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Gone With The Wind (DVD)
by Goonerette89
~ If you get the collector's edition of the film you not only have the entire film and its soundtrack remastered over two discs, you'll also get a disc with a documentary concerning the making of the film which is wonderfully insightful as well as extras including film commentaries and galleries, footage from the film premières in ... Atlanta, documentaries on the leading stars Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable and a documentary featuring fellow star Olivia de Havilland, recalling her thoughts on the film. That's the box set that I have but there are a range of sets and special edition packages with the film available on Amazon ranging in price from £8 to £20 currently (Amazon pricing only). ~
In 1939, the year that is regarded to many as Hollywood's greatest, the American film studio's crowning glory was released to the public. In many ways it was quite apt that what was perhaps Hollywood's most celebrated film came about at the end of the decade, one of massive change in Hollywood: the first full decade of talkies and the introduction of the Motion Production Picture Code (Hays Code) being two of the major innovations. If 'Gone with the Wind's most celebrated character Katie Scarlett O'Hara was created during the pre-code era of the '20s, she might have been dressed in stockings and suspenders and caught lifting her skirt rather than effortlessly running up and down grandiose staircases in huge, lavish designs that the audiences have become so familiar with when critiquing this film.
Scarlett O'Hara's costumes are just one of the many famous, and infamous, features that make this classic so beloved though, to this very day. Based upon Margaret Mitchell's 1936 best seller - to this day - of the same name, this epic tale of the South sees romance, war, tragedy, fear, poverty, wealth, courage and patriotism all packed into over 200 minutes worth of glorious Technicolour-painted drama as we led through a tale of a community's struggle through the Civil War between the South and North, and the Reconstruction period.
David O. Selznick and MGM must have been crazy when they decided to create a Hollywood blockbuster based on Mitchell's massive novel. The effort that went into the making of the film as well as the many hurdles to overcome confirmed that; the end result is an American masterpiece, however. The film saw three directors, a two year a nationwide search to find the perfect Scarlett O'Hara resulting in endless screen-tests, a budget of over $3 million, an exhausted director and a very stressed producer finally create one of Hollywood's greatest achievements and book-to-film adaptations. In the end it walked away with eight Academy Awards (plus two more honorary ones), including Vivien Leigh winning her first of two Best Actress Academy Awards playing Southern belles and Best Picture. The only downbeat moment was that 'Gone with the Wind's' leading man Clark Gable lost out in the Best Actor category, unexpectedly, to our very own Robert Donat in 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'. Now if you asked me, I couldn't split them and think Donat, whilst the UK's leading 1930s star, remains somewhere in the top ten finest actors to ever come out of the UK, in both film and on stage, and he proved it with his win; and I think he just about deserved it. Gable and Donat were both up against some other staunch contest themselves including James Stewart and Laurence Olivier; after all it was Hollywood's most celebrated year. His Oscar loss takes nothing away from his take on the film's leading male character, Rhett Butler, though. Make no mistake about it, Gable's charm, looks and charisma made him the perfect Rhett - he was, after all, the King of Hollywood and it was he, whom the public wanted all along to play the part. Selznic's first choice was Gary Cooper. Gable wasn't keen on the part but eventually he gave in and the American public got their man; and he rises to the occasion in every single scene he is in.
The part of Scarlett, though, was a more complexing story. It became the most sought after part in Hollywood and every actress dreamed of it; I couldn't name every actress who tested because it's a long list of stars and soon-to-be stars including Bette Davis and Gable's wife Carole Lombard. There was one beauty who was determined to ruffle a few feathers and win the role and that was of course Vivien Leigh. In a deep love with Laurence Olivier and off the back of English films such as quaint comedies 'St. Martin's Lane', 'A Yank at Oxford' and 'Storm in a Teacup', Vivien crossed the Atlantic with one sole purpose: to play Scarlett. Now it seems that what Vivien wanted, Vivien would get; and it was this attitude that made her perfect to play Scarlett. By this point the list had been rattled down to two or three but the arrival of Vivien threw it all out of Selznick's office window: at first glimpse he must have known this lady, despite her British accent and lack of Hollywood experience, was the woman who will play Scarlett. No, this WAS Scarlett, albeit slightly more beautiful than the character in the novel, her features and dark hair was spot on. Selznick had seen her in 'A Yank at Oxford' and discreetly impressed and had considered her already. It angered many of the American actresses deep down but as one journalist in the South put it: "Better an English girl than a Yankee!"
(Should you get the chance to watch a young Vivien Leigh in the 1938 English flick 'St. Martin's Lane' (known as 'Sidewalks of London' to USA audiences) you'll see the pre-Scarlett Vivien playing a similarly manipulative character, Libby - often seen screaming and crying until she gets her own way, you'll understand why she was rewarded with the leading role in 'Gone with the Wind'.)
