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I'm reading a hilarious book by producer Hank Moonjean called Bring in the Peacocks. He was in films from the early 50s to the late 80s, mainly as associate producer but finally as producer. The book is filled with anecdotes about temperamental stars and production woes. He worked on the '74 Gatsby and claims that the production team learned of a print of Paramount's '26 version in an archive in Moscow, that they requested through the State Department to see it, but that the Russians turned them down. imdb simply states there are no known prints, which is what I have always read. Does anyone know of a source that squares with Moonjean's claim? (I should add that Moonjean seems reliable when he is reporting on films he worked on, but that various factual goofs appear when he goes into Hollywood history, i.e., he has Painted Veil as a Gable/Harlow picture.)
I am leery of his claim on 2 counts: 1- It strikes me that if the silent Gatsby was known by a production team to exist in the USSR in '74, that this fact would be common knowledge among buffs and scholars by now. 2- Having seen some of the old archived films that Russia has released back to the west, such as the fragments of Lon Chaney in, I believe, Drag Harlan, one would think that a longed-for treasure like a print of the '26 Gatsby would have been released to the west by this time.

Considering the size of the former Soviet Union and the lack of a lot of entertainment in the way of western films - there is the possibility that the '26 version of "The Great Gatsby was still on general release there in 1974?

When the '74 "Gatsby" came out, all sorts of articles appeared about where a print might exist of the '26 silent. I remember hearing that Czechoslovakia had a print somewhere, not Russia. Who knows?

And "Drag Harlan" with Lon Chaney? The 1920 "Drag Harlan" does exist, but with William Farnum. Did you mean another film?

Ya got me. It's not Drag Harlan, it's Riddle Gawne, a Bill Hart western from, I believe, 1918. The Russkies had a reel or so of choppy footage, which luckily includes a few moments with Chaney as the villain. It's been on TCM.

Was there a Russian produced film based on "The Great Gatsby", creating confusion that Moscow had the US '26 version?

They did film versions of American novels, particularly to point out the evils and decadence of capitalism - "Gatsby" would fit in that category.

Head of Munich film museum Stefan Drößller in his introduction to his restoration of HOMUNCULUS said that he had asked the Russian film archives ten times whether they had any material on the film. Ten times the answer had been "Njet!". But he had got to know them by then, so he asked an eleventh time. This time they said: "Sure, we've got this crate full of stuff.", which turned out to be 27 reels' worth. So who knows what they might have. Persistence seems to be the key. Although the way things on the world stage are going at the moment they might not be very forthcoming in the foreseeable future.

I wonder if they retitled The Great Gatsby for foreign release?? Remember the surprise when Golden Chains which was found in the Netherlands turned out to be the lost Swanson/Valentino Beyond the Rocks.

Perhaps they should look for GATSBY THE TERRIBLE.

I read that Baz Luhrmann did a search for the '26 GATSBY and didn't find it.

I would not be surprised if the was some Great Gatsby material out there. Some footage of The Divine Woman and The way of All Flesh turned up, so there is always a possibility. A lot of stuff that was thought lost forever has turned up in the past decade or so.

westegg wrote:I read that Baz Luhrmann did a search for the '26 GATSBY and didn't find it.

Yes, and from what I understand, this search was very thorough. I've pretty much given up hope on this film turning up in the usual places.