The film stars Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, and Barry Sullivan, and features Shelley Winters and Howard Da Silva, the latter of whom later returned in the 1974 version.

Set during the raucous Jazz Age on Long Island near New York City, the plot follows the exploits of enigmatic millionaire and bootlegger Jay Gatsby who attempts to win back the affections of his former lover Daisy Buchanan with the aid of her second cousin Nick Carraway.

Producer Richard Maibaum became intent on making a new film adaptation, and he envisioned Alan Ladd, with whom he previously collaborated on O.S.S.

Although Maibaum and Ladd were eager to make the film, Paramount executives hesitated as the novel had not yet attained widespread popularity.

The screenplay underwent multiple rewrites to appease the censors, including adding moralizing elements that deviated from Fitzgerald's 1925 novel.

In 1926, Paramount Pictures paid $45,000 (equivalent to $799,258 in 2024) to purchase the film rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald's critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful 1925 novel.

[4] Paramount writer and producer Richard Maibaum—who had met F. Scott Fitzgerald during the author's brief sojourn in Hollywood[5]—became fixated on the idea of a new adaptation starring Oklahoma actor Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby.

[4] Paramount publicly announced its plans to make the film starring Ladd in March 1946,[10] with the script to be written by Maibaum and Cyril Hume.

[11] However, the mere idea of remaking The Great Gatsby soon ran afoul of the censors, in particular Production Code Administration head Joseph Breen.

Specifically, it violated the [Motion Picture Production] Code then in effect because it dealt with adultery, unpunished manslaughter, glamorized a gangster, depicted excessive use of liquor, undermined the institutions of marriage and the home, lowered moral standards, presented impure love as attractive and beautiful, etc, etc.

Censor Joseph Breen rejected the first draft of the screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume for having "a low moral tone.

[4] He specifically denounced their work for depicting adultery, excessive drinking, unpunished manslaughter, bootlegging, and other perceived moral transgressions.

[4] Breen further demanded that the screenplay include a voice of morality and a lengthy preamble which outright condemned Gatsby's behavior as immoral.

[14] Due to the constant meddling by censors, critics later noted that film's script contained very little of "the flavor of the Prohibition era".

[5] "They used the script as a carrot to make Alan do several other [lower quality] films, each time promising that his next would be Gatsby", wrote the producer.

[17][7] Although enthusiastic about casting Betty Field as Daisy Buchanan, Nugent had reservations about Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby, although he kept these opinions from Maibaum.

"[18] Nugent primarily filmed the entire production indoors on a studio lot, including the exterior shots, to circumvent potential delays often associated with location shooting—such as changing sunlight, rain, or intrusive tourists.

[18] Alan Ladd, who was at the pinnacle of his fame after returning from service in World War II, could not be taken on-location as he would invariably be "mobbed" in public appearances.

[18] As a result, Nugent limited filming to the controlled, yet artificial environment of a brightly lit Hollywood sound stage, compromising visual authenticity and realism.

[21] The Paramount publicity man appeared to be betrayed by Wilson's reply and seemed to say, "We've gone to the trouble of making a whole movie out of your friend's book and you don't even appreciate it!

My own satisfaction stemmed from what Charles Brackett of sainted memory to all screenwriters said to me: 'You've personally started an F. Scott Fitzgerald revival'.

"[9] The New York Times' review by Bosley Crowther dismissed the film as "a limp, sentimental romance, involving a bootlegger and an old sweetheart, based on Scott Fitzgerald's classic story, but lacking the novel's bite.

"[24] Crowther lamented that "the period of the Nineteen Twenties is briefly and inadequately sketched with a jumble of gay Long Island parties, old clothes, old songs and old cars.

[15] Crowther felt that Ladd was too solemn as Gatsby and gave the impression of "a patient and saturnine fellow who is plagued by a desperate love".

[9] Critic Lew Sheaffer wrote in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle that Field performed "the difficult feat of making a strong impact" as Gatsby's "vague, shilly-shallying sweetheart.

"[27] Critic Lew Sheaffer wrote in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle that Macdonald Carey acquitted himself well as Nick Carraway, Gatsby's only friend.

"[18] Dixon posits that the film's shortcomings primarily stem from Elliott Nugent's uninspired direction, accentuated by an overly wordy and meandering screenplay.