Gone with the Wind

Rating:
Summary: Classically classic...
Review: My friends and I love this movie and have ever since we watched it after school in AP History. There are few movies that come close the the quality that this film has achieved. No other can top a line such as, "I left my muff at home and it's cold. Can I borrow your pocket?" We will laugh about that one forever. If you haven't seen this movie because you live under a rock, you are regrettably missing one fantastic classic!

Rating:
Summary: What a Movie Should Be
Review: Cinematography, Art Direction, Screenplay, Casting, Direction, Set Design, Period Costuming, Lighting, Sound, Score: you name it, and this film has the best. It still, after 64 years, outshines near everything else to come out of Hollywood since.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie, With some minor flaws
Review: I am going to keep this short and sweet because I don't really feel like writing right now. Gone With the Wind is an excellent movie, and a quick classic. The first disc contained more worth as a movie than all of Ben Hur. It also has amazing colors for a movie done in the 1940's. But I would recommend this movie to anyone, especially if you are looking for a good historical movie with a good story also.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Suprising
Review: I had avoided this classic for my entire life based on my false assumption that it was going to be the original and ultamite chick flick of the ages. Willing to give anything a shot, I finally watched Gone with the Wind and was very impressed. I am sure there are a lot of people that feel the same way I did about this movie and still have not seen it, but I suggest they not make hasty decisions on something that they have not already experienced.

As I watched the movie, the most impressive thing to me was just how vibrant the colors are on the dvd. Along with those vibrant colors, the sharp tongues threw me off guard at first and led me to enjoy the dialogue as well as the picture. The plot was very interesting and kept me interested throughout this lengthy motion picture. Throughout the film, there are a lot of interesting characters and many were perfectly casted. However, no movie is complete without a great ending, Gone with the Wind takes itself to the top of the movie mountain and doesn't look back. Powerful, appropriate and ever-lasting in all our memories, simply one of the greatest of all-time.

As I already stated, I was very pleased with Gone with the Wind, it is funny, witty, charming, emotional, powerful and the list goes on. It does not become a stale cliche like we have grown so accustomed to. I have finally realized why Gone with the Wind is truly a classic among classics and hope that those who have not taken the time to view this movie do so, they will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A Sweeping Civil War-Era Production
Review: A wonderful 1939 classic that has been on DVD since 1999, Gone with the Wind is often regarded as the greatest movie of all time, having won an astounding total of 10 Academy Awards. This motion picture, alone, has set so many standards for theatrical producers in the realms of: acting, producing, directing, photography, editing, and screenplay. It is, without doubt, at least one of the five most significant films ever.

Just as Steven Spielberg came to regard director David Lean (Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.) as a, if not the, primary role model in terms of how to direct and produce, David Lean, in turn, very likely looked up to Gone with the Wind director Victor Fleming as both a source and standard of how a motion picture was to be made, especially where epics were concerned.

Gone with the Wind, for obvious reasons, laid the foundation for other great films that would later come to be and was an expensively made film during its time. However, 1939 was not a year where many special effects were available. Despite the reality of this limitation, it seemed as if Fleming and the production crew knew exactly when and where each scene was to be laid out.

Where the special effects were not added, the simple elements of nature were used as perfect enhancers for the cinematography of each sequence throughout. Where latter-day movies might include computer graphics, bright costumes, and flashy jewelry to add to their elegance, the making of Gone with the Wind used prevalent, prominent landscape settings. For instance, the intermittent filming of the pastel colors of late-afternoon and early-evening skies created silhouettes that set the mixed tones of both the Confederacy's finest and darkest hours.

Combined and synchronized with the wonderful theme music by Max Steiner and the human elements played out by a superb cast, the luminescent indoor and outdoor sceneries that consisted of candlelight and shadows seemed to further set in the mood. And perhaps it is because of this total packaging that film critic Leonard Maltin has come to regard Gone with the Wind as "the pinnacle of Hollywood moviemaking".

Rating:
Summary: A Hollywood,,,,gone with the wind.
Review: This is still the best movie ever made in American History. Actually i believe it would be unAmerican to dislike this film in anyway. The acting, costumes, story, and the greatest of all movie music scores ever written. Max Steiner has ALWAYS been my favorite movie music composer. He has a certain talent for creating theme music for each character in a film. His talents are extremely missed in the films that are made today. The director, screenplay, and most of all the brilliant cast is something that will never be seen again. This was an era that is now "Gone With The Wind."The DVD version is excellent. I remember seeing this film in several different formats but this DVD version remindes me of the 70mm reissue back in the early 70's which was pain-stakingly restored. If you don't have this version, get it. It's a great movie plus an important part of American History both for the Civil War and the technology that was used to film this 1939 epic.

