Classic Films in Context: Gone With The Wind

I decided to write this post about Gone With The Wind after I read “When It Comes To ‘Gone With The Wind,’ Do Kids Today Give A Damn?” at the NPR Web site. The article suggests that the 1939 Best Picture Winner hasn’t aged well. The author of the piece, Neda Ulaby interviewed 13 students studying film at Georgetown University. Ulaby assures us these students are “serious about movies” to support her thesis.

Not so critical analysis
Apparently the fact that the story took place during a time when it was legal to own slaves makes the film unworthy of any respect or a full viewing according to Georgetown film student Mike Minahan. This is what Minahan has to say about Gone With The Wind: “Everything I’ve seen about it says it, like, glorifies the slave era ... and I dunno, what’s the point of that? I don’t see that as a good time in history. ... like, oh, sweet, a love story of people who own slaves.” Notice the “Everything I’ve seen about it” portion of the quote. Did Minahan watch the film in its entirety? Is he basing his opinion, one that Ulaby says most of his fellow Georgetown film students agree with, on the opinions of others? Shouldn’t a film student be more critical in his analysis? Films are like history; they need to be put into context.

It’s Scarlett's point of view
We see Gone With The Wind through Scarlett O’Hara’s (Vivien Leigh) point of view. If the film were told through Mammy’s (Hattie McDaniel) point of view, for example, we’d have an entirely different film. But it’s Scarlett’s movie and it’s her story warts and all. Is plantation life romanticized in the film? Yes, but then again, it’s pretty typical for the past to be thought of fondly in the face of some pretty stark reality (like the American Civil War); it’s human nature. What Gone With The Wind makes clear is that war is always tragic and that personal relationships (and land if you’re Gerald O’Hara) are all that really matter in life. Unfortunately for Scarlett, she learns that lesson too late.

A well-worn epic
From a technical aspect, I was amazed at how well Gone With The Wind has aged. The fact that a film released in 1939 can hold its own against contemporary epics is in itself remarkable. Ernest “Ernie” Haller’s Oscar-winning cinematography is quite compelling. Who can forget the shot of Scarlett at the Atlanta train station as she walks among the wounded and the dead. At first the camera is close on Scarlett and you only see a few men on the ground. But then the camera pulls back and the number of the wounded and dead on screen is staggering. It’s one of the greatest visuals in all of cinema. And what about the scene of people fleeing Atlanta? How they were able to choreograph the action with star Leigh, not a double, moving against the crowds and running in front of horses and carriages we’ll never know. But on the screen it’s terrific.

Life is troubling
One of the other aspects that the film students find troubling is the scene of marital rape. It is a troubling scene, but put in context it’s true to the marital conventions of the time. The relationship between Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and Scarlett is indeed a complicated one. I wonder if the same students would refuse to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie or Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter?

Award-winning performances
The performances in Gone With The Wind are solid. Leigh’s portrayal of Scarlett is fresh, lively, and contemporary. The same can be said for Gable’s portrayal of Rhett. In the hands of Olivia de Havilland (still with us at 97!), Melanie Hamilton is not quite the “mealy mouth ninny” that Scarlett accuses her of being. And who can forget Hattie McDaniel as Mammy? She goes toe-to-toe with Scarlett, always speaks her mind, and is nobody’s fool. When did a black actress get as much screen time as McDaniel did prior to 1939?

Don’t know much about history
My background in educational publishing makes me suspect that today’s film students may be the product of political correctness gone amok. When I worked in school library publishing, we routinely airbrushed cigarettes, cigars, and pipes out of the hands and mouths of historical figures like FDR and pop culture icons like James Dean. We were told that school librarians wouldn’t buy our books if we left these photos intact. This is also the case in contemporary textbook publishing. Instead of explaining that in the not so distant past people didn’t think smoking was a serious health issue and open up a dialogue on the subject, it’s ignored entirely. For many, the history they’ve been taught has been sanitized to the point where it’s not history at all, but instead someone’s fantasy of what history should be. It’s also disturbing the way we in the 21st century look down on people in the past with a superior attitude. As if we would have been any different in our thinking than Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, and Melanie had we been born during the 19th century.

They’ve got a lot of living to do
What the NPR piece revealed is a group of film students who are unwilling to look at what might be disturbing or upsetting to their worldview. This seems contrary to the whole point of studying film, which is in many ways, studying our history. Perhaps those 13 Georgetown film students need to experience a little more of life to have an appreciation for a classic like Gone With The Wind. And frankly, I do give a damn.

Classic Films in Context: “Apartment for Peggy”

Of all the movies made about returning World War II veterans and their struggles, Apartment for Peggy (1948) probably isn’t the first one that comes to mind. Directed by George Seaton and released a year after his award winning holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street, Apartment for Peggy holds up remarkably well.

William Holden, Jeanne Crain, and Edmund Gwenn

Jeanne Crain and William Holden play a young married couple trying to cope with the GI housing shortage after the war. The movie begins with Peggy (Crain), who appears to be very pregnant, taking a short rest on a park bench next to retired Professor Henry Barnes (Edmund Gwenn). Peggy takes an immediate liking to the old professor; she calls him “pops” and baffles him with her rapid-fire speech and modern slang. When she finds out that Barnes’s friend, Professor Bell, (Gene Lockhart) might have “suction” with veteran housing on campus, Peggy asks Barnes to please put in a good word for her.

Before you know it, Peggy and Jason are turning Professor Barnes’s attic into a very comfortable and functional living space. Even Professor Barnes is amazed at the transformation. Reluctant at first to this “home invasion,” Professor Barnes learns to enjoy sharing his home with the young couple, although living with Peggy can be challenging at times.

What Peggy and Jason don’t know, is that before they moved in, the professor was planning his own suicide. The university forced him to retire years earlier and Barnes thinks his usefulness has come to an end. His wife is deceased and his only son was killed in the First World War. He concludes that he’s lived a good, satisfying life and feels it’s time to exit on his own terms.

Peggy (Crain, center) and Jason (Holden, right)
serve Professor Barnes tea in his renovated attic.

With all the veterans attending college, learning new things, the wives feel left out in the cold. Some think their husbands are drifting away. Peggy feels that it would be great if there was some way for the wives to get an overview of what their husbands are learning so they can grow together instead of apart. Peggy “volunteers” Professor Barnes for the job of organizing the instruction. At first he is annoyed with Peggy for saying he would take on such a task, after all, he has a suicide to arrange. But after a few classes with the wives, Barnes finds himself enjoying teaching like he never did before. He also discovers that he’s becoming involved in the lives of Peggy and Jason, something he never imagined.

At her baby shower, Peggy feels that something is wrong. She goes to the hospital where she miscarries, leaving Jason and Professor Barnes at a loss for words. Jason and the professor walk home from the hospital in silence, grief and disappointment etched on their faces.

When Jason gets a job in Chicago as a used car salesman, things begin to fall apart