skjam: from Heavenly Nostrils (Unicorn)
Gone With the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming

Gerald O'Hara (Thomas Mitchell) is an Irish immigrant who got lucky in a card game many years ago, winning a substantial tract of farmland in Georgia. He married a woman of French extraction named Ellen (Barbara O'Neil) and by hard work and being a decent master to his slaves built Tara into a fine plantation, manor house and all. He has three daughters, Catherine Scarlett (Vivian Leigh), Suellen (Evelyn Keyes), and Carreen (Ann Rutherford). Scarlett, as most folk call her, is a willful but charming belle of sixteen in 1861. While proud of his Irish heritage, Mr. O'Hara has acclimated to the customs and beliefs of his Southern gentry neighbors.

Prominent slaves at Tara include housekeeper and caregiver Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), valet Pork (Oscar Polk), maid Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) and foreman Big Sam (Everett Brown). Jonas Wilkerson (Victor Jory) was, up to the moment we meet him, the white overseer of the slaves, but is a Yankee, and of low moral character, which gets him fired.

Scarlett is a shameless flirt, and enjoys the attention of all the local swains, but she has her heart set on Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), a fine young Southern gentleman and the son of John Wilkes (Howard Hickman), owner of the neighboring Twelve Oaks plantation. Ashley has a sister named India (Alicia Rhett), but Scarlett mostly ignores her. Scarlett is looking forward to the big barbecue and ball at Twelve Oaks so she can finally make it clear to Ashley that she loves him (and pin him down that he loves her.) She's fed up with all the menfolk's talk of "war", even though that seems inevitable.

At the barbecue, Scarlett is less thrilled by the arrival of some of the guests. These include Ashley's cousins Melanie (Olivia de Havilland) and Charles Hamilton (Rand Brooks). You see, there's a Wilkes custom of marrying one's cousin. And Scarlett is aware that most of the family is expecting Ashley to marry Melanie, who Scarlett considers a mealy-mouthed goody two-shoes. And there's a special guest from Charleston, a Mr. Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Rhett's a black sheep, no longer welcome in Charleston, who made his money gambling and operating shady businesses. But John Wilkes has business with him, so despite his poor reputation, he's been invited. Rhett's interested in Scarlett, but not vice versa.

Scarlett isn't able to get Ashley alone at the barbecue (he's busy affirming his engagement to Melanie, and it's clear to the audience that neither of them is entering this relationship unwillingly), so when the ladies are supposed to be taking an afternoon nap, she sneaks downstairs to find him.

Meanwhile, the menfolk have been discussing the prospects of the upcoming war. Most of the Southerners are all for it. They figure it will be a short, victorious war of independence as Yankees can't fight for spit and the South has all the good officers. Ashley demurs, he's against war in principle as immoral, though if called to serve he will do so. Rhett, on the other hand, who has actually been to the North, warns that the Yankees' superior numbers and industrial capacity will make them difficult foes, and the South is not assured of an easy victory. This dose of facts makes the outsider very unpopular, and he walks out. Ashley goes after him to be a good host.

Scarlett waylays Ashley before he can catch up to Rhett, and after a bit of small talk drags him into the library to confess her love. Ashley tells her that he's marrying Melanie, but instead of saying that he loves his cousin, cites his "duty." It's clear that Ashley is attracted to Scarlett, but is smart enough to realize they're not compatible, and is far more comfortable in the important ways with Melanie. Scarlett isn't catching the unspoken overtones, and only sees that Ashley isn't saying that he doesn't love her. After Ashley leaves, she has a fit of temper, only to discover that Rhett was in the room all along, lying on a couch with a high back turned towards her. He indicates that he's interested in Scarlett, but she's angry and embarrassed and just not interested right now.

Before anything else can happen, it's announced that the War of Northern Aggression has begun, and all the men start getting ready to enlist. Realizing there's no time to get Ashley to change his mind, Scarlett fastens on to Charles Hamilton, who is smitten by this fiery young woman and agrees to marry her pronto, thus making Scarlett and Melanie sisters-in-law.

And there's still over three hours left of this movie!

Gone With the Wind was based on a bestselling novel of the same title, written by Margaret Mitchell. It was wildly successful, becoming the highest-grossing movie (adjusted for inflation) ever. It won multiple Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first acting Oscar given to a Black person.

