It's pretty hard to talk about classic films and not discuss Gone with the Wind; it's also hard to discuss Gone with the Wind period. This epic film is still collecting praise and criticism today, and, as this past December marked the 75th anniversary of its release, Gone with the Wind is in the spotlight more than ever (at least in this decade). This record-breaking, Oscar-winning film was one of, if not the biggest cinematic undertaking of its day. Yet, Gone with the Wind was, and still is, criticized for its portrayal of slavery and its glorification of the society that upheld and defended slavery. It's a depiction that is more than a little difficult to swallow, and I don't deny or excuse it; yet the film continues to captivate audiences, drawing in new fans every year.
The movie, based on Margaret Mitchell's best-selling, Pulitzer-winning novel, follows the petulant Southern belle, Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh). The movie introduces Scarlett and her care-free plantation life on the brink of war; spanning nearly a decade of Scarlett's life, we witness the South enter the deadliest war ever fought on US soil, the devastating repercussions of the war, and the long struggle to rebuild after the South surrenders. Through all of this, we also see Scarlett survive the war, stubbornly refuse to submit to the Yankees, and fight relentlessly to maintain her family's home, Tara-- all while juggling the various men in her life. She works her way through marriages and men, yet all the while pining for her "true" and unrequited love, Ashley (Leslie Howard). But, Gone with Wind is best known for its tumultuous relation between Scarlett and the charming, devil-may-care rogue, Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) who is determined to make Scarlett forget about the honorable, indecisive, and decidedly married Ashley.
Gable and Leigh during filming. Such a gorgeous shot. Via.
"Sir, you are no gentleman." - Scarlett
"And you, Miss, are no lady." -Rhett
While Scarlett and Rhett's love-hate affair makes the pulse quicken (for some), the real appeal of the film for me is the characterization of women. It goes without saying the Gone with the Wind is a women's film; the story is driven by women-- two very different women, to be exact. There's Scarlett, who is a spoiled but unshakable woman, and Ashley's wife, Melanie (Olivia de Havilland), who is the polar opposite. While Scarlett is strong, if also manipulative, Melanie is a kind-hearted and empathetic woman- but also frail and weak.
Ashley (Howard) in between the two very different women who love him: Melanie (De Havilland) and Scarlett (Leigh). Via.
I find it so interesting that the agreeable woman with the morals of a saint, also happens to be the most lack-luster character in the movie. (I also maintain that Melanie would had died ten times over, if not for Scarlett.) Meanwhile, scheming and conniving Scarlett is saving the day with her ballsy, no-holds-barred attitude.
"You know what trouble I's talkin' about. I's talkin' 'bout Mr. Ashley Wilkes. He'll be comin' to Atlanta when he gets his leave, and you sittin' there waitin' for him, just like a spider. He belongs to Miss Melanie."- Mammy
In one scene, Scarlett is described as a spider, and there is no better description; she uses her looks and charm to captivate her prey, but all the while she is ensnaring them in her web of lies, deception and greed. And yet despite all that, Scarlett is still the much more interesting heroine compared to the prim and proper Melanie. I've always thought that together, Melanie and Scarlett would make the perfect woman: tenacious and willful, yet gracious and good-natured. But as we all know, there's no such thing as the perfect person: thus our fascinatingly flawed characters.
Leigh walking on set in the famous curtains dress. Via.
Besides the romance and its study of female heroines, Gone with the Wind is also a story about the deep South, a society that was built upon two main pillars of tradition: decorum and slavery. This is where the controversy begins. The book and film is, in its most basic essence, a homage to the Old South which institutionalized, defended, and fought to sustain slavery. Even though slavery isn't the focal point of the film, it's difficult to watch a movie that's commemorating this backwards society.
Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) waiting on Scarlett (Leigh). Via.
To make things even worse, the film gives an offensively sugar-coated depiction of slavery. Gone with the Wind presents generous and tender-hearted slaveholders who own smiling, complacent slaves who love their masters like family. This flagrant disregard of history and the true nature of slavery is disrespectful and demeaning to the real victims of slavery. And yet, I still love and appreciate this film; the world still loves and appreciates this movie, being the highest blockbuster ever (with ticket prices adjusted for inflation). How is this possible? How can we look past the offensive aspects of this film?
