The Fountainhead

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While the movie is an abridged version of the original novel, the general tone and intent was not significantly affected. However, there are significant differences. In the book, Gail Wynand contemplates suicide several times, and when giving in to the strikers and letting his paper denounce Roark he feels that he had in effect killed himself, even if remaining physically alive. In the film, he actually does kill himself once having secured Roark to complete his dream of the Wynand Building. This ties in with another minor variation from the novel, in which Dominique marries Keating, divorces him to marry Wynand, and eventually divorces him to marry Roark. In the movie, Dominique merely breaks off her engagement to Keating (in the novel, there was no such engagement; the marriage was abruptly proposed by Dominique and sealed the same day) to marry Wynand and is subsequently freed to marry Roark by Wynand’s suicide.

Rand demanded that the entire speech that Howard Roark gives at the end of the film be read exactly as in the original novel. Vidor initially agreed, but when shooting commenced on the scene, he decided to tighten it up a bit. Upon hearing this, Rand called the head of the studio demanding that the whole speech be filmed. Rand won out, and Vidor filmed the entire speech. The scene goes on for nearly six minutes, one of the longest speeches ever in a feature film.

The Fountainhead
(1949) Drama
114 minutes (NR)
$14.99

Click to Purchase The Fountainhead

Best-selling book by Ayn Rand. Starring: Gary Cooper as Howard Roark, Patricia Neal as Dominique Francon, Raymond Massey as Gail Wynand, Robert Douglas as Ellsworth Toohey and Kent Smith as Peter Keating. Director: King Vidor

More about this movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead_(film)