Gone with the Wind (1939)

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. My usual method when it comes to posting is to watch whatever movie I have from Netflix, make an entry about it and then do an entry about the next film I get, but it's taken me a while to watch my newest movie (The Lady Eve, for those interested).

So as a way of paying you people back (and celebrating a new subscriber, because I'm a WHORE), I'm going to make an entry about THE Hollywood movie. The blockbuster to end all blockbusters featuring the film Diva to end all film Divas.

Ok, do I really need to go into the plot of the movie. It's the South, Vivian Leigh is Scarlett O'Hara, a prissy southern belle infatuated with the oddly British Ashley Wilkes, but instead Ashley goes all Southern and marries his cousin Melanie. So Scarlett decided to marry a boy of her own, only for him to get killed when the Civil War breaks out. Then she begins a long love/hate relationship with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).

Really, everyone knows the plot, everyone knows the quotes, and hopefully everyone knows that Scarlett punched that annoying Prissy right in the back of the head.

But really, the film's pretty good once you dispel all the Hollywood legend surrounding it. The sets and costumes all are fantastic and Vivian Leigh is brilliant in the role, as is everyone else in the movie, which goes without saying. Plus, it's full of b*tchery as Scarlett acts like a petty child who HAS to get what she wants.

If there's any major flaw to the film, it's the second half. The first half is great as it involves a Civil War backdrop and is very epic, but then it becomes very closed off and intimate, and pretty much becomes a big soap opera, but it's still a pretty good soap opera (But when am I going to bash the Soap Opera? Just look at the name of my blog).

I know that it's really hard to do a film like this justice when it comes to discussing it, because it's become a huge part of pop culture, but there's not a lot I can say about the movie that people won't already know. They know the movie is great (or people say it is), they know what it's about and so on and so forth. But for those of you that haven't seen it, please do. It's a very important movie that, regardless of it's quality, needs to be seen due to it's impact on film as a whole.

It Happened One Night (1934)

The first film to win the Oscar grand slam (Actor, Actress, Director, Picture, and Screenplay), It Happened One Night is probably one of the more recognizable films that I've chosen to blog about, so if you've never heard of some of my choices, I hope you've heard of this one.

Anyway, if you read my entry on The Bride Came C.O.D. you know that that film is essentially a rip-off of this film, so the plots are very similar. Claudette Colbert plays Ellen "Ellie" Andrews, a pampered socialite who marries a fortune-hunter. But before the two can consummate the marriage, her father whisks her away onto the family yacht to keep her away from her beloved. Well, Ellie will have none of that, so she dives off the boat and swims to shore. Once on land, she decides to take buses to New York, since her father will most likely be able to find her if she tried an airport. On the way, she meets down-on-his-luck reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable). He instantly recognizes her, and they make a deal. He will help her get to New York if she will give him exclusive rights to her story, otherwise he will call her father and collect the reward. She agrees and the two set out on a road trip to New York, bickering along the way, and of course, falling in love.

The story is fairly predictable, it follows the expected trajectory of any other film of its kind, but as you probably expect, it doesn't really matter. The acting is on such a high level and the script is so sharp that you're fully willing to commit to the ride.

Clark Cable is incredibly charming and he plays his frustrations with Ellie to great effect. Throughout the film he is trying to teach her things, how to dunk a donut, or how to hitchhike and is consistently amazed at how sheltered and spoiled she is. But he plays to perfection, never become mean or overbearing. Claudette Colbert is equally as good, playing a character that has to be both tough, vulnerable, and naive, and she makes it entirely believable. Ellie will not put up with crap from anyone, but she's just afraid enough of traveling on her own that she'll accept help from Peter, despite not wanting to.

The romance itself is handled very well, because it doesn't come about as sudden proclamations of love, instead the two become more and more comfortable around each other, working well together and eventually realizing that they do have feelings for each other. But they are both aware of how sudden and unlikely it is, which adds to be naturalness and believability of the situation. In fact, Peter at one point talks about how he's crazy to be in love with her.

This really is a movie that deserves to be seen, because it's such a great film as well as having an place in film history as one of the best romantic comedies of all time and some argue that it invented the "Screwball" comedy genre. So watch it, please.