Wissenswertes

Prior to the release of Der große Gatsby (1974), Paramount Pictures suppressed the distribution of nitrate prints for The Great Gatsby (1926) and Der große Gatsby (1949) to deter theaters from playing those earlier versions instead of their upcoming 1974 version. This led to prints for both films being lost. In 2012, a print of the 1949 version was rediscovered. The 1926 version is still lost.

Actor Howard Da Silva, who portrays car mechanic George Wilson, later appeared in Der große Gatsby (1974) as the gangster Meyer Wolfsheim. In the 1950s, Da Silva became one of hundreds of artists blacklisted in the entertainment industry during the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HUAC) investigation into alleged Communist influence in the industry.

The original director was John Farrow. He was replaced with Elliott Nugent as he and producer Richard Maibaum could not agree on the casting of Daisy Buchanan. Farrow wanted to cast Gene Tierney whereas Maibaum favored Betty Field. Twenty-five years later, Farrow's daughter Mia Farrow played Daisy in Der große Gatsby (1974) .

Following a popular revival of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel during World War II, Paramount Pictures announced a new film version in mid-1946 with the script to be written by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume. However, censor Eric Johnston of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) refused to permit any new motion pictures depicting the licentious Jazz Age. "The Johnston Office seems to be afraid of starting a new jazz cycle," Maibaum complained to the press in 1946. Nearly half-a-decade passed before the censors allowed the film to begin production. To appease the censors, the film's screenplay removed any objectionable elements and added moralizing touches which greatly diverged from Fitzgerald's novel.

The only film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel produced under the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code enforced between 1934 to 1968. The Great Gatsby (1926), Der große Gatsby (1974), and Der große Gatsby (2013) were all made without the Code's draconian restrictions regarding immoral content.