. Rand's talky philosophies, which dominate the film for better or worse, invite endless contemplation about what it means to be a trendsetter and to protect the purity of one's artistic endeavors, especially in a world eager to quash those who challenge the status quo. Amid this high-mindedness, the romantic relationship between Cooper and Patricia Neal feels overblown and inappropriately Harlequin, surely a concession to Hollywood expectations, which has a certain thematic irony of its own for Rand, if one considers the uncompromising architect her stand-in. Everything else in The Fountainhead is meaty with thematic import, solidified by the acting and King Vidor's directing, which earns kudos for keeping the audience glued to a nearly two-hour movie that's mostly dialogue.

Ayn Rand is a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly.
—New York Times

Purette

Ayn Rand is a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly. -- Books of the Century; New York Times review, May 1943

Lorine Purette