Gone With The Wind appreciation thread...

[Bennyboy]

On TMC right now. What a great movie.

[Deja Q]

1. So it's not about people farting after eating tainted Mexican food, then?

:hide:

[yellowdogintexas]

2. you are so right, based on a great book too. A product of its times

and the environment of the author but still an amazing production. 1939 was indeed a turnpoint year in movie making. GWTW and Wizard of Oz were both from that year, IIRC

It really was a risk, making a 4 hour movie back then. It was a risk trying to take that huge book and condense it and thank God that's all they did was condense it and leave out a few children..no inventing of new characters or have them do anything they didn't do in the book. Truly a masterpiece.

[Bennyboy]

3. When I see some of the dreck that won

Oscars for best picture lately....I cannot believe how far movie making has really gone downhill. The story is incredible...."take a look around Scarlett, you will tell your grandchildren you saw the end of the old south on this night"....

[Capn Sunshine]

4. One thing though...the more I see it, the more I think

Leslie Howard was terribly miscast as Ashley Wilkes.

Needed someone less English and more strong in character, like William Powell.


OR Errol Flynn:



See what I mean?
(I know, I know, Flynn was English, but he wasn't foppish English like Howard )

[UTUSN]

5. Wasn't Errol Australian? Plus, the goose flesh scene from GWTW

Tight close up on Scarlett and the doctor, with Scarlett demanding and whining about his needing to go deliver Melanie's baby NOW!!1 The doc is tired and tries to be patient with her, saying he just can't go right now.

The camera pans slowly to a long shot, showing rows and rows of thousands of wounded soldiers lying on the ground, ending finally on the Confederate flag. This is the closest I come to saying something vaguely positive (in artistic terms) about that flag.

[Capn Sunshine]

6. Agree..that was very evocative

They should have buried that flag with the past, instead it's become a symbol of hatred

[grasswire]

9. woo woo William Powell

Although I don't think I would like him as Ashley.

[liberaltrucker]

7. The Yankees won, OK???

Seriously, Ms Mitchell put into graphic perspective the human side
of the War of Northern Aggression. The producer of the movie did her
proud. My only gripe is that the book and movie only portrayed the war
from the rich plantation owner viewpoint.

My ancestors from that era had a much different story, and contributed
to what I am today-a somewhat confused Southern liberal. But that's another
thread for another time. Enjoy the flick.

:)

[Thirtieschild]

8. A bit of history

I saw GWTW for the first time in 1943, I was eight and as impressed with the theater in San Antonio (stars in the ceiling) as I was with the movie. Saw it thereafter at each re-release, probably every 5 years or so. Can't forget the audience reaction each time: when Rhett tells Scarlet, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" the audience always burst forth with a nervous laugh. Damn was verboten in movies then and hearing it left the audience gasping.

BTW. I much prefer movie to book. The line I remember from the book, (and I may be distorting it somewhat) was Scarlet O'Hara going forth to meet the world dressed in her mother's old draperies and the cock feathers of a rooster. It was a line that apparently also resonated with the writers on the Carol Burnet Show. Carol wearing the curtains, complete with curtain rods, was priceless.