The role of the other two major characters, Melanie Hamilton and Ashley Wilkes respectively went to Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard, two more Britons (well, De Havilland is more or less British and despite his Hungarian parentage, Howard was renowned as the 'perfect Englishman'). De Havilland was absolute perfection in this role and brings the placid, sickly sweet Melanie to life with her subtle beauty and acting alike. Melanie is naive but a lovable character who sees nothing but good in other people, including Scarlett. Selznick was impressed by de Havilland here hence he wanted her to play the lead part in Alfred Hitchcock's first Hollywood production, 'Rebecca' which was being made as 'Gone with the Wind' was being completed, but she refused when she discovered her rival sister Joan Fontaine was being tested; Fontaine eventually got the role instead. De Havilland is the only surviving actor from the cast, at 95, and lights the screen up as usual with her lovely smile.
Leslie Howard, like Gable, was not keen on the film and sometimes I cannot help but think of this and that it perhaps shows. Visually he was too old to play Ashley but with make up to make him look more youthful with his blond hair and sensitivity, he definitely looks the part. Nonetheless he was brilliant in most of his acting/directing roles through the '30s and Selznic wasn't having much fun finding a suitable Ashley regarding the American actors so perhaps this really is Leslie Howard's role. Not that the lackadaisical Leslie was going to change his eloquent English accent to a Southern twang. Not once. Unlike Vivien who took lessons to perfect her accent (something that would bring her further benefit when she portrayed her second Oscar winning Southern belle role almost twenty years later in 'A Streetcar Named Desire'). Leslie Howard was the one cast member who didn't even read the novel!
Sidney Howard is the man credited with the screenplay although there was more than one and although only one director is credited, again there was more: Victor Fleming, the only credited director, who was directing 'The Wizard of Oz' replaced George Cukor, the film's original director and Sam Wood, who was directing 'Goodbye Mr. Chips' that year replaced the exhausted Fleming. Cukor was a long term friend of producer Selznick and practically looked like his twin, but he was fired three weeks into 'Gone with the Wind's' production after Gable claimed he spent too much time on the female leads, much to the dismay of Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland, who would have to continue with the stricter Fleming and his new ideas.
"Oh Ashley, I love you... I love you, I do!"
"...Isn't it enough that you've gathered every other man's heart today?"
The film's opening scene takes us to Tara, Georgia, the home of the O'Haras, a family of Irish and French descent including Gerald and Ellen O'Hara and their three daughters: Carreen, Suellen and of course Scarlett. The year is 1861 at the family's cotton plantation, which Scarlett is in line to own; war has yet to interrupt the South. Nearby is a plantation called Twelve Oaks. Twelve Oaks is the home of Ashley Wilkes, the man Scarlett lusts after. He, however is going to be married, in true family tradition, to his sweet cousin - Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett's unscrupulous tendency in flirtatiously targeting men makes her less than popular with her sisters nor any women around her.
"You sir are no gentleman!"
"...And you miss are no lady!"
Along arrives the dashing, charming Rhett Butler, visiting from Charleston after being thrown out of West Point. Despite that he is shrewd and often the main protagonist as the plot unfolds. He upsets locals at Tara when he suggests that those in the South have little chance defeating the superior North in war, which is being excitedly anticipated by men and feared and denied by the women, as Scarlett herself moans as the film opens with her first words, "Fiddle-dee-dee! War, war, war; this war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream." In the meanwhile, Scarlett has her mind on how best to convince Ashley to marry her. Eventually Scarlett finds her moment to tell Ashley she loves him but Ashley is intent on marrying Melanie, whom it seems the rather awkward Ashley is far more compatible with. Rhett overhears the whole conversation, much to Scarlett's horror but he promises to keep her secret. Scarlett, with her mind firmly set on Ashley continues to court him privately in the hope they'll marry. After a period of light flirting, Scarlett accepts a proposal from Melanie's bashful brother Charles and marries him... in the hope it will Ashley will notice and become jealous. Ashley and Melanie get married.
"Great balls of fire!"
When the Civil War finally breaks out, in particular the Gettysburg Battle, destroying the South and reaping havoc around them, Scarlett is called into action to provide and keep her family together; all in the hope that Ashley will return from the war unwounded and alive. Rhett, however, is never far away from the scene and although it seems Scarlett's undying love towards Ashley will never falter, Rhett has fallen in love with Scarlett.
Charles passes away whilst away in the Confederate Army although it hardly seems to phase the conniving, cold Scarlett that her husband has died; she goes to stay in Atlanta where the Hamiltons are, secretly in the hope Ashley will return alive and well... but so does Rhett, who is now a blockade runner.
