17 | November | 2014 | Cinema Corner

The next set of reviews we’ll be publishing are some of the ones Roger Thomas has done exclusively for The Stanly News & Press. Roger has written movie reviews for The Stanly News & Press and other outlets for years, long before starting this blog. So we decided it would be good to give readers a sample of his previous work, in addition to posts of reviews of current films. Other reviews will run daily.

Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh

This year marks the 75th anniversary of “Gone With The Wind.” “Gone With The Wind” originally premiered in Atlanta on December 15, 1939. Four days later it premiered in New York and then Los Angeles on December 28, 1939. It opened wide in the United States on January 17, 1940.

I can still remember the first night I saw “Gone With The Wind.” They had re-released it. The year was 1974. My brother, two friends from our neighborhood and I went to the Capri Cinema to see the film. I was 11 years old. All I knew about “Gone With The Wind” was that it was set in the South and during the Civil War.

In the years following that night, I have watched the film many times on the big screen, on television when NBC first aired it, eventually on VHS Tape, then DVD and finally Blu-ray. I had a crush on Vivian Leigh for much of that time. She was gorgeous in every scene.

There are many detractors of the film. Some say it depicts slavery as clean and kind rather than with the realism and horror. That is a valid complaint. However, the film captures the true nature of the relationships as written in the novel by Margaret Mitchell. So perhaps Mitchell and her publishers are to blame.

Others make claims the film is far too melodramatic. I guess to those, I would just have to ask, “Can you not see the achievement that is on the screen?” Like the story or not, like the characters or not, like the history or not, but think about the fact that they made this film in the late 1930’s. Think about the burning of Atlanta, or the home of Rhett and Scarlett, the numerous costumes, and sets, and the performances of Leigh, Gable, de Havilland, McDaniel, Howard McQueen.

Then there are those wonderful lines, “That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” “As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again.” “Land is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.” “It ain’t fittin’…It ain’t fittin’. It jes’ ain’t fittin’… It ain’t fittin’.” “After all… tomorrow is another day.” And, of course, Frankly, my dear, I don’t give— well, you know the rest.”

Over twenty years ago I read an article that had a theory about why “Gone With The Wind” has been such a successful film. The article stated that the one strength above all others in the nearly four-hour epic was that the film never lingered too long on any scene. It was always moving forward. I agree with that. Among all the elements that make this film and endeared classic, perhaps the greatest achievement the filmmakers accomplished was they kept a brisk pace so that a great many would not sit through four hours once, but many, many times.