Gone With the Wind (1939) **1/2

Rating: 6/10 (24 May 2005)

(!Spoilers!)
I finally got around to dedicating four hours to this celebrated film, and while I had to admire its radiant Techincolor cinematography, strong characterizations and magnificent musical score (thank you, Max Steiner), I could not savor much of the actual movie itself. Therefore, I consider GONE WITH THE WIND way overrated in the rankings of all time "best" films. While it's very appealing on a technical level, it struck me as an ordinary soap opera dressed in vibrant garnish. It's an ugly, gloomy movie that's all prettied up with fancy decoration. If not for this lavish treatment, this would not be anywhere near as praised as it is today.
This is one of the long epics that really feels like it, and the meandering love story could have been told in half the time. The first side of the picture is mostly drawn out exposition, and it isn't really until the second half that WIND kicks into higher gear and finds its stride. As I said from the top, one positive is that all the characterizations are quite potent, and that goes double for Academy-Award winning Vivien Leigh, who succeeded continuously in making me despise her as Scarlett O'Hara, a hateful and abusive witch that makes you wonder why anyone would want to spend these four hours with her, never mind a lifetime (as clueless Rhett Butler so desperately wants to do). Scarlett is so mean and self-centered that I couldn't have cared less what happened to her (and I really wanted something to happen to her). I suppose that's part of the idea - but I can't get four hours of entertainment out of that unless O'Hara is actually Baby Jane or Lizzie Borden. How are we supposed to sympathize with her plight?
What does Scarlett see in geeky Ashley Wilkes? More importantly, what does Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) see in HER? Oh, right, I forgot - she's feisty, strong, says what's on her mind, etc. -- but it should have been quite clear to Butler that a marriage with this user could never work. And when they finally do tie the knot (after she's been married twice already to men she cared even less about than Rhett! HELL-LO!) it turns out that Butler finally sees he made a mistake. Well, maybe not -- because one minute he wants a divorce, the next minute he's hoping they can work things out, then it's back to divorce, then a pregnancy lights up his eyes again. Back and forth, back and forth, two and a half hours, three hours -- and finally, like me, he decides he just doesn't give a damn. Well, duh!
So Rhett rejects Scarlett. Their little girl dies. Goodbye Ashley Wilkes. Lovable Melly bites the dust too. But at least there's always tomorrow, and Scarlett still has her old land and another chance for Rhett. Ugh. While dramatically well rendered, it's all so sullen for this kind of a movie.
I still give GONE WITH THE WIND a rating of **1/2 ("Fair"), because it's certainly at least that - and especially taking into account its great cinematic strengths. When I think of this film, I keep hearing that marvelous, grandiose main title theme, and I keep seeing the beautiful orange sky with Leigh as a silhouette in the night swearing she'll never be hungry again. I see impressive camera shots, like the tracking sweep where Scarlett walks among row after row of fallen war-worn bodies. The only way I could use the word "classic" in good faith is to say this film is a classic case of style over substance.