Charles will not be Scarlett's only victim as she continues hunting down Ashley, using other poor men (or should that be wealthy men?) along the way but as further tragedies and drama unfold around her, Scarlett is made to keep up the courage to fight and help her family and repeat her heroisms. Her ability to deceive and hurt those around her and to cry and fight until she gets what she wants never disappears. It is partly what attracts her to Rhett; her feisty determination in awkward situations makes her Rhett's kind of lady, even if she is in his own words, "No lady". He says he means it as a compliment. Rhett puts his trust in Scarlett in difficult circumstances and the fact she fights until the end and brings herself and those around her through the toughest of situations confirms the belief he has in her. Will the lure of Ashley and the post-war Reconstruction prove to be the pair's undoing, though?
Other notable roles include the brilliant Hattie McDaniel who plays the O'Haras' maid in her fast talking, fast moving role and deservedly won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award (defeating Olivia de Havilland in the process as well as Greer Garson's brief but brilliant debut turn in 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'). This does bring to light the most controversial aspect of the film and that is the slave/race question. They may have been simply been referring to history when the film was made, and let's be honest, race acceptance was still a major problem in the USA in 1939 (McDaniel was seated in a segregated area of the room at the Oscar ceremony and the black actors were not invited to the première in Atlanta due to local laws). It still is to an extent, of course. However the way the non-white characters are portrayed throughout the film does stand out in today's society, it is something you have to take with a pinch of salt. The other controversy of the time was the language use, particularly in Rhett Butler's infamous closing line, however this is very mild nowadays and perhaps not ever a problem in the UK anyway since I can recall the same language being used with no controversy whatsoever in much earlier on in more liberal, 1930s English made films.
'Gone with the Wind' was incredibly innovative in its time, from the rolling title across the screen to the six minute opening credit role, which seldom happened in a '30s film. Most '30s films featured 30 seconds worth of credits and slipped straight into the opening scene but 'Gone with the Wind' was more pompous, more colourful and more epic than anything that had gone previously. Here you're greeted with two and a half minutes' worth of overture and then rolling into the drawn out credit roll, set against a backdrop of Tara's colour and vibrancy; some of which was cleverly painted on at the Hollywood studios. It's worth noticing that Gable's name makes first appearance which is perhaps due to Vivien Leigh's virtually unknown status in the United States at the time; Hollywood's highest paid star would have been put out to see his name credited beneath her although Scarlett will remain the film's truest star.
Max Steiner, MGM's favourite film composer (perhaps mine, too...) sets the score, including the main theme 'Tara's Theme'. Everyone knows it. It's beautiful, it's quite catchy and it is contributes to the film's genius extensively. It's always there. We are spoilt with five minutes worth of 'Tara's Theme' in pure beautiful orchestration until the story of the Old South is told in a few words, elegantly climbing our screen; the music then subtly changes to light orchestration and the sound of a choir, like leaves flapping in the wind: until the words evaporate and we are introduced to Scarlett O'Hara and Tara.
Selznick attempted once again to create an epic masterpiece during the war with 'Since You Went Away' and whilst it was a beautiful film on all aspects, no character could quite match the ferocity of Scarlett O'Hara, no setting could match the folklore of Tara and few have matched the entire film's lasting legend since.
'Gone with the Wind' premièred in Atlanta in December '39 and over seventy years later and well into another century, the film remains the highest grossing film of all time. All 223 minutes of it.
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The Lady Eve (DVD)
by pmcds
Today when we think of a romcom, images of Jennifer Aniston or Katherine Heigl and some unsuspecting male spring to mind, with a cohort of recognisable supporting actors and actresses. Emphasis on the situation and perhaps connecting with the viewer in a cheesy way is the norm. But the more original romcom is far more sophisticated and ... pure, and The Lady Eve is perhaps the best example of such a film. With Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in the lead roles, the subtleties are as impressive as the actual events and humourous scriptwriting.
Fonda plays naive ale heir Charles Pike, fawned over by countless women who want his company and attention for all the wrong (financial) reasons. Stanwyck's con artist Jean Harrington takes a different approach, aiming for his money but making sure their meeting is by chance and putting the onus on Pike to make reparations - a broken shoe he thinks is his fault. With her proverbial foot in the door, she then proceeds, along with her card shark father, to twist him round her little finger. However, as all good romcoms will show you, romance is a game that is often hard to control, and when Jean finds herself genuinely falling for Pike, she has to wrestle with her feelings and who she has become.
Preston Sturges would be a demi-God is today's age of romcom scripts - he'd have a field day. You know that by looking at just how he adapts and transforms Monckton Hoffe's story to create this little gem full of nuances, subtle looks and glances, motions and movements, the camera moving where it needs to and the stars doing their jobs just perfectly. His script is designed to sow tye seeds of doubt in the main protagonists minds as romance becomes the key manipulator in the film.
