Victor Fleming | 224 mins | DVD | PG / G
I thought I’d seen Gone With the Wind but, watching it again, it’s clear I hadn’t properly.
This is partly because I first saw it on TV, in two halves, a week apart, each starting at 1am. I just about managed to follow the story, in between drifting off for whole chunks. Another reason is the quality of the restored print on the DVD: it looks stunning, every frame is beautiful; it’s a shame no films look like this today.
The performances are uniformly excellent, especially (of course) Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable; though special mention must be made of the fantastic Oscar-winning Hattie McDaniel as Mammy (the first African-American to be nominated for and win an Oscar, and deservedly so). The direction is brilliant, displaying styles you think weren’t invented for another 20 years; all of the design work is gorgeous; and the story is epic and expertly told, moving across genres (romance, war, melodrama, comedy) with ease.
It’s easy to see why this is the most popular film ever made. First time round I just thought it was very good; now it’s firmly one of my favourites.
It seems to have become fashionable to be highly critical of this film, but I see it as a prime example of the art of epic filmmaking. I remember my mother dragging me along to see this in the cinema when I was very young (I guess it must have been the 40th anniversary revival) and I wasn’t at all keen to go. Still, I remember the sheer scale of the story and production drawing me in and I ended up really enjoying it.
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I suppose nothing is safe from the whims of fashion, and this kind of grand, melodramatic style isn’t realistic enough for some present tastes. Their loss!
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Oh indeed. It’s marvelous filmmaking in my opinion and if that makes me unfashionable, well so be it.
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