Gone with the Wind

Let's start with the 8 original limited edition lobby card prints. They're obviously colorized, and hideously so. Mammy in a neon pink headdress? The same neon pink as the stripes on the soldier's pants at the charity bazaar? I don't think so. And excuse me, the dress Scarlett wore when she fled from Atlanta and for some time after that was lavendar, not French's mustard yellow. Nor is anyone's skin that "flesh" color, ever.

Moving on to the 6 original black and white photograph cards (and why would you print black and white photos of a beautiful color movie like this, anyway?)...I could have done a better job on my home computer, with screen captures. The pictures, which include Rhett at the bottom of the stairs seeing Scarlett for the first time, are very blurry. Even the close up of Rhett and Scarlett about to kiss (after Frank Kennedy's funeral) isn't clear.

The 35 mm film frame I received was of Rhett bidding Scarlett farewell on the road to Tara; the accompanying art graphic is very dark and muddy. I have to hold the film cell up to bright light to even see it, so forget about framing it.

The 27x40 movie poster was very nice, and I'll end up getting a frame to display it.

The DVD lists its "special features" as interactive menus and scene access; isn't that pretty much standard by now? The extras consist of a trivia game (you don't guess the answers, they'll give them to you on the next screen) and the movie trailer. That's it. One of the greatest films of all time, and that's the best you can do? What about the excellent documentary "The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind"? I have that on VHS and it's wonderful. That could have been added to make a two disc set.

I'd wanted "GWTW" on DVD for a long time, and instead of buying the much less expensive DVD (where I could have had a choice of standard or widescreen versions), I had to hold out for the big box set. I wonder now why I bothered.

I had written this off as a silly commercialized Hollywood fairly tale but recently decided to give it another look. Basically, I think the claims of racism are far overblown, especially compared to other films of this era. It seems to me that Selznick and company went to great pains to stamp out the more overtly racist themes of Griffith's famous 1915 film. For instance, Scarlett's attempted rapists were all white; real black actors have menial but still important roles; those black actors are treated with dignity and respect; and finally the "n" word probably more frequent in southern parlance of the day was replaced with the more delicate term of "darky", and never used in a scornful fashion. And while establishment opinion in the North still clings to belief that the Civil War was a most noble and unselfish effort, the truth was something much less certain. Surely slaves in the prewar South were not all treated as gingerly as in this film; but just as certainly they were also brutally repressed in the North as well (just watch Gangs of New York for a history lesson on Northern feelings towards African Americans). All wars have a side people would rather forget, and this one was certainly no different. Also on the positive side, the film does a good job of capturing this broad historic period with smart scenes amidst well designed sets. It's really quite a grand production, in color no less, with a marvelous historical and cinematic scope.

On the less positive side, the heralded performances I think are a bit overrated. Clark Gable's presence helps considerably, but he is certainly not nearly as natural or comfortable as he was in It Happened One Night. And Mitchell's sappy, soap operaesque story frequently slips nearly into the preposterous, especially in latter scenes of the film when the historic takes a back seat to the dramatic. But maybe that's what gave the film its broad appeal, as it has a little of something for everyone. I think another factor may have really launched its success: released during the cold winter of 1939, its four-hour sitting time gave depression-weary Americans a warm night on the town for a cheap price that they could all afford.

Regarding the standard edition DVD, its very serviceable but the extras are appallingly poor for a film of this esteemed history. Also, Spanish subtitles would have been nice (only has English and French).