One of the loopiest films from '40s Hollywood, The Fountainhead, King Vidor's adaptation of Ayn Rand's polemic about uncompromising architect Howard Roark (Cooper) bursts with high-minded chatter on conformity and integrity, plus lots of phallic symbols (tall buildings, pneumatic drills). On one level, it's fairly campy; on another, it's a radiant fever dream with striking set design and an erotic undertow no doubt fueled by Cooper and Neal's affair at the time.
EXTRAS
A doc reveals that the Roark-like Rand would not allow a single word of
her screenplay to be changed.
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