Documentary Movie Reviews
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The Making of a Legend:
Gone with the Wind (1988)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
4/26
4/26:
To find out how they did it is to check out The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind.
I'm not a fan of Gone with the Wind, but it always will
receive appreciation from me. First of all, what David O. Selznick did, among others, surpasses just about
everything prior to 1939. Second, it's a significant achievement in terms of color cinematography. Third,
it contains many classic, some legendary, scenes. Fourth, the acting is unbeatable for an epic chick flick.
Fifth, there will never be a movie that can beat Gone with the Wind
at the box office. Therefore, don't be fooled by recent records.
I actually read the book by Margaret Mitchell and found it to be an endless bore. More than 1,000 pages...my
goodness, I wanted to stop midway because the story just kept going on and on. The movie is roughly the same.
Plus the portrayal of blacks as happy slaves is extremely jarring to watch given that it never happened during
the 19th century. The "Lost Cause" is also a romanticized myth as the Civil War was started by
the South over the issue of slavery.
What I didn't know until watching The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind is how hard it was to make
the film. To begin with, constructing the story was a sprawling mess. My problem with the documentary is the lack
of specific hows. So, I'm just given the basic treatment here and there when it should've gone deeper about
transferring the book to screen. There's no mention of the racism Hattie McDaniel faced prior to winning the
Oscar, especially at the ceremony. Olivia de Havilland was alive at the time, and an interview with her
couldn't be secured? Everything else seems sufficient like casting choices, location shooting, architecture,
color balancing, and so on.
All in all, The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind isn't 100% but does document enough to give
viewers a strong idea of what went on.