Was Cameron possessed by David O. Selznick?

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2002)

"Titanic" and "Gone With the Wind" have much in common: both were enormous, sprawling, troubled productions, and both dealt with actual historical events. But their place in history is based more on their pop-culture influence than on their presentation of these events. They both have some extraordinarily beautiful sequences, yet both are hampered by clunky dialogue and some painfully inept performances. (Billy Zane would have looked right at home in a dinner theater production with all of his histrionics). And it has been well documented that their creators (in the case of "GWTW", that would be producer Selznick, not any of the five or more directors) were obssessed with their respective creations. And certainly, each consumed tremendous amounts of money, though their earnings seemed to justify the expenditures. But it begs the question-what is the morality of spending so much ("Titanic"-$200M) when there is so much actual need in the world? Oh well, at least "Titanic" didn't have those god-awful "southern" accents like "GWTW". News flash to Hollywood-nobody in the known universe talks that way.