Gone With the Wind

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular and Unforgettable
Review: This movie stays with you forever because it has unforgettable characters. Scarlett and Rhett, the main characters are strong, dynamic engrossing personalities. Many other unforgettables include Mammy, Aunt Pitty, Melanie, and of course Prissy. These characters come together magnificently to form the greatest movie of all time. This story is about the Ole South and its downfall and reconstruction and how it changed the lives of the people involved. It's inspirational because Scarlett shows much courage in dealing with adversities and is determined to rise above hardships no matter what the cost. It's also a great love story between Scarlett and Rhett who are like souls made for each other. Rhett knows this immediately but Scarlett doesn't catch on until much later. There's a lot of excitement and energy in this movie and it draws you in emotionally and never lets go. It's courageous, humorous, tragic and sometimes all of these things at once. The casting of Clark Gable as Rhett and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett is perfect and could never be improved. This movie was made in 1939 and is still shining brightly for new generations.

Rating:
Summary: Full frame is the original aspect ratio
Review: To those who think the GWTW DVD is "pan-and-scanned", think again. Movies weren't made in the wider aspect ratios until the mid-50's. The full frame DVD is in fact the original aspect ratio -- and the film looks incredible on DVD considering it is 60+ years old.

Rating:
Summary: READ THE BOOK, TOO.
Review: "Gone With the Wind" is a terrific film and probably the best possible cinematic rendering of Margaret Mitchell's 1,000-page novel, but I hope that fans of the movie are also well acquainted with the book. While most novels are much better than the films made from them, audiences usually prefer to take the short cut and just see the film. It's their loss.

Sure, the book's very long and not p.c. at all, but it's a fast and vivid read (though somewhat repetitive) that supplies a tremendous amount of thoroughly researched historical and literary detail missing from the movie.

Although both book and film harbor some nasty attitudes and demeaning speech patterns, I think it's very important for those who have only seen GWTW on the screen to know how author and studio differed in their respective approaches toward their subject and their characters. Ms. Mitchell was surely allowed her input during filmmaking, but a number of unnecessary alterations crept in that don't seem quite right.

Both versions carry the same powerful anti-war message, but the book makes a clearer implication that a plantation culture built on slavery is inherently doomed, and the author has less of the filmakers' nostalgia for the Dear Old Days. The movie's cloyingly sunny portrayal of slavery is fortunately tempered in the novel.

Another theme -- present in the film but heavily expounded in the book -- is that Old South society (and its tenacious postwar ghost) also held its WOMEN in bondage. While the screen Scarlett seems only to be fighting for food, Tara and Ashley, the Scarlett of the novel, the daughter of a free-thinking Irishman, has from the beginning been engaged in a private war for personal freedom of which she seems scarcely aware (with Rhett and Melanie as her only allies). Her thought processes are re-examined by the author at each battle. In the end she can't accept her brilliant victories, and she brings herself to grief by her stubborn pursuit of a useless ideal. If the film viewer wonders why this is, the book reader knows that Scarlett also takes after her mother, who as a girl had also failed in the pursuit of hopeless love.

Ms. Mitchell gives her main Black characters (Prissy excepted) far more dignity and authority than they have in the movie: Pork isn't such a whiner; Pittypat's Uncle Peter isn't this Willie Best type (chasing the Christmas-dinner rooster) but has status in his family just as Mammy does in hers; Big Sam is not the goofy field foreman arguing over "quittin' time", but is promoted to capable overseer after Jonas Wilkerson is fired. This is not to condone the racism, but it isn't quite so bad in the book.

Even the Yankees get a little break: a kind army doctor quartered at Tara ministers to Scarlett's two sick sisters.

In order to keep a tight plot, the sceenwriter had to omit many characters (such as Scarlett's other two kids), which may leave a few vague questions in the viewer's mind that are answered by the novel:
Who's running Tara in Scarlett's absence? The book provides a homeless veteran with farming skills who eventually saves Suellen from dreaded spinsterhood.
Why does Jonas Wilkerson disappear as a threat to Tara after his takeover attempt? Well, one of the County boys, missing from the film, takes care of him.
Can Melanie's baby digest cow's milk? He doesn't have to. Prissy's midwife mother (who never taught her "'bout birthin' babies") actually exists and is there to help.

Also absent from the film are: the wonderful horsey daily life of the pre-war County; Gerald O'Hara's biography and how he won the hand of a young society girl from Savannah; the true cause of Gerald's rage that led to his death; the interesting details of the Confederates' leap-frog defense of Atlanta.

One customer reviewer here finds the second half of the film more disjointed than the first half. This is because the post-war section of the book covers a much greater time span and variety of events in the characters' lives.

At only one point does the film outclass the novel, and that is in the last couple of scenes and Gable's parting shot. (Actually, Gable's entire performance is a major asset.) But then it goes and dulls the edge by dwelling on Scarlett's dewy-eyed hope of getting him back. At the end of the book her prospects don't seem so certain: Can she really get him back or is she just as blind as ever? And how can she live at Tara with Suellen as its mistress?

