"F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Last of the Belles'" was a large budget and highly publicized made for television movie apparently designed to capitalize on interest in Fitzgerald because of the then current release of the theatrical movie "The Great Gatsby" starring Robert Redford. "Belles" is a story within a story. Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, have returned form Europe. Through high living, he is deeply in debt, while his wife Zelda has distanced herself becoming obsessed with being a ballerina, even though she is 30 years old and never had a dance lesson, which indeed was true of the real Zelda. Fitzgerald is out of ideas for new stories and spends the empty hours carousing. Finally, the seed of an idea for a story begins to emerge. The film then alternates between Fitzgerald's life and his story of young soldiers from the north at a training camp in the south during World War I and the southern belles they court. Richard Chamberlain is Fitzgerald and Blythe Danner is Zelda, while David Huffman and Susan Sarandon are the couple in the story. A big flaw is Chamberlain's wooden performance. Sarandon is affected but intriguing, while Huffman and particularly Danner give commendable performances. While Sarandon's character becomes involved with so many men, it becomes difficult to follow, nevertheless there is a plaintive quality to both stories. It is that quality which remains once the film is over and makes this worth seeing.
