Frankly, My Dear
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"Gone with the Wind" Revisited
Molly Haskell
An exploration of the book, the movie, and the author of one of the most captivating stories ever told
How and why has the saga of Scarlett O’Hara kept such a tenacious hold on our national imagination for almost three-quarters of a century? In the first book ever to deal simultaneously with Margaret Mitchell’s beloved novel and David Selznick’s spectacular film version of Gone with the Wind, film critic Molly Haskell seeks the answers. By all industry predictions, the film should never have worked. What makes it work so amazingly well are the fascinating and uncompromising personalities that Haskell dissects here: Margaret Mitchell, David Selznick, and Vivien Leigh. As a feminist and onetime Southern adolescent, Haskell understands how the story takes on different shades of meaning according to the age and eye of the beholder. She explores how it has kept its edge because of Margaret Mitchell’s (and our) ambivalence about Scarlett and because of the complex racial and sexual attitudes embedded in a story that at one time or another has offended almost everyone.
Haskell imaginatively weaves together disparate strands, conducting her story as her own inner debate between enchantment and disenchantment. Sensitive to the ways in which history and cinema intersect, she reminds us why these characters, so riveting to Depression audiences, continue to fascinate 70 years later.
Visit the author's website at http://mollyhaskell.com/
GWTW by the numbers…
—Nearly 30 million copies of the book have been sold since 1936
—The film grossed over $1.3 billion in the U.S., making it the biggest blockbuster of all time (adjusted for inflation)
—202 million tickets were sold during the film’s first run (the U.S. population was only 130 million)
—The movie runs 3 hours and 42 minutes
—Nominated for 13 academy awards, the film won 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay, and Supporting Actress
Publication Date: February 23, 2010
15 b/w illus.