And honestly, this is a very well-made and impressive movie. Music (the classic "Tara Theme"), special effects, costuming, set design, stuntwork (including by legendary Yakima Canutt), directing and acting are all top-notch. A very impressive amount of the novel got into the movie, justifying the nearly four-hour runtime. Which is why most of the DVD versions are on two discs.

Scarlett is an interestingly flawed protagonist. She's charming, clever when she thinks ahead (her picture is next to "conniving" in the dictionary) and a shrewd business owner. But she spends most of the runtime hankering after a man who is never going to return her love and failing to realize that Melanie is her one true friend. She's just as responsible for the failure of her eventual marriage to Rhett as he is.

And Rhett? Well, he's definitely the clearest-headed man in the movie, but he's earned his bad reputation and cannot for the life of him stop saying cynical or sarcastic things to Scarlett that damage her ability to trust him. He too can be very charming when he tries, but his normal bluntness burns bridges and at the end, he's just not willing to stay in this toxic relationship.

Mammy is also a complex character. She's essentially a second mother to Scarlett, and far more involved in her day-to-day life than Ellen. As such, Mammy often gives orders and sound advice to Miss Scarlett far beyond what their respective social stations would normally allow. Not that Scarlett, a headstrong teen, pays attention. Her bond to the O'Hara family is so strong that she continues working for them even after the war ends and she's technically free. And winning her approval is something that Rhett seriously cares about. Ms. McDonald is said to have disliked playing such a stereotyped role, but "I'd rather play a maid for seven hundred dollars than be a maid for seven dollars." And there were such women in real life.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, in the first half of the Twentieth Century, there was a concerted effort by writers and filmmakers to romanticize the Old South and present a revisionist history where the Lost Cause was noble and slavery wasn't all that bad, really. Ms. Mitchell's novel actually was a bit of a reaction to that, showing that the Old South wasn't all "magnolias and moonlight" as Rhett calls it out, but the movie smooths out some of the edges. There's no blatant mistreatment of slaves on screen or referenced, and the O'Hara slaves who have dialogue are nothing but loyal to their masters with no talk of wanting freedom. The "political meetings" that Ashley and Frank Kennedy (Carroll Nye) (Scarlett's second husband) attend are not clarified as them belonging to the Klu Klux Klan nor do we see those meetings or the raid during which Ashley is wounded and Frank killed.

On the other hand, when Scarlett decides to save money by leasing convict labor (the one kind of slavery allowed under the Fourteenth Amendment) rather than hire free black people, it's presented as a moral failing that extends on from her upbringing as a slave owner's heir.

Content note: Murder in self-defense. Marital rape off-screen. It's implied that the "renegade" wanted to rape Scarlett (in the book it's spelled out.) Many deaths from war wounds, a child dies, two miscarriages, other deaths. A horse dies on screen, and another one offscreen. Wounds are shown. Rhett's very good friend Belle Watling (Ona Munson) is pretty obviously a prostitute and extramarital sex is implied, though of course, not actually mentioned on screen. Racism towards and enslavement of black people, use of outdated terms. Women are shown in period underwear, and at one point there is a woman implied to be naked behind some furniture. Older teens will probably be okay, but younger viewers should have a responsible adult handy for discussions of heavy topics.

This is one of the all time classic movies, and well worth watching at least once. The long running time means that it's a serious commitment, so be sure to block out a full day to watch it including breaks during the musical interludes. Recommended to classic movie fans.
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Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) dir. Frank Lloyd

Midshipman Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is excited for his first Royal Navy assignment, sailing aboard the Bounty under Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton) to Tahiti to secure breadfruit trees and in Mr. Byam's case, compile a dictionary of the local language. Bligh is a brilliant navigator and mapmaker who sailed with Captain Cook, and knows Tahiti from that previous voyage. Byam is somewhat taken aback when he arrives on ship and witnesses British Navy discipline. A sailor had struck an officer and was sentenced to be flogged. That sailor has died during the punishment, but Bligh orders the corpse to continue to be flogged to carry out the entire sentence.

