Gone With The Wind

This is quite a movie. I have seen it before but recorded it the last time it was on TMC. It ages well. The picture of Southern plantation life that is now Gone With the Wind with the South's defeat in The Civil War.

The movie was controversial at the time with stereotypical performances of slavery. Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Oscar as she won the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance of Mammy. Criticized by the NAACP for her portrayal she stated she would rather make $700 playing a maid than $7 dollars being one.

Vivian Leigh playing Scarlett O' Hara was a beautiful woman. Chasing Ashley Wilkes while befriending his wife was a complicated thing. The Civil War and Sherman's march to Atlanta ruins Tara and her way of life.

Her father had always told her land was the most important thing. As the movie ends after all her trials and tribulations she realizes she wants to go home to Tara to start over.

Some of the great movie lines " Fiddledeedee, Frankly my dear I don't give a damn, and " I'll think about it tomorrow" are in the cultural lexicon.

The perfect Melanie ( played by Olivia D' Havilland who is still alive) is a perfect contrast to the manipulaitive Scarlett. Clark Gable as the rake Rhett Butler is legendary in his performance.

This is the rare movie that despite it's being dated in places and telling of a time and place most of cannot even comprehend and even with the wonderful cast becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Small characters like Big Sam, Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Mead perform their roles perfectly. This is a great movie. It is unrealistic in many ways, Mammy may have stayed with the family after the War but most slaves were very happily accepting of their freedom. Still this was a way of life and the movie does tell the tale well of the receipients of slavery and that while the practice was evil being ingrained in a society does not mean that all practicioners were evil. Things acceptable today will not be in 100 years. Things change.

Sometimes a society burns brightest before it flames out. The South in the 1950's was Supernova only they did not know it.

Don't take it too seriously and you can enjoy this movie a great deal. I did. Vivian Leigh's eyes alone make it worthwhile.