126. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Running Time: 238 minutes
Directed By: Victor Fleming, George Cukor
Written By: Sidney Howard, from novel by Margaret Mitchell
Main Cast: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland

I HOPE I DON'T CATCH TOO MUCH HELL FOR THIS ONE

So finally we arrive at the grand epic, that is "Gone with the Wind". Eventhough this is one long, nearly four hour film, I'm going to bust the synopsis up into two parts, just for the sake of keeping things a bit more organized.

PART I

The film is set on Tara plantation in the state of Georgia, in 1861. Right off the bat we're introduced to the main character of the film, Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh) and her receiving the news that Ashley Wilkes (Howard) is getting married. Scarlett has had her eyes on Ashley for sometime, but she missed her opportunity, as Ashley is all set to marry his cousin, Melanie Hamilton (de Havilland). The following day at an annual barbecue, the news of the marriage is made public and Scarlett, being her usual selfish, spoiled self, proceeds to flirt with every man at the party, until finally, out of spite, accepting a marriage proposal from one of her many suitors, Charles Hamilton. It is also at this party that we're introduced to Rhett Butler (Gable), a suave gentleman from Charleston, who exchanges only few words with Scarlett, when he overhears her quarreling with Ashley and professing her love for him. At about the same time, war is declared and the Civil War begins, with all men enlisting, including Ashley and Charles. Before going off to war Charles ties the knot with Scarlett and in just about as quick of time, Scarlett becomes a widow, after Charles dies of pneumonia, during battle.

Scarlett's mother later suggests that Scarlett go to the Hamilton home in Atlanta, so that she may forget about Charles and hoping to see the return of Ashley, she jumps at the idea. Upon her arrival, Scarlett is accepted with open arms by Melanie Hamilton, a very kind-hearted, unselfish lady, the exact opposite of Scarlett. While attending a charity bazaar, Scarlett once again meets Rhett, and the two share a dance together, despite the fact that Scarlett is supposed to be in mourning for her late husband. The war carries on and the battle of Gettysburg is tough on the confederacy. Ashley is granted a three day leave over Christmas and arrives home long enough to visit his wife and hear Scarlett profess her love for him, yet again.

Eight months pass and the Union soldiers are running roughshod over the town of Atlanta. With Melanie in labor and with all the doctors in town tied up, tending to fallen soldiers, Scarlett is forced to deliver Melanie's baby herself. The baby boy is born, but the Melanie and Scarlett realize that they need to flee Atlanta. Rhett Butler arrives on a horse and carriage to take the girls, along with the baby and Prissy, the house servant, out of town and back to Tara. They travel far, but eventually, once the gang is out of trouble, Rhett leaves the ladies to fend for themselves, stating that he's going to enlist. Scarlett and Melanie make the rest of the trip alone, arriving at Tara, to find that it's surprisingly still standing. She finds her father, two house servants and her two sisters, but is pained to find out that her mother died. With no food and the Union soldiers still in charge of the area, Scarlett goes to the top of a nearby hill and makes her famous exclamation, "As God as my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"

PART II

Following the intermission, the movie picks right up, with Scarlett taking charge and putting her servants and sisters to work in the fields picking cotton. Melanie is still weary from the long travel home, so she's pretty much bed ridden and Scarlett's father has gone a bit mad, after the loss of his wife. Soon after, Ashley arrives home and Scarlett obviously still holds a flame for him, catching him alone in the field and begging him to take her away from all this, so that they can be lovers. Ashley admits that he wouldn't mind doing so, but that he could never break the heart of Melanie. The O'Hara/Hamilton/Wilkes bunch get more bad news when they realize that they must come up with $300 tax money, or they'll lose Tara. Scarlett makes a visit to see the now imprisoned Rhett Butler, who is being held by the Union and begs for the money, but he doesn't give in. Eventually the money is given to Scarlett, by another one of her former suitors, Frank Kennedy, who now owns his own lumber mill and who Scarlett schemes into marrying her, so that she can get at his money.

With the taxes paid and Scarlett now married for a second time, she takes over the lumber mill, also taking over the profits and using them to open up a sawmill, which later becomes a success during the rebuilding stage, after the end of the war. Some time passes and Scarlett becomes a double widow, after the death of Frank during a melee with the Union troops. With Frank's body barely in the ground, Scarlett makes her third marriage, and this time to the recently released Rhett Butler, who promises her a life of luxury, as he is now rich. The two get married and have a baby, which they name Bonnie Blue Butler. When visiting the mill one night, Ashley catches Scarlett alone and they are caught embracing, by two women of the town, including Ashley's sister, India. The embrace was harmless, but the rumor is spread and the reputation of both are in jeopardy.

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Let me start off by saying that if I were rating this film in sets, costumes, score, cinematography or acting, it'd be a winner. However, I feel the need to rate this film on an enjoyability level and when doing so, I'll have to admit that I didn't enjoy it all that much. Everything pre-intermission was fantastic. The story flowed along well and everything just meshed together beautifully. Scarlett gives her famous speech on the top of the hill, in a jawdroppingly gorgeous scene and BAM!...we're into the intermission. Then part two begins and they lose me. I mean, I'm still able to follow everything that's going on, but there's not a whole lot going on and this movie really starts to wear out it's welcome and get extremely boring. Part one is jam packed with stuff: the whole Ashley/Melanie wedding and Scarlett's protests, the beginning of the war, the birth of Melanie's baby, the trip back to Tara...all great stuff! Part two barely has anything going on, except for Scarlett's final two marriages and the return of Ashley Wilkes. Everything else is just filler and maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that even the cinematography diminishes in part two, as I can remember a lot of gorgeous imagery from part one, but barely any from the second part.

Another complaint, and maybe this is a silly one, but I'm going to try and explain it anyway, is that this movie, in some places, is too GRAND for it's own good. There's a scene with Scarlett and Rhett on the top of a hill, right when Rhett leaves the two girls to continue to Tara on their own. They sky is bright orange, the placement of the actors is perfect, the shot is breathtaking, the dialogue is all crisp and perfect, and then I realize that this is so good, that it's taking me out of the film. I'm finding myself breaking off from the picture and realizing that this is blatantly over the top, and not necessarily in a bad way, but in enough of a way that it's taking me out of the film. It's like all the realism that this picture could possess is lost, because everything just looks TOO good and the film is screaming "I'm JUST A MOVIE!!". I don't know, maybe none of that makes much sense, but bottom line is, that this is a real chore to sit through, ESPECIALLY everything post-intermission. Like I said, the movie really wears out it's welcome, and in my opinion this could've been cut down to right around three hours, and I would've enjoyed it that much more and probably would've actually considered myself a fan of the film. Vivien Leigh was amazing, Clark Gable was great, there were a lot of great things about this film, but when it comes down to it, I was bored out of my freaking skull, and ultimately I didn't really enjoy myself, and really that's what movies are all about...enjoying yourself.

RATING: 5/10 I've never and will never apologize for a rating I give, but I'll understand anyone who wants to come here and put up a fight over that rating. It's just the rating that I thought this film deserved overall.

NEXT UP: Le jour se leve...or Daybreak...Entering the home stretch of the 1930's and with only five films remaining, we begin those five with this one. Review will be up tomorrow night.

March 2, 2010 10:41pm