Rating:
Summary: American fairy tale......with a bite
Review: I'm 17 years old, and I saw this movie for the first time last week. My overall impression was that this was indeed a golrious masterpeice of 30's film-making, backed up by a cast worth their weight in gold, though not without it's faults. I cannot begin to cover all aspects and themes of the film in this review, so I'll just go over the aspects whihc struck me as the most important.

Firstly, Scarlett is essentially the heroine and the villain of the tale all in one. Gable's character seems to represent the viewer; hypnotized by this morally troubled enigma of a woman.
Though the weight of the story is certainly the backdrop of the American civil war, it was clear from the first line uttered by Scarlett O'Hara that this was going to be a character driven tale. No doubt Gone With the Wind's enduring appeal is due to Scarlett and Rhett's major character flaws, and yet their sheer strength and determination keep us spellbound. I think it's this constant contrast between Scarlett's selfishness and ruthlessness, and her moral determination to hold onto Tara in the memory of her father which makes her plight so enthralling.

Of course this is all made the more interesting by the portrayal of the Southern way of life before the war, awash in cloud-swept sunsets and endless countryside. And yet all the time you can never forget that under this bright and breezy exterior lies a way of life based on slavary and prjudice, and the viewer is constantly aware that the crefree way of life in dear old Tara is largely doomed due to the inequalities this way of life depends on. However, it could just as easily be taken that the movie to a large extent glorifies a way of life based on slavary, here, the morals of the story (or Selznick's vision) are hard to differentiate.

I do agree that this is a tale of two halves; the first half could easily have been the best movie I had ever seen, wheras I felt the story lost it's way slightly; ironically when the romance between Scarlett and Rhett was realized. Firstly the change in character between the first and second halves of the movie are all too clear. Beaten by war and hunger, you are surely meant to think Scarlett's selfishness and almost shamless affluence have been replaced by sheer courage and determination (altogether now: "I'll never go hungry again.") But the real message given by the second half of the film, is that the war has only made Scarlett relentlessly sef-sentred: when she can't get the tax money from Rhett, she marries her sister's boyfriend, she herself builds a business based on slavary, and the "Never go hungry again." spiel takes on an altogether darker tone. The message here as far as i can see, is that no matter what your intentions, war will change people in ways which cannot be helped or foreseen.

However towards the end of the story, these contrasts and convictions which have been so perfectly developed begin to loose their hold, as endless plot points are crammed into the last hour: babies, trips to London, more babies, falling down stairs, death, all in the space of half an hour, whereas the first half took it's time to develop the characters as they came to terms with war, and it's all the better for it. Even if it was almost 4 hours long, I would still love to see the reported 48 minutes which were cut from the movie edited back in, maybe for some big new DVD release.

One big mistake which really can't be forgiven though is the film not ending with Gable's immortal last line. It's pretty clear the only reason he stayed so long was because of Bonnie, and it was just foolish to suggest Scarlett could somehow get him back; surely Rhett's leaving is her final punnishment for her selfishness.

But for all it's faults, Gone With the Wind remains a movie experience like no other; a tragedy in the truest sense of the word, but with all the trappings of an American fairy tale. When your watching, you want take your eyes of it, and when it's finnished, you can't stop dreaming about it.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Film of all time - DVD version is lacking
Review: What can you say? This is arguably the best film of all time and if you doubt it... you've either have poor taste or been living under a rock. This film came out in 1939... about the time the last Civil War Vets were dying of old age, and the Civil War was relatively "fresh" in the country's mind. Old wounds die hard.

I just watched this DVD version. Two main things: 1) When we think of this of this we imagine some epic classic movie, yet we forget how witty and funny this film can be at times. Mostly from the interactions between Rhett and Scarlett. The facial expressions and quick quips from Scarlett are priceless. 2) This DVD would have gotten 5 stars, but I was a bit disappointed with the special features that usually come with all DVDs. There really wasn't much there. They should have included some type of documentary of the making of the film and interviews from Leigh and Gable. I know they're out there since I've seen them.

Rating:
Summary: Good classic. Still worth watching even not in wide screen.
Review: At first I was disappointed with the 4:3 format of this movie. However, since the original was not produced in wide screen, I reconsidered and now believe that this movie is worth buying and watching due to its excellent artistic quality.

Rating:
Summary: O.K. ROMANTIC COMEDY FROM HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE
Review: File this under guilty pleasures.