Gone with the Wind (1939)

#4 on Original, #6 on Anniversary, #43 on Cheers, #4 on 10 Top 10: Epics, #2 on Passions

Any of the movies in the “10 Top 10: Epic” category are going to be a commitment.  You are committing time, and emotions to watch one movie, one story, for hours. In the case of Gone with the Wind, it is a 4 hour long commitment. Sometimes the movies marked as Epics feel like they take days to experience.  Luckily, with GWTW the time flies. 

But watching Gone with the Wind always makes me so conflicted. I can view it so many ways.  I can get lost in the romance of it all (big sweeping house, Clark Gable taking Vivien Leigh into his arms, etc). Or I can get turned off by the way certain groups of people are portrayed, and what a brat Scarlett O'Hara can be.  And sometimes she is being a brat because she is doing what has to be done to save her families property, and sometimes she is just being a brat because she can. 

Clark Gable gets one of the prettiest entrance shots in any movie, ever.  Standing at the bottom of the grand staircase, camera zooming in to his handsome face. Just a classic movie moment. Hattie McDaniel ties the story together for me, with her portrayal of Mammy. Mammy is an almost constant presence in the film, except when Scarlett goes to Atlanta. Olivia de Havilland as Melanie was great at playing sweet, with out venturing into saccharine. The character of Melanie really was considered to be almost a saint by everyone, so it would have been easy to go overboard, and almost mock the character, but de Havilland was able to walk that line with out going over. 

It is interesting to see history interwoven into Scarlett's story. Make no mistake, this is not a film about the Civil War. It is a film about Scarlett O’Hara; the war just happened to coincide with her life. 

Overall, GWTW really is a story of survival. Life will always have ups and downs and hardships. But no matter what happens, you have to get up and keep on living, one day at a time. Or as Scarlett says "After all, tomorrow is another day."

Favorite Quote:

Scarlett: Sir, you are no gentleman.
Rhett Butler: And you, Miss, are no lady.  Don't think I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any appeal for me.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

#100 on Thrills

We all know the basic story of Robin Hood.  This movie is one of the best versions of it ever made.  Action, adventure, romance. What more could a person ask for?

I love that Marian wasn't just a fainting, helpless, damsel in distress; she actually participated in the cunning moves and the saving, and the defending of England, but still in a way considered "proper" for her time. I suppose in most portrays she is pretty awesome.  It would be pretty badass to see her pick up a sword though.  Speaking of swords, Errol Flynn? is amazing.   Athletic and charming, I can see why he is so great.

I forgot Claude Rains was in this, but I shouldn’t have because Claude Rains is in EVERYTHING.  Seriously, pay attention to his tag on this blog. It will only go up as I write about more films. He is cast in everything because he is good.  Better than good. He is one of the greatest character actors ever.

Random: The horse Marian rides is Trigger, of Roy Rogers fame (before he met Roy, obviously.)  When Trigger died, they had his hide stretched over a plaster model of his likeness, to be placed in the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum.  If that weren’t strange enough, after that museum was closed in 2009, the items from it (including Trigger) were put up for auction at Christie’s in New York in 2010.  I worked next to Christie’s at the time.   I saw Trigger. It was weird.  I’m still trying to figure out why they did this to this horse.   Stranger still, some TV station purchased Trigger.   On one level, I get it. Kind of like the Natural History Museum.  This does not make this seem any less bizarre to me.

Favorite Quote:

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: Why, you speak treason!
Robin Hood: Fluently.