Monday, July 16, 2007
Gone With the Wind (1939): Shira's Take
I resent this movie. I resent that it is so well-made. If it wasn’t, I could hate it as much as I want to. Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) is quite possibly the most obnoxious leading lady of all time. Now, I could get past an obnoxious leading lady if the movie had an interesting plot. Or if there weren’t any other annoying characters. Clark Gable as Rhett Butler is his usual forceful arrogant jerk, but in It Happened One Night, it was charming. In Gone With the Wind, it’s just kind of depressing. Also, Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) has the voice and usefulness of Harry Potter’s Moaning Myrtle. Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) is in theory a chivalrous, lovely man–but I can’t help but hate him for being so intrigued by Scarlett when he has such a good thing with Melanie (Olivia de Havilland, sister to Joan Fontaine, who is the star of Rebecca, our next movie). And Melanie, this film’s sole asset, is just endlessly kind. The fact that she not only puts up with Scarlett, but loves her all those years, is so incredible. I’d like to make a note that Vivien Leigh won best actress for this, but somehow, I feel like she probably wasn’t so much acting. Another note that bothers me about her is SHE WASN’T EVEN FROM THE SOUTH. She was born in British India. Why didn’t they cast my grandmother, the beautiful Kathryn Barlett (though I’m not sure she was a Bartlett yet then), who was ACTUALLY from Georgia? Still, no matter how much Gone With the Wind drags on and makes my brain melt, it is very fun to look at. I have a theory that the amazing dresses in cool technicolor, elaborate sets, and fantastic camera work (and not Scarlett O’Hara) are what made this movie legendary. Oh, and if they had ended the movie at Rhett walking away after delivering his famous line, it would have been 100 times better. 6/10
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2 comments:
I'd seen a few bits of GWTW before, the odd scene, a clip on a "classics" show etc, but last year i sat down and watched it from start to finish and was left somewhere between you and Eitan on about an 8/10.
Yes, Its a classsic, the scope is amazing, yet it tells a very personal story. But my gosh, Scarlett is annoying and i spent a lot of the time wishing i could reach into the screen and grab her shoulders and give her a shake :-) thanks for the reviews.
Vivien Leigh was probably similar to Scarlett in some respects, but I do think that she had to have been acting, especially since you made it clear that she wasn't from the South. This was her first film in set in America in general, much less the South, so she had to adapt to America as well as a Southern culture that Hollywood wasn't very familiar with itself. She got a voice coach, received acting advice from Victor Fleming and secretly from George Cukor, and lived and breathed this film for 6 months. Clark Gable was from Ohio and attempted a Southern accent for about 1 day. So I do think that Vivien Leigh deserved her Oscar in this film, if only for the sheer toll that it all took on her and how convincing she was in it. She put out so much effort...and she was as determined and charming as Scarlett, but I think it's safe to say that only convicted murderers are as bitchy, conniving, and ruthless as Scarlett is (haha, I'm generalizing, but I don't know who else to compare her to).
You're right...it would've been so awesome if the movie had ended when Rhett left her, but of course, this is Hollywood in the 1930s we're talking about.
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