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F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels focused on the haunted lives of American males and how they tried to recreate themselves in the image of others as successful individuals. The Last Tycoon based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's posthumous unfinished novel echos many of the themes that appeared in Fitzgerald's small body of work as a novelist and short story writer. His protagonist were always trying to be something they were not denying their past and, in the process, denying themselves. ***

Tycoon is a thinly veiled retelling of the life of movie mogul Irving Thalberg. Thalberg made an amazing slew of motion pictures during his short rein as a producer and studio head in the 30's and 40's. DeNiro's Monroe Stahr is a mysterious, haunted individual who literally lives only for the movies he's making. It seems his fascinating with the screen makes him unable to communicate with the living all around him. Playwrite Harold Pinter ( plays The Servant, The Caretakeruses and films The Handmaid's Tale, The French Lieutenant's Woman) this as a metaphor for Stahr's detachment from humanity and his inability to connect with the elusive love of his life Kathleen Moore played by Ingrid Bolting. ***

Pinter's detached, elliptic dialog and unusual dialog rhythms only enhances the impression that Stahr is in this world but not of it. Ultimately Stahr's (ironically named given his position in the industry) intense devotion to what we see vs. what we experience through living contributes to him working himself to death. Pinter fleshes out Fitzgerald's novel (essentially a retelling of The Great Gatsby focusing on the elite of Hollywood instead) and manages faithfully translates many of the themes from the book. ***

As directed by Hollywood and Broadway veteran Elia Kazan (On The Waterfront, East of Eden, A Streecar Named Desire), The Last Tycoon isn't an easy film to like; many of the characters seem vapid and self serving. In the character of Stahr we have a protagonist who isn't really "there" at all. Which is precisely Kazan and Pinter's point; The Last Tycoon is how image overwhelms substance but can't become a substitute for living. The brilliant casting features veterans that were contemporaries of (and in some cases worked with) Irving Thalberg. Kazan's direction brings many of these characters to life providing a unique glimpse into the Hollywood studio system at its prime. Kazan and Pinter provide a fascinating and disquieting glimpse into the American life of the glamorous and powerful of Hollywood during its heyday. It's a sad and tragic tale which Kazan manages to inject with quiet ---

The transfer is very nice although there are a few analog and digital artifacts. The compression artifacts are minimal, however and probably won't be noticeable to most viewers. Although the packaging claims the sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1, it's actually presented in a stereo format and not remixed for 5.1 that I can tell. ---