Revisiting Gone with the Wind (1939) and its Problematic Legacy

by Tony Dayoub

From my column in this week's Wide Screen:

Next month marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, and 150 years ago last month, the first shots of the American Civil War were fired. Here in Atlanta, now a mecca for many African-Americans well-versed in the rich history of the city’s civil rights movement, one can still find dubious organizations, like the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression.

In fact, living in present-day Atlanta is a curiously dichotomous affair. The past and the present are constantly juxtaposed in the strangest of ways. Take our midtown, a thriving collection of gleaming, new buildings reaching into the sky and surrounding landmarks like the iconic Varsity restaurant (the largest drive-in joint in the world), Peachtree Street’s Fox Theatre (once – and sometimes, again – a luxurious movie palace), or the Margaret Mitchell House, the place where the author wrote a large portion of Gone with the Wind until moving out in 1932. The Margaret Mitchell House itself is emblematic of Atlanta’s and, indeed, the South’s tendency to rehabilitate its image in light of its dubious history before the civil rights era.

Mitchell and her second husband, John Marsh, never actually had the run of the entire house, affectionately nicknamed “the Dump” by the novelist. In 1925, when the building was a 10-unit dwelling known as the Crescent Apartments, Peggy Mitchell (as she was known to her fellow journalists at the Atlanta Journal) and Marsh moved into Apartment 1 on the ground floor. Last week, I took a tour of the small flat. I was shocked by its size, so tiny that the radiator is bolted to the living room ceiling. Much of the furniture in the apartment, though not actually Mitchell’s, is of the period. And many of the objects that occupy the rest of the museum are replicas, looking accurate despite not being the true antique objects of value.

So it is with Gone with the Wind (1939), a film that only approximates the truth about Southern society pre- and post-Civil War, distorting its more unsavory realities...

CONTINUE READING AT NOMAD EDITIONS: WIDE SCREEN

Blu-ray Review: Charles Laughton x Two - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and The Night of the Hunter (1955)

by Tony Dayoub

This week brings us a few wonderful Blu-ray releases, two of which feature Charles Laughton at his best. One stars the portly British actor in his most iconic role. The other showcases his filmmaking talents and might be the most essential release of 2010. Let's start with that one.

DVD Review: The Warner Archive Collection

If you're a movie buff, then by now you've heard of Warner's clever DVD scheme, an initiative to address thousands of film fan's requests to release hundreds of titles still unavailable. They've opened their vault and begun an MOD (Manufacture-On-Demand) program under the moniker of The Warner Archive Collection, with 150 titles for all manner of cinema lovers be you of the classic stripe or the cult fan. At first glance, I found a whole lot of movies I hate to admit I wasn't familiar with. But I, most excitedly, also found at least 4 titles I've longed for: the George Pal-produced Doc Savage (1975), directed by Michael Anderson (Logan's Run), and starring Ron Ely (Tarzan); Countdown (1968), directed by Robert Altman (pre-M*A*S*H), with James Caan and Robert Duvall; The Rain People (1969), directed by Francis Coppola (pre-Godfather) and starring Caan and Duvall again; and An Enemy of the People (1978), an oddity in which Steve McQueen performs Ibsen (surprisingly underrated piece of acting I must say). When offered the opportunity, I requested one of these for review in order to gauge the quality of the picture and sound on movies I was already familiar with. But due to the already high volume of demand, I assume, I received a film I didn't know too well, Strange Interlude (1932), with Norma Shearer and a young Clark Gable. Rather than trying to pick apart a film of which I'm not really too well-versed, I'll instead concentrate on what you might really want to know: Are these DVDs worth getting? The answer is an unqualified YES!!! Many of these films would be unavailable to the cinema lover, scholar, or yes... blogger, if it weren't for Warner's decision to implement this program. They plan on adding at least 20 titles a month (both film and TV) to this collection with the hope of reaching 300 titles by the end of this year, according to Daily Variety. For $19.95, plus shipping, they will manufacture a DVD of any title you order, create a box with some custom art, and get it to you within 5 days. If you'd rather download it digitally, you can do that for $14.95 and view it immediately. Now looking at my copy of Strange Interlude, I can give you some quick first impressions. The video and sound quality are not the best. The print has some noticeable scratches and dust. The sound has a vague hiss heard throughout. Warner is up front about this. At the website, each film has a preview clip that allows you to judge for yourself the quality you can expect. Here is the clip for Strange Interlude: Warner's aim is to provide these films at a nominal price to a small group of fans for that movie. One of the ways they save on production costs is by releasing the films as is, with no additional extra features, chapter stops every 10 minutes, and the most basic of menus (Play is the only option) on a DVD-R. But if you have a long cherished movie or TV series that is dear to you, you'd probably be happy with its availability in any form. And the logical conclusion to this is that if enough people buy a particular title, Warner will probably reconsider an upgraded edition for the mass market. Visit WarnerArchive.com for a list of all titles currently available and vote for a number of the next 20 titles that will be offered in April. Video courtesy Warner Home Video