And so they said this was history's greatest film of all time... Might as well perhaps watch all the movies in the world before I could deem that this was indeed cinema's finest. But having watched this film for like decades after it was made, I could say, as a modern guy who likes classic films with a modern impact, Gone With The Wind is indeed a great film... and one of history's finest.
The plot. Based on Margaret Mitchell's novel on the same title, Gone With The Wind focused on it's courageous but at the same time, very delicate main protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara in the time of Civil War, who's head-over-heels in love with Ashley Wilkes, but felt too horrified when she found out he was going to be wed to her own cousin, Melanie. Although she's the light of every party, and many men clamours for her attention, she has her attention to only one man. Upset and unconvinced, she accepted right away without doubt the proposal of Charles, another man who admires her deeply, and then left widowed when Charles was killed during the war. As she continued to battle her own anxieties and frustration during the widower's stage, in which she could only wear black, there was one man who witnessed all her ups and downs - this was Rhett Buttler, a war profiteer, much older than Scarlett, and a very direct man. Then there's all the sweeping epic feel of a war movie, as the country slowly fades to devastation, she still feels the same hunger for Ashley, but sooner realised that it was Rhett Buttler whom she really loved after all those times he had been with her.
This was Gone With The Wind, and since it's a 4-hour long film, it's too ludicrous to squeeze such epic length into an itsy-bitsy paragraph. As the main theme speaks, it's romance set in a vast grandeur and complexity of the American Civil War.
I think most of the people today would start to wonder how could this film become the box office champion of all time - and nope, it's not Titanic. I even wonder how it captured so many people worldwide, and even through time. Maybe it's about the firsts. This was the first film in full color and we are just plainly stunned. Cinematography defined this film, basing it as a 1939 film, it gives a major feat. Who could ever forget scenes where Scarlett O'Hara becomes a sillouhette against a blazing orange sky, standing on a hill, while the camera pulls back slowly and magnificently showing one of film history's greatest vista. And who could not ever dwell that those scenes of Atlanta burning, when it all looked so real? Who could forget the war scenes which were all brilliantly choreographed? Gone With The Wind boasts its immortal flamboyance and its vibrant style in filmmaking.
Also, the dialogues were amazing. Probably the most shocking exit lines in the whole history was enunciated by Rhett Butler, rather infamously, the "Frankly, my dear, who gives a damn?", and Scarlett O'Hara's "Tomorrow will be another day." When the film's too engrossed in lines, there's definited symbology in the film too, ridden with meanings beneath its dialogues. Of course, it reminds us that this film has one of the best romance movie lines ever, "You need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how..."
The hauntingly beautiful Vivien Leigh and the very manly Clark Gable were fantastic in their roles, after knowing that the two characters, Scarlett and Rhett, were two of the most coveted roles in history. I just read that the casting department took them 2 years to find O'Hara and Butler.
Gone With The Wind is the perfect definition of Hollywood filmmaking. It is a landmark, and the performances are extraordinary. I admit, it could not be one of my ultimate favourite films, but I adore its magnificence. Although it's a bit of what we called "romanticised" and muddled with dramatisations, it's as sweeping as a soaring epic.

Rating: A