- Film Review
- Reviewed By Andrew Collins
-
5 out of 5
Running to nearly four hours and boasting at least three directors, this epic American Civil War romantic drama is more of a symbol of the Hollywood studio system than a mere movie. Forever dividing critics, it will remain an audience favourite for all time. A war picture with a beating female heart, thanks to the bestselling source novel by Margaret Mitchell, it was, in 1939, the most expensive film ever made: $4 million, and the money is up there on the screen in impressive set pieces such as the burning of Atlanta and the shot where the camera pulls back to reveal a vast carpet of wounded Confederate soldiers. But the key is Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara, a wilful but resourceful southern heroine (designed to inspire women as America readied for the Second World War) who's destined to meet her match in Clark Gable's raffish Rhett Butler. Where's the slavery, you could ask. But this isn't a history lesson, it's a love story, and one of the best.
Plot Summary
Oscar-winning romantic drama based on Margaret Mitchell's epic novel, set against the bloodshed and turmoil of the American Civil War, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland. As the war rages on, roguish Rhett Butler and wilful southern belle Scarlett O'Hara become passionately involved.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Scarlett O'Hara
- Vivien Leigh
- Rhett Butler
- Clark Gable
- Ashley Wilkes
- Leslie Howard
- Melanie Hamilton
- Olivia de Havilland
- Mammy
- Hattie McDaniel
- Gerald O'Hara
- Thomas Mitchell
- Ellen O'Hara
- Barbara O'Neil
- Aunt "Pittypat" Hamilton
- Laura Hope Crews
- Dr Meade
- Harry Davenport
- Belle Watling
- Ona Munson
- Suellen O'Hara
- Evelyn Keyes
- Careen O'Hara
- Ann Rutherford
- Prissy
- Butterfly McQueen
- India Wilkes
- Alicia Rhett
- Big Sam
- Everett Brown
- Uncle Peter
- Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
- Charles Hamilton
- Rand Brooks
- Frank Kennedy
- Carroll Nye
- Dolly Merriwether
- Jane Darwell
- Maybelle Merriwether
- Mary Anderson
- Emmy Slattery
- Isabel Jewell
- Jonas Wilkerson
- Victor Jory
- Bonnie Blue Butler
- Cammie King
- John Wilkes
- Howard Hickman
- Stuart Tarleton
- George Reeves
- Caroline Meade
- Leona Roberts
- Beau Wilkes
- Mickey Kuhn
- Johnny Gallagher
- J M Kerrigan
- Cathleen Calvert
- Marcella Martin
- Elijah
- Zack Williams
- Rene Picard
- Albert Morin
- Fanny Elsing
- Terry Shero
- Old Levi
- William McClain
- Yankee deserter
- Paul Hurst
Crew
- Director
- Victor Fleming
- Director
- George Cukor
- Director
- Sam Wood
- Director
- William Cameron Menzies
- Director
- Sidney Franklin
- Share this episode
-