Personally, I think you can watch and appreciate GWTW if you approach it as an educated and knowledgeable viewer. As long as you know and recognize that this portrayal of slavery and the South is preposterous, you can see and enjoy the other aspects of the film. In my mind, GWTW is really about a woman's struggle and survival in the face of war, poverty, and a nation changing at an accelerated speed. The film powerfully shows the waste of war; the death, destruction, and sorrows experienced by all involved, no matter which side you're fighting for. And I think that's what has continued to draw people to the film year after year.
Probably the most cinematically beautiful, but thematically tragic scene in the film.
When the book and movie first hit the scene in the 1930's, victims of the Great Depression related with Scarlett's struggle with hunger and poverty; later in the 40's when the women entered the workforce while the men went to war, audiences again saw their own lives mirrored in Scarlett's. And today, the story a fierce, yet flawed character determined to survive no matter the costs, still appeals to us.
"As God as my witness, as God as my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again...If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God as my witness, I'll never be hungry again."
Filming of one of the Atlanta hospital scenes, where Melanie and Scarlett care for wounded soliders. Via.
In addition to Scarlett personal journey, the performances and artistry of the film demand to acclaim. When producer and studio head, David O. Selznick bought the rights to Mitchell's novel, it was seen as a career-ruining move. To everyone in Hollywood, this was the unfilmable film; there was over 1,000 pages of story to tell, scenes- like the burning of Atlanta- that seemed impossible to film, and fans that were so passionate about the novel they would decimate the film if they were unhappy with portayal. There were countless other obstacles Selznick was up against, including consistently in-the-red budgets, egocentric directors, and discontented actors. Selznick might have walked away from GWTW with 8 Academy Awards, but he also acquired racked nerves, an addiction to Benzedrine pills, and a career peak that he would never reach again.
Shooting of GWTW actually began before casting was even finalized. With the studio lot over-crowded with sets from past films, like King Kong and King of Kings, Selznick had the brilliant idea of using these discarded sets as kindling for GWTW. With stand-ins for still-to-be-cast actors, the first footage of GWTW was the famous burning of Atlanta, in which they literally burned down the back studio lot. As rumor has, it was during this initial filming that Selznick was introduced to his Scarlett O'Hara.
"Take a good look my dear. It's a historic moment you can tell your grandchildren about- how you watched the Old South fall one night."
Shooting the famous burning of Atlanta scene with stand-ins. Via.
From the very beginning, Clark Gable was a shoe-in for Rhett Butler-- to everyone expect Clark Gable. Seznick, Mitchell, and, essentially all of American, wanted Gable as the charming Southern rogue. Gable was finally cast basically against his will, when Louis B. Mayer (competitor studio head of Metro-Gowdwyn-Mayer, owner of Gable's contract, AND Selznick's father-in-law) made a deal with Selznick: his top star and $1.25 million in exchange for worldwide distribution rights and half of GWTW's profit for the first 7 years. So while Selznick increased his budget and landed his lead actor, his leading lady remained elusive. Enter relatively-unknown British actress, Vivien Leigh.
One of my favorite costumes in the entire movie. Via.
Leigh had recently arrived in Hollywood with her then-lover (and future husband) Lawrence Olivier. When word of GWTW reached Leigh, she immediately knew she was meant to be Scarlett. In very Scarlett O'Hara fashion, Leigh quickly attached herself to Myron Selznick- Hollywood agent and none other than David O. Selznick's brother. The day Atlanta was burning in Hollywood, Myron and Leigh laid siege on the back studio lot. Myron marched up to his brother with Leigh on his arm and introduced the two saying, "Hey genius, meet your Scarlett O'Hara." The rest, as they say, is history.
While it seemed all of Selznick's stress and woes were over, the nightmare was only beginning. In the 125 days of filming, Selzncik went through 3 different directors, $4.25 million dollars, over 800 extras, and endless script re-writes. Meanwhile, the actors were miserable too: Gable, who detested being in the film in the first place, couldn't stand the original director (George Cuckor) and convinced Selznick to hire Victor Fleming (a personal friend of his) in Cuckor's place. Well this was all fine for Gable, but Leigh and co-star Olivia de Havilland were crushed; they had already worked weeks with Cuckor and formed a strong connection with him. To make things worse, Fleming was not a "woman's director" and had more trouble relating with his females actors. While the rest of the cast eventually adjusted to the new director, Fleming and Leigh fought like cats and dogs until the very end of filming.