Rating:
Summary: An aging classic
Review: An aging classic

Rating:
Summary: Pure Entertainment.
Review: First I must tell you; I'm 10 years old. I listen to AC/DC and Metallica. I watch movies like Demolition Man and Road Warrior. Second, I loved this movie. It isn't nearly the greatest movies of all time, but it's easily on of them. I'm not the romance type but this movie was truly intriguing. People who said this movie was terrible, get a life. Those people who siad this was stupid, had a silly story and bad acting are the same people who gave Cinderella II 5-stars. It's quite obvious these people don't know good acting when they see it. The first Cinderella was great, but I've despised DIsney sequels, and they go direct-to-video for a reason. This won, no, let me correct myself, this EARNED 10 academy awards. This should tell you something. The academy is rarely wrong (this year was an exception. I [ticked] that Lord of the Rongs didn't get Best Picture. But A Beutiful Mind was still great.), and should be used as a guideline for watching movies. Now stop reading reveiws and go watch the freakin' movie!

Rating:
Summary: A great movie classic with bonus materials for GWTW fans
Review: This edition of Gone With the Wind has a great picture and sound quality, plus bonus features that every fan will enjoy. This is a great addition to anyone's DVD collection.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: So the film is racist. Until racism is completely eradicated -- and, let's face it, we still have quite a ways to go -- let's not get too smug about the film's take on slavery. So the special effects look a little creaky in places. Well, the same can be said about Star Wars. Movies are products of their times. The very best ones survive, often to endure criticism from more "enlightened" or "sophisticated" generations. (As if we really make quantum leaps in our development every 20 years or so.)

Taken on its own terms, this is still a great piece of storytelling. The acting, writing and direction are all first rate. And the film, like the book, has a timeless theme -- survival -- that is embodied in an unforgettable heroine. Read the book first. It's a first-rate piece of fiction. Then sit back and enjoy the film.

Rating:
Summary: Ahead of its time in all aspects!
Review: For four hours, "Gone with the Wind" takes you on a pseudo-historical journey through the life in Georgia at the time of the Civil, war, while spicing it up with some humurous segments and romantic scenes. Sounds like a cliched story? Not even close! Begin by considering the date the movie came out: 1939, and you realize that most of the elements in the movie were probably decades ahead of its time. The two main characters (played by Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable) were definitely groundbraking: she, with her selfishness that turns her into a person without scruples who is willing to marry men out of interest, with no regard or respect for other people's feelings; Gable, on the other hand, a womanizer who doesn't "give a damn" (the last line he delivers in the movie is simply brilliant and timeless!), he doesn't participate in the war until a bit of conscience comes up and bites him, but inside, he is a good man.

Now, on to the technical aspects of the movie: they're also well ahead of their time. Cinematography: simply amazing. At the time Technicolor was just fresh out of the oven and this movie sure exploits it well: some of the shots of silhouettes against the red sunsets or a carriage against a falling burning building are breathtaking. In terms of effects (if you want to call them like that,) the explosions, fires and even more, a shot of a huge area covered with war victims (both, dead and alive) which is zoomed out on, as a Scarlett (Leigh) starts to walk through it, is a lesson for contemporary "digital" directors, such as George Lucas, whose two most recent Episodes are packed with blue screens and artificial components. The music (that tune you've heard once and again in the Oscars and elsewhere...) I mean, there's not a single element in the movie that you'd regret or consider timed. These will be the best four hours watching a movie you are likely to spend in quite a while.

Rating:
Summary: This is One of my Favorite Movies
Review: Ever since I discovered GWTW back in 8th grade, I've been very interested in it and didn't get to see the movie until I bought this off amazon.com! I LOVE classic/old movies and I can see why GWTW is a classic staple! It has romance, vivid imagery, and superb actresses/actors. It deserve its every bit of recognition and I'm glad it won those academy awards. This is one of those movies I'll treasure for many years to come. I'm sure many of you would love it. The video has surprisingly good quality images and the sound is great too. I love Gone With The Wind!

Rating:
Summary: One Classic That's Worth The Hype!
Review: The first time I saw Gone With The Wind, I was probably seven years old. While it was hard to grasp the entire meaning of the movie at that time, I knew this was more than just another Civil War film. A few years later, I read the original novel on which this was based. Though there are a few minor details that were changed for the movie, on the whole, this is a great film.

The plot follows tragedy after tragedy on the plot of searching for love and trying to escape poverty. The fantastic costumes, unearthly beauty of Vivien Leigh and the charming handsomeness of Clark Gable, the extravagant indulgence of the scenery and brilliant camera angles (such as photographing the shadows during melancholy scenes)all adds to one great viewing pleasure.

I've seen the movie well over 50 times by now, and you know what? It NEVER gets old. I can't wait to buy myself this DVD, which includes the original trailers for the film and other extras.

A must-own in one format or another.