Movie Review

Romantic

Gone With The Wind

Gone With The Wind could have been called SCARLETT'S STORY, for at its heart it is the tale of a woman, Scarlett O'Hara, who survives and thrives through a series of disasters. As the fickle but resilient Scarlett, Vivien Leigh gives a tour de force performance. Looking deceptively like a helpless young woman, the ever-conniving Scarlett has every man in sight wrapped around her finger. Well, all except the one she really wants, Ashley Wilkes, played as a wimp by Leslie Howard. Marrying men she doesn't love, using convict labor to line her pockets and lying through her teeth, Scarlett's guile knows no bounds.

"If I hear one more word about war, I'll run in the house and slam the door!" she declares to two of her would-be beaus in the beginning. The country may be on the brink of a massive bloodletting, but she will hear nothing about it. Her world of fancy balls and BBQs will not countenance any such intrusion, even if the first shots of the civil war have already been fired. When the "glorious" news arrives that the war has officially begun, the men go wild whooping it up as Dixie plays in the background. The intense foreboding of this outwardly happy scene makes it arguably the movie's most moving.

The Philadelphia Story

 Philip Barry wrote his great romantic comedy, The Philadelphia Story, especially for Katharine Hepburn, shaping it to her strengths and eccentricities. The play opened on Broadway on March 29, 1939 and ran for 416 performances. Its critical and commercial success was a personal triumph for Hepburn.

All the major studios wanted to buy the play, but Hepburn, in a shrewd move, purchased the screen rights with the help of William Hurst. Hepburn cleverly had written into the contract a stipulation that her two leading men should be stars with marquee value, preferably Gable and Tracy. Instead, the film was made with James Stewart and Cary Grant. Ironically, neither actor was considered top-notch at the time, but perfectly cast, both men went on to become Hollywood icons.

Cukor believed in letting comedy happen on the screen, allowing the material to determine its tempo. He was pleased by complaints from his friends that the audience's laughter drowned out many funny moments. "Well, go and see it again," Cukor would say.