Captain Bligh feels it's necessary to maintain harsh discipline from the beginning of the voyage, especially as several of the crewmen have been "pressed" (grabbed off the street), including an ex-convict and a new father. Other officers are somewhat less harsh on the men, including first mate Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) and drunken doctor Bacchus (Dudley Diggs).

On the long voyage out to Tahiti, Captain Bligh metes out disproportionate punishments for the slightest infraction, including telling him that he's mistaken, even if he is. He explodes when Mr. Christian refuses to sign a blatantly fraudulent supply log, and their relationship sours completely.

Finally the Bounty arrives at Tahiti, and is greeted by the friendly natives. We briefly see a better side of Captain Bligh as he meets with the local chief Hitihiti (Bill Bambridge) and they reminisce fondly about Captain Cook. While the crew gets no respite from hard work, they do get to walk around and see the island and interact with its people and get decent food for a change. Even Mr. Christian is allowed a short shore leave. Native girls Tehani (Movita) and Maimiti (Mamo Clark) are especially willing to keep the officers company.

After a few months gathering breadfruit trees, restocking supplies and repairing the ship, it's time to leave. Captain Bligh asserts his authority by having any personal goodies the crew brought aboard like bananas or piglets confiscated as "Crown Property." This extends to pearls Tehani gave Mr. Christian as a present for his mother. Mr. Christian pointedly repeats the words "Crown property", which Bligh bristles at. He may or may not be planning to pocket them, but he doesn't like being suspected.

About a week into the return voyage, Captain Bligh has cut the water rations to keep the breadfruit trees alive, and is generally back to his old harsh discipline self. When he orders a severely ill Dr. Bacchus on deck and the old man dies, this is the last straw for Mr. Christian, who starts a mutiny. Mr. Byam refuses to join the mutiny, and is trapped below decks when Captain Bligh and a number of other loyalists are offloaded into a small launch.

By a stunning feat of navigation and gumption, the men in the launch are able to cross 3000 miles of ocean to a safe harbor at the loss of only one man.

The mutineers and the few remaining loyalists sail the Bounty back to Tahiti, where they live relatively happily for a year. Mr. Christian has married Tehani and had a child! But a distant sail reminds them that eventually the British Navy will be coming back and the penalty for mutiny is death by hanging. So most of the mutineers and their native spouses and allies board the ship again and sail for parts unknown. Byam and the other loyalists, as well as a few mutineers who long to return to England regardless of the danger (the new father among them) stay.

Everyone is dismayed when the new ship arriving, the Pandora turns out to be commanded by the very much alive Captain Bligh, who's holding a massive grudge against his entire former crew, and is enraged when Byam and the others won't tell him where Mr. Christian sailed off to (as they honestly don't know.) The court martial back in England is a harrowing experience, but we're told by the narration that out of this experience came a new understanding of the relationship between officers and crew that improved things in the Royal Navy.

While Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian were real people, and the Bounty did indeed have a mutiny, this movie (and the remakes) is based on a trilogy of novels that greatly fictionalized the events. Many incidents in the story were made up to give Mr. Christian a more obvious motive for the mutiny, while other aspects directly contradict historical records. (For example, the movie has Bligh and Christian meeting for the first time aboard the ship--in real life, they were long-time friends.)

That said, this movie is very good. Outdoor location shooting was done in Tahiti, and most of the Tahitian extras are actual natives. Exhaustive work was put in to make the ship scenes look as authentic as possible. Mr. Laughton and Mr. Gable were chosen for their roles specifically because their personalities and lifestyles clashed, so it was easy for them to portray animosity towards each other. The supporting actors also do solid work.

There's some excellent camera work and exciting moments of sea action in between the tense character scenes.

Content note: Violence, some lethal, and other deaths. There's a gory shot of a hand being impaled. Torture (primarily flogging) and other abusive behavior. Extramarital sex is heavily implied. Bacchus drinks to excess. It'd get a PG-13 these days, I think.

My DVD copy came with a short feature "Pitcairn Island Today", about the place where the mutineers and their allies settled. When they were found twenty years later, all but one of the sailors had died, but their descendants still live there today. The feature is more marketing gimmick than documentary, but a fascinating glimpse into an isolated community.

This is a classic movie and well worth watching even if it does play fast and loose with historical details. Recommended to Clark Gable fans and those who love tales of the sea.

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