Review: Gone with the Wind (1939)

Trying to describe the sheer epic scope, drama, and downright awesomeness of Gone with the Wind in a single review, as opposed to several thesis papers is pretty much impossible. There's so much in this film to touch on, from the character arcs, to the subtext, to metaphorical imagery to it's impact on the film art form as a whole.

That being said, I will still try to explain why I think it's probably the greatest American film ever made.

First off, one must applaud Victor Fleming, who, with the unaccredited aid of directors George Cukor and Sam Wood, stitched this massive cinematic tapestry together. It seems most of the work was Fleming's, so I'll be crediting him from here on out. Simply put, he did a masterful job. He not only captures the almost fairy-tail like aura of romanticism that hangs over the pre Civil War south, but he also manages to create absolutely astounding epic battle sequences, especially the sprawling Siege (and later destruction) of Atlanta, Georgia. beyond that, he also extracts absolutely iconic performances from Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel and a group of other exceptional actors, all of whom perfectly embody their characters.

Speaking of characters, it goes without saying that Scarlett O'Hara is one of the most incredibly fascinating female characters put to film, with Vivien Leigh's Academy Award winning performance being one of the greatest ever. She perfectly maneuvers the sprawling, 20 year narrative, from teenage Scarlett who constantly plays with her swarms of lovers, to the increasingly selfish and manipulative Scarlett who comes to dominate the narrative. The film's focus is firmly on her, and Leigh does with such grace and downright sexiness, while also giving Scarlett quite a bit of depth. To further detail all that her character does and what drives her would require it's own, separate thesis paper, it's all so complex. But suffice to say, Leigh IS Scarlett O'Hara, with every fiber of her being.

Clark Gable is possibly the most undeniably awesome and badass guy to ever grace the silver screen as Rhett Butler, and his interactions with Leigh's Scarlett are filled with a burning sexiness and fire to them that makes the screen come alive. He tackles the sprawling narrative with the same easy-going ease that Gable just seems to produce naturally, while also giving Scarlett as good as he gets from her, making their banter some of the best ever put to film. Every one of their scenes is just about ready to explode into a fiery shower of raw sexuality that you're entranced the entire time.

Olivia de Havilland provides a respite of sorts from the hyper personalities of Scarlett and Rhett, as the almost impossibly pure and gentle hearted Melanie Wilkes, who stands as a beacon of goodness in this swirling epic. She takes everything that happens to her with a quiet strength and long suffering, while still maintaing the aura of a delicate flower. Such a sharp contrast to Scarlett, who tackles her problems by becoming an even more bitter person, Melanie instead seeks for the most peaceful solution, while still being able to not loose a strength to her actions. Maybe it's just because she so believes in the good of others that, even as Scarlett is visibly trying to seduce her husband Ashely Wilkes, Melanie still treats Scarlett as her best friend.

I think Hattie McDaniel earned her Oscar as Mammy, who, while obviously being a product of the time period of which the film was made, still is respected by the narrative. She's not treated as a joke or a pointless stereotype to serve as comic relief, but rather as her own character, and is given some really great scenes, such as when she relates the death of Bonnie Blue Butler (Scarlett and Rhett's daughter), to Melanie in an incredibly emotionally raw scene.

Leslie Howard creates an Ashley Wilkes we all love to hate, a fop of a man who is so listless and weak in his morality that he only causes more problems. Too obsessed with the vague southern 'honor' to flat out deny Scarlett's obsessive advances, he instead leads her own endlessly, which of course, causes Scarlett to be even more obsessive. eventually however, Scarlett gets wise, and finally ends her obsession with the realization that Ashley was just leading her own.

Moving on from the acting to the technical departments, the visual effects, such as the burning of Atlanta, hold up shockingly well almost 80 years on. Couple that with absolutely beautiful costuming, art direction and production design, and the film looks absolutely ravishing. Of course, the deeply saturated Technicolor cinematography by Ernest Haller is incredibly beautiful, with it being a textbook example as to why Technicolor was so amazing and still holds up as the gold standard of color film. The colors here just boggle the minds, especially the reds, which are just astounding.

Max Steiner's score is incredible and iconic, a sprawling, deeply romantic epic that flows under the whole film.

A key thing that must be noted is that, while the film is obviously a romanticized depiction of the pre Civil War south, I never got the feeling that the film puts it on a pedestal. For one thing, the Southerners are shown as so honor bound and stubborn that they cause their own destruction, and the film has an incredible objective aura to how it views the opulence in which they live. Of course you feel sad seeing it all go up in (literal) smoke, but mostly because it was so fascinating to look at it, and watching anything beautiful be destroyed is tragic.

So in the end, for me, Gone with the Wind is one of the greatest films ever made, and a standard of which to judge any epic. Incredible acting, incredible characters, and incredible technical mastery create a 4 hour tour de force of a film that has rightly stood at the top of American cinema for almost 80 years.

5 out of 5 stars