The Fountainhead

Wow. What an astouding film. Directed by King Vidor and written by Ayn Rand (from her book). Gary Cooper is amazing. Patricia Neal is stunning. The cinematography is brilliant. Vidor also uses his limited resources for visual effects in a creative manner that suggests the breadth of great archtectural achievements the story speaks of. The story is of an architect who is driven by his zeal to stand out as an idealist. The battle of whether architecture should exist for a common good or as an inspired art form is a way to bracket a bigger conversation of whether or not human beings exist to be individuals or if self-sacrifice is the only way to contribute to a society. The screenplay does suffer from a lot of "speeches" and incredibly pretentious dialogue, but I loved it.