Some classic books don't seem to translate readily to the cinema.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one case where there's no generally acknowledged definitive film version, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's best-known novel is another. This movie was believed lost for many years and it's good to see it back in circulation, even if it isn't a masterpiece.

In the 1920s, Midwesterner Nick Carroway (Macdonald Carey), trying to make his way in the New York business world, meets his mysterious, wealthy neighbour, Jay Gatsby (Alan Ladd), who keeps throwing parties he never attends. It turns out Gatsby, who made his fortune as a bootlegger, is trying to attract the attention of Daisy Buchanan (Betty Field), whom he loved long ago but who is now married to Tom (Barry Sullivan). Nick is drawn into this fragile situation which doesn't seem like it can end happily.

A lot of attention is given to Gatsby's backstory and not enough to other elements of the story and characters, and the whole thing lacks tragic depth.

Ladd's cool manner works quite well for Gatsby early on, but it's hard to feel his longing for Daisy. Shelley Winters is good in the underwritten part of Tom's lover, Myrtle.

There's also a trailer, rather oddly tacked on straight after the movie ends.