A Film of War Produced During Anxious Times

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2016)

Since I initially wrote this review on July 8, 2016, there have been no less than 135 additional user reviews of this film in only three years and six months. Some of these reviews are good and some are terribly written with no actual explanation of the writer's rating or opinion. On the "helpful" list, this review appears as "number 60", at least at the moment, so I have no idea how any IMDb reader will ever find this addendum. At any rate, if you have any interest in this film, I highly recommend the documentary "The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind", directed by David Hinton in 1988. It offers a unique glimpse of how a movie is made, not just any movie but an exceptional movie.
I am now writing a separate review of that documentary, which mercifully only runs for about half of the running time of the movie itself. As I state below, my one criticism of the film is its unnecessarily long duration, especially the disappointing second half which fails to sustain the drama and spectacle of the first half.
In my view, this movie is primarily about a catastrophic war, specifically the American Civil War, and it illustrates how this war so seriously impacted not only two extended families but an entire region, the American South. It is particularly significant to me that this movie, about the horrors of a major war, was made in 1939, a time when much of the world had already been thrust into another major war, World War II, and when many Americans must have been considering the consequences of our country's potential involvement in that war upon their own lives, upon their own personal situations. The world had become a very frightening place in 1939, and, although the United States had not yet entered the war, many informed, educated Americans must have been very concerned and even anxious about the very real possibility that the raging conflict overseas might one day arrive on their doorstep, including all of the uncertainty, disruption, and physical danger that would inevitably follow.
Some viewers may appreciate the love scenes and the soap opera aspects of this cinematic epic, but what I find far more compelling is the dramatic circumstance of the characters who are suddenly immersed, some willingly and others involuntarily, in the middle of the bloodiest and most traumatic war ever to occur on American soil. I agree with other reviewers who wrote that the movie is too long. I believe that at least one hour could have been cut from it without destroying any meaningful continuity. After the explosive action of the first half, the second half appears somewhat anti-climactic and even boring for me.
This movie is dominated by the central character of Scarlett O'Hara, so powerfully played by a stunningly beautiful Vivian Leigh. All of the other characters, especially the males, seem to pale in comparison to her with the exception of two of her slaves, played marvelously by Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen, who both manage to upstage Scarlett herself, which was not an easy feat. I realize that these were indeed tough times for the State of Georgia, and one had to be strong and determined in order to survive in such difficult circumstances, but did Scarlett have to be ruthless to the extent that she would steal her own sister's beau, a man she did not even love but decided to marry only on account of the economic potential of his hardware store, including its promising lumber business? Some may say that she only did this so that Tara could survive. Would that alone justify her callous, almost inhuman, behavior?
The scenes of beaten, war ravaged Atlanta are very impressive, especially for their time, and must have been a daunting task for the director, Victor Fleming. Although the music and frequent scenes of blazing sunsets behind dead trees have become clichés in time, I think that they were much more effective before "Gone With the Wind" became such a widely familiar cinematic classic to us. In many regards, "Gone With the Wind" has become a victim of its own huge success in the way that its most famous scenes, music, and characters have become too familiar to us and the object of constant spoofing, satire, and even derision. What a shame.
To me, this is a "must see film", not only for Ms. Leigh's remarkable performance but for the historical drama that is so effectively portrayed as the South becomes tragically victimized by the very war that many had initially glorified so unrealistically. The reality of war's horror, conveyed so convincingly in this film, is its most important message. A world in a state of peace and prosperity must never be taken for granted. No one would agree with this more than Scarlett O'Hara herself, a casualty of a major conflict that she never wanted in the first place. Of course, Ms. O'Hara would never allow herself to be victimized by anything or anyone for very long. In any case, "she's not going to worry about that today. She'll worry about that tomorrow."