Over-payed Over-praised Hype

Rating: 4/10 (11 February 2011)

When I was growing up, we were all told that "Gone With the Wind" was the greatest film ever made - by anyone - anywhere - of all time. When I finally saw it, years later, it was a colossal disappointment. When I was studying cinema I came across a survey by Sight and Sound, the magazine of the British Film Institute, asking critics around the world the nearly impossible question "What are the best films ever made?" or something to that effect."Citizen Kane" easily got over fifty votes while "Gone With the Wind" received only two, both from American critics by the way. In fact there were dozens of American films which ranked above it on the lists, so what happened? I'm suspecting the Selznik super-sell is responsible for the hype. Someone joked that the the book "Memo from David O. Selznick" was trimmed down from twenty-seven volumes to only one in order to sell it. The funny thing is that people are still listening to the publicity after all these years and some actually are still swallowing it. The film was grossly over-produced and suffered major damage with its hodgepodge of directors. In fact the bogus "Southern accents" have been the stuff for many take-offs and comic skits. So much for "The Greatest Movie of All Time".
Curtis Stotlar