MovieChat Forums > The Great Gatsby (1974) Discussion > Improvements upon the book

Improvements upon the book

posted 11 years ago by Grandpa_Gene
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in gatsby's final scene with Nick, he reaches out has this line about how summers almost over and how he wants to reach out and hold it there. I'm pretty sure this isnt in the book, while there are many lines about life starting over again when the leaves turn crisp in the fall and all that, i think Jack Clayton might have added this one. It adds so much to theme of of the inability to churn back the past and time. Theres something in that line Clayton added that perfectly sums up Gatsby and Daisy, wanting to hold the warmth of summer as its beginning to end, even though summer itself will never.
I'm rambling of course, but I really think thats the best addition i've noticed in the film

Anyone have any others?

[–] SuCue 10 years ago

The scene of Daisy and Gatsby putting on their old 1917 clothes and dancing to a candle in Gatsby's ballroom doesn't appear in the book, but is quite lovely. Ditto the scene where they are picnicking near a pond with swans.