"I believe in Rhett Butler. He's the only cause I know." -Rhett
Clark Gable laughing behind the scenes with good friend and director, Victor Fleming. Via.
Fleming wasn't Leigh's only cause for stress. She is literally in 99% of this constantly emotional, nearly 4-hour movie. Her filming schedule was endless, and her prep-time in hair, make-up, and costume was double that of her male counterparts. On top of that, Selznick forced her to move-out of her live-in situation with Olivier; with both Leigh and Olivier still legally married to their first spouses, the image of the film could have been seriously hinder if their scandalous relationship became public knowledge (never mind the fact that said film happened to feature two philandering and shamelessly immoral characters). When not filming, Leigh spent most of her time calming her nerves with an unlikely distraction: the board game Battleship. De Havilland remembers being so impressed with Leigh's ability to seamlessly jump in and out of character. She'd go head to head against Gable or De Havilland in Battleship, and a minute later transform into Scarlett in front of the cameras.
So Selznick, Gable and Leigh were all miserable, but I think the black cast had it the worst. With the year being 1939- a good 15 years before the Civil Rights movement- the sets were, for the most part, segregated. For the initial part of filming, the studio even had segregated toilets on set (sound familiar?) When Clark Gable became aware of the segregated toilets, he immediately phoned Selznick's office; Gable informed the studio head, "If those toilets are still here tomorrow, I won't be." An admirable first step, however the sets for the most part still remained segregated.
Butterfly McQueen and Hattie McDaniel on the set of GWTW. Via.
Racial segregation became an even bigger issue at the film's grand Atlanta premiere. Because of the era's Jim Crow laws, none of the black cast members were allowed to attend the Georgia premiere. Papers recently found in Selznick's archives, reveal that the producer actual fought for Hattie McDaniel (Mammy) and the other black cast members to attend the premiere. It's said that Selznick, being Jewish, was actually very mindful of the similarities between racial prejudice in the United States, and the persecution of Jews Hitler was currently orchestrating throughout Europe. Atlanta's then-mayor eventually convinced Selznick that the exclusion was for the safety and protection of the black actors, and the Atlanta premiere remained whites-only.
Although the premiere in Georgia is a very large and upsetting stain on the legacy of GWTW, history was made during the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony only a few months later. Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award when she received Best Supporting Actress for her spectacular performance as Mammy. (MAJOR SPOILERS, but this scene is, in my opinion, why McDaniel deserved and won her Oscar.)
The scene in which McDaniel earned her Academy Award. Such raw emotion. Via.
Of course even steps forward, no matter how big or small, still caused controversy. Similar to Selznick, McDaniel would never escape Gone with the Wind or her role as Mammy- people wouldn't let her. On the one hand, Hollywood is the to blame, failing to provide substantial and dignified roles for black actors to portray. But McDaniel also experienced severe condemnation from the black community. She was criticized for degrading herself by taking on such a demeaning role. McDaniel's continued to play Mammy-like maids and care-takers for the rest of acting career, and continued to receive disdain and criticism. McDaniel's once defended herself and her career decisions saying, "Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I wasn't, I would be making $7 a week being one." Despite (or maybe rather in spite of) the harsh judgement she received, I see Hattie McDaniel as an inspiration- a true Scarlett, willing to survive no matter what it took.
Including McDaniel's Oscar, GWTW was nominated for 13 awards total and won 8 of them, including Best Actress for Vivien Leigh, Best Director for Victor Flemming, and Best Picture. In addition to its prestigious array of awards, GWTW has lived on in the fabric of our culture thanks to the numerous parodies and tributes of the film that have been made throughout the years. The best of which, in my opinion, is Carol Burnett's "Went with the Wind" sketch. If you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor and watch it right now.
The GWTW cast and crew at the Academy Awards.
(From left: De Havilland, Selznick, Leigh, and Lawrence Olivier) Via.
Gone with the Wind continues to be discussed, criticized, analyzed, and celebrated to this day, 75 years after it was first released. Although there are both good and not-so-good aspects of its legacy, the film in my opinion is a true cinematic classic. Great film should push boundaries and advance technical capabilities. It should make audiences laugh, cry, and be slightly uncomfortable at times. It should start a conversation. I think Gone with the Wind does all of this. After all, it was considered to be the unfilmable film, until David O. Selznick took a career gamble and proved everyone wrong. And thank goodness he did.