Yet the focus is never far from the characters themselves, and I think this is the key, and also what makes modern romcoms seem so average and devoid of a certain amount of class - the comedy is used far too much to carry the load, whereas the character driven style that Sturges adopts makes you want to know more and makes it easier for the cast to know them better and get their message across.
The gentle elements of slapstick and satire threaten to rear their heads, and are somewhat adopted, softened by the way that the film shows how the balance of power shifts between the sexes, dominance firmly in Jean's hands for the most part of the film despite the era, balance of character finances and the power of romance suggesting otherwise. A film like this really shows that a romcom can be subtle and stylish and doesn't need to rely on hilarious comedy - clever comedy and character driven style and class is just as effective. Recommended.
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You'll Never Get Rich (DVD)
by Antha87
Title: You'll Never Get Rich
Release Date: 25th of September 1941
Run Time: 88minutes
Colour: Black and White
As my love for Rita Hayworth never seems to fade, I am slowly building a collection of her movies.
A more recent purchase is You'll Never Get Rich. This was Rita Hayworth's first starring role with ... the studio Columbia Pictures. She really had to prove herself in this film as Fred Astaire was best known for his dance routines with partner Ginger Rogers. Therefore many were unsure if Rita Hayworth would have the dance skills to compete. However, as this film proves her skills were more than able, and Fred Astaire also names her as his favourite dancing partner.
You'll Never Get Rich is a comedy set during a war. Although there war is a highly played theme in this film it is never focused on, this means the film is light hearted through-out, the only dramas being ones of the heart-of course! The titile od the film is also from an old war song , it goes along the lines of , 'You'll never get rich, digging a ditch, you're in the army now'.
The film revolves around the farcical romance between Robert Curtis (Fred Astaire) and Sheila Winthrop (Rite Hayworth). Robert Curtis is the choreographer at the theatre Shiela works at as a chorus girl. She pretends to be unsure of routines so she can get extra dancing help from Robert.
The film opens and introduces you to Martin Cortland, a wealthy man who owns a theatre. He is married, but has taken a shine to the chorus girl Sheila. Whilst shopping for an Anniversary gift for his wife-he chooses a back scratcher- he also picks up a diamond bracelet for Sheila with the inscription 'To my darling Sheila' in a bid to win her affections.
However, as shown often in this film Sheila is not a silly girl and has quite a cheeky side so instead of accepting the bracelet she places it back inside Mr Cortland's coat pocket, only for his wife to find it moments later. In a bid to cover his guilt Mr Cortland claims he purchased the bracelet as a favour for Robert Curtis and it is in fact he who plans to woo Sheila. And so the story begins.
After a 'show' dinner to try and convince Mrs Cortland that Robert is in fact trying to woo Sheila things get a bit much for Robert, his reluctance to get involved in marital disputes, engagement rumours, and fear of Sheila's 'brother' (you will need to see the film for this part), see him run off and join the army!
The film goes from here showing Robert Curtis realise how wonderful Sheila is and his attempts at trying to win her affections. Helping him along the way are two very funny characters Swivel Tongue (named so as you can barely make out anything he says in the entire film) and Kewpie Blain. Many laughs are made when this pair offers to cause distractions so that Robert can sneak off to see Sheila.
There are some foreseeable twists in the story line, nothing to dramatic -as I say it is a comedy through and through- and of course you are left with a happy ending!
This film, even if it is not the most magical of old films, is certainly worth watching. I spent a surprising amount of time laughing and chuckling and found it refreshing to see Rita Hayworth portrayed as intelligent and with a rather sarcastic side. As a lot of films in the time often had a lot of the women come across as love struck, sappy and not much else.
The film also offers a few great musical numbers, my favourites being 'So Near and Yet So Far' as all the subtle movements mixed with dramatic turns are quite hypnotising and 'Shootin' the Works for Uncle Sam' as should I ever join the army, this is how I would like to be sent off.
DVD Extras;
There aren't many features on the DVD there are some trailers for other films there isn't anything to write about. I would really love it with film like this if they gave you a bit of back story about the film. This is maybe asking for a lot, but as these wonderful stars are now gone (Rest In Peace all of them!) it would be good to know a bit about how they were picked for the film, how things were on set etc..But I suppose as they didn't even have DVD's back then they might not even think to have filmed such things.
Overall, ll I really enjoyed this film and would recommend it to fans of black and white movies or Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire. It is also a great film for when you just need something to watch, nothing too serious, nothing scary, just some light hearted fun and romance to enjoy one cosy afternoon.
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