I just got home from watching Gone With the Wind on one of those great huge old movie theatres, the Senator Theatre in Baltimore. 
I hadn’t seen the movie since I was a young teenager, and had forgotten most of it, except the memorable lines. I am not sure that the film aged well, and was certainly not the least bit politically correct. In 2012, it will be 75 years since GWTW was filmed.
Of course, the costumes were fabulous, but I couldn’t help but thinking about how difficult, and hot, it would have been to lug those long dresses around, with the huge hoops and numerous crinolines. 
Vivien Leigh is just stunning, but I wasn’t wild about Clark Gable. 
And there certainly wasn’t lots of great interior decoration to be seen in the film, even after Rhett and Scarlett move into their mansion.
One funny thing I noticed, was that the Wilkes’ siblings, Ashley and India. Do you think another pair of siblings with the same names were named after them?
 ashley hicks |  india hicks |
Have you seen Gone With the Wind recently? What do you think?
ashley hicks
india hicks
I thought India was always so-named because of her grandfather being the last Viceroy of India. But the co-incidence is remarkable; how clever to have spotted it.
ReplyDeleteHow I wish that this movie will be remade. It must be exciting. This is one of the greatest film of all time.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid all the large screen theatres in this area have closed, though there is one old news theatre I've not visited lately (must check that out). I loved GWTW, as did my Mom. I think in her eyes my Dad's worst shortcoming was that he fell asleep during the movie!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I think Ashley was named after his grandmother, Edwina, whose maiden name was Ashley, before she married Mountbatten. So maybe the GWTW thing is very coincidental.
ReplyDeleteI just love GWTW. I see it about every other year. I'll have to agree that Clark Gable isn't "all that".
ReplyDeleteEach time we see it my husband teases me about being a spoiled Southern girl.
Col... I knew about India Hicks' name, but not Ashley's! I just thought the coincidence was funny.
ReplyDeleteI grew up loving the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, then unconsciously named my two daughters Mary and Laura. I made no connection back to the books until family teased me about it. Who knows what our minds will bring to the surface at a crucial moment, like naming?
ReplyDeleteI do like that GWTW's set designer made Tara the rather square, plain, dusty house described in the book and not Hollywood antebellum.
I watch GWTW once or twice a year on TCM, and enjoy it every time. Much funnier than I remembered it as a child. VL is absolute perfection in the role of Scarlet. Clark Gable never bothered me, I think he's a fine Rhett. The worst miscasting (and it's a howler) I think was Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes. For starters he was too old for the role, and he didn' even bother to attempt a southern accent. Apparently he thought the whole thing beneath him, and it shows in his performance. And who doesn't love Hattie McDaniels as Mammy?
ReplyDeleteRead the book when I was 13 (perfect age) and was swept away. Saw the movie when I was 14 and enjoyed it. Watched the movie again when I was 45 and could barely sit through it -- what a cheesy soap opera.
ReplyDeleteCostumes --the actors were wearing costumes. Readers of this post(PTD) should read about Margret Mitchell the writer that created Gone With the Wind. I have read she was not involved with the movie production-- what kind of compensation she received when selling the rights-- she came from a family of lawyers- thus as her relatives wanted to write wills a child could understand Mitchell's writing and book is a testament that she was able to reach a significant audience of readers. She won the Pulitzer Prize .
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched GWTW in quite some time, but my daughter is a huge fan and never fails to tune in when she finds it while channel-surfing. Having endured unbearable heat here for the past two summers, I will never understand how the women of that era could bear up under the weight of those long-sleeve, floor-length dresses, of course with no AC. It makes me hot just to think about it.
ReplyDeleteWe also went to see it at an old movie theater -- The Gusman in Miami, FL -- http://www.gusmancenter.org/about/
ReplyDeletein the late 80's before children. It was a real treat to watch on the big screen and in the lovely old theater. I still enjoy watching it (or parts of it!) from time to time when it's on television.
OMG Gusman Hall in downtown miami, florida. It is a beautiful venue. I attended a Jimmy Buffett concert and a Leo Kottke concert there. Incredible acoustics and intimate-- those men are true musicians in every sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the Hicks family naming scheme, but those are two very good-looking folks! I would like to think they were named after the GWTW characters, it's kind of romantic...
ReplyDeleteThere is a new PBS documentary on Margaret Mitchell, made in By the GA BPS people. It has been broadcast here (Georgia)to good reviews and will soon be shown nationally on PBS for you GWTW fans! I saw a lot if it and thought it was very well done.
ReplyDeleteI watch this movie at least once a year. I want Aunt Pittpat's Atlanta townhouse - the double parlor with the window shades and baywindow, the etched glass pocket doors, the staircase landing - KDM
ReplyDeleteMy late Mother would always tell me about wanting to see GWTW. Alas, she was not allowed due to the scandalous Capt. Butler who uttered the word "damn." But she was determined and finally talked her cousin into sneaking her out under guise of "church" work to see it. Whenever it played on the big screen near us, my Mother would take me to see it.
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