CineMaven wrote: ↑October 3rd, 2014, 2:29 am
I admit I felt a little obligation to “The Classics” in my original reason to go see the movie. Reading some posts around FaceBook put a little of that ol’ enthusiasm bug in me. Not so quick on the draw with my keyboarding, I was timed out several times with Fandango to purchase my movie ticket, but I finally secured it.
It wasn’t until I heard those first three-seconds of Max Steiner’s score in that sound system that my SENSES kicked in. I was ready for the journey. I was ready to invest four hours of my life, but hearing Steiner kicked in an investment of my emotions into “Gone With the Wind.” This movie is 75 years old and the depth and breadth of this film astounds and overwhelms me. It’s so interesting that they put ALL the credits at the top of the film, and nothing behind it but “THE END.” You sort of don’t want to be aware that you’ve just watched a film; you’ve witnessed Life.
Every classic film fan knows “Gone With the Wind.” We know it so well we only need its acronym (
“GWTW” ) to know what movie it is. I know there are movies people like better, which is fine; they can go talk about those. I want to share what I was struck by with this movie, and hope it resonates
with you.
CASTING
Wonderfully cast down to its toes and smallest detail. Everyone seems to tell the full story of their life in just one or two strokes. And I don’t only mean the big five, but I mean bit parts: the older woman and man who find out they lost their son but the band plays on, the man who’s carrying a dying comrade and is refused a carriage ride, the dying soldier, a mere boy, who’s dictating his last letter and many more.
SWEEPING DEPTH & BREADTH
An entire world is created in “GWTW.” I’m looking at extras and background people, far far far away from the leads, who add to the ambience of the film. The full life of the world behind the leads was remarkably robust. Then there’s the barbecue at Twelve Oaks, the chaos of evacuation, the hustle and bustle of Reconstruction. Crowds, crowds of people waaay in the distance. Hell, to me just seeing Black Union soldiers passing by was something else. Slices of life.
MISE-EN-SCENE
This might sound all yada yada yada, but I have to say the mise-en-scène of the movie is an incredible package. The editing ( Melanie reading to the women while waiting for the men to return from Shanty town ) - costumes ( those dresses, and Rhett’s outfits, were to die for ) - cinematography ( Mr. O’Hara telling Scarlett the value of land ) - the technicolor, the fluid way the camera moves, the sound ( I thought Sherman’s army was about to bust into lower Manhattan’s Battery Park ) - all of it was assembled perfectly.
SCENES
( * ) The crane shot at the railway station. The waste is staggering.
( * ) Scarlett watching a leg amputation. Her revulsion.
( * ) The dolly-in shot to Scarlett in her blood red gown at Melanie’s party. ( Yo, what was that gown doing in Scarlett’s closet anyway? )
( * ) Rhett carrying Scarlett up the stairs.
( * ) Rhett heartbroken over Scarlett’s miscarriage.
( * ) Mammy on the staircase imploring Melanie to speak to Rhett about Bonnie’s funeral.
( * ) The conversation in the carriage between Melanie and Belle Watling. Incredibly intimate and poignant. I really watched those two actresses. Their eyes rarely left each other. A wonderful scene among so many wonderful scenes. ( Ona Munson, you were great! )
( * ) Rhett and Scarlett always being at cross-purposes.
( * ) Rhett pulling the horse and wagon through the fire at the railroad station is worth ten years of movies alone.
THE ACTING
“GWTW” is really a petrie dish to examine performances. I think the movie is a proving ground where all involved could prove they could act. Not that they all didn’t come with a pedigree beforehand. They did. But they’re given a real solid chance here to strut there stuff.
HATTIE McDANIEL ( Mammy ) -
“Mammy’s a smart old soul. And one of the few people whose respect I’d like to have.”
They may be the boss, but SHE is in charge. As fiercely protective as a mother bear. Discretion, ethics, disapproval and integrity all shown within the confines of the box she’s in. Ha! Sometimes she’s out the box too. Scolding Scarlett or weeping on the staircase recounting the latest goings on, I get it, I get it. No matter the circumstances that brought her to them, the O’Haras ARE
Mammy’s family; She does a fantastic job overseeing them. I wish to thank the Academy too. And Miss McDaniel.
OLIVIA deHAVILLAND ( Melanie ) -
She is true. She is quietly and regally true. It’s not that she’s such a goody-goody in this movie; that’d be the easy way out - an easy way out I took for years watching her in this movie. But this time, I took away something new from deHavilland’s performance. I could see she looked past a person’s exterior and saw into their heart. She had quiet strength. She looked at Belle Watling with understanding, helped to console Rhett, unabashedly loved Ashley and admired and maybe even pitied ( ?? ) Scarlett. In her unassuming way she took control when Ward Bond was waiting outside her door, or when she told Belle:
“You mustn’t say unkind things about my sister-in-law.” And what courage did it take for her to greet Scarlett in front of her and welcome her in; the pause in her sentence:
“India was unable to come tonight. Will you be an angel. I do need you to help me...receive my guests.” Or when she did what she could do when she dragged Ashley saber out when an intruder came into the house. DeHavilland took a not-too- glamorous part and really made you at least try to see things as she saw them.
CLARK GABLE ( Rhett Butler ) -
Gable. Girls I need a moment. .... .... .... Okay. Handsome, dashing, virile no doubt. But underneath all that bravado, underneath all the girls he can muster up at Belle’s place or gambling debts he may have, he can be humbled and vulnerable. He convincingly expresses many emotions in the movie. He could be devil-may-care and mocking. He could see Scarlett’s spit and moxie fire up his imagination and keep him interested.
He asks for the kiss; a real kiss and not some peck you’d give a pup. A kiss Scarlett means from her heart. A kiss a hundred of Belle’s girls couldn’t deliver. He’s hurt when he sees it’s Ashley’s picture under his foot. I loved the quiet way he says
“And do you know I can divorce you for that?” before he kicks down the door. He’s furious when he throws the glass at Scarlett’s portrait. He’s overflowing with love for his daughter and crushed when Scarlett has a miscarriage. He gives her a million chances because he loves her so. I think Gable was robbed of an Academy Award. I think it’s best performance.
VIVIEN LEIGH ( Scarlett O’Hara ) -
“You’re a heartless creature, but that’s part of your charm.”
She can deaden her eyes with contempt, or make them sparkle with hope. And she can do more with
one raised right eyebrow, than Meryl, Helen and Cate combined. And I
love those actresses.
Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett carries that entire movie on her slender delicate shoulders. You have to have the strength to do that and a good director guiding you. Vivien Leigh commits to being this wrong-headeded, head-strong girl. Through it all, we see her spirit. She might bend a little but she won’t break. Her sense of survival is strong. She’s resourceful and coquettish. If you take her seriously that’s your own look out. She is quite beautiful in all her scenes. Yeah, even when she vows never to go hungry again. She faces adversity squarely because she has to, but is scared to face Melanie at her surprise party for Ashley. She grows from a Southern belle with not too much in her head to a smart businesswoman clawing her way through and after the war to help her family. She’ll do what she can to get ahead - work with prisoners...or steal your beau. But the movie is about a girl who has to learn her toughest lesson; her Achilles Heel is loving a man who does not love her.
“You’re throwing away happiness with both hands.”
We watch her through the entire movie with this thought in mind. No matter what she does in the film, it always goes back to Ashley. It’s tough watching her wrong-headedness...but there is a lesson even in that. The man that’s right for her is her equal, can match her in temperament, will not let her get away with anything. But she wants what she cannot have, a dream...an illusion.
I’m picturing every actress in Hollywood sitting in a theatre in 1939 to see WHO got the role of Scarlett O’Hara, many of them thinking that
they could have done this part; after all Vivien Leigh is British. But they’d be wrong ( yes, even you Paulette Goddard and you’re my girl! ) There was a combination of things they needed, that Vivien Leigh had in spades. What they were looking at up there on the screen was a woman who played many women, who understood many emotions, who played them subtly, delicately. A woman who had charm even when she was being selfish. They were watching a woman, an actress, a star who would carve out a performance that would last 75 years.
“Gone With the Wind” will be timeless.
“GWTW” trivia shown before the movie