Film Friday: Gone With The Wind

You knew it was a matter of time, didn't you, before I posted an entry on what I believe to be the greatest film adaptation of a book ever written.  Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, is the definitive fiction novel about the American Civil War, a name mentioned reverently, which has, since 1939, become synonymous with the film that was adapted from it.  I've seen this film and read this book countless times, but it is because I watched it again this past Saturday that I chose to blog about it now.

Gone With The Wind (the book) was written and published in 1936 by a young Southern housewife, Margaret Mitchell.  The story of the deceptively-tough Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, as she struggles through ten years of the Civil War and the Southern Reconstruction, is a story for the ages, and will go down in history as one of the finest pieces of historical fiction (if not the finest piece).

The debate about who would play the beautiful but tenacious Scarlett went on for several years before David O. Selznick, producer, finally cast a then-unknown English actress Vivien Leigh.  Miss Leigh spent hours trying to perfect a Southern accent, in order to prepare herself for the role.  Though some may have had doubts about her ability to play the part, Vivien Leigh not only acted Scarlett; she embodied Scarlett, and there has never been anyone since who came close to the sweet, wicked way she played the part.

There are several noticeable changes from book to film -- the largest being, of course, that Scarlett only has one child in the film (Bonnie), and two others in the book (Wade Hampton and Ella Lorena).  Selznick claimed that he had Wade and Ella removed from the film in order to paint Scarlett in a more favorable light (since, as Rhett Butler says in both book and film about Scarlett, "A cat's a better mother...!").  Also, some minor characters (such as all three of the Elsings, Uncle Henry Hamilton, the Fontaines, most of the Tarletons, etc.) are removed from the film in the interest of keeping it short.  Rumor has it that if Selznick had stuck precisely to the original story, the film would have lasted 24 hours!

Overall, the film does not vary that much from the book.  Are there changes?  Yes.  But there had to be, otherwise the film would have been too long and the budget much too high.  How incredible is Gone With The Wind?  So incredible that, 72 years later, there has never been even a whisper of a remake.  Do yourself a favor, read the book, and see the film.  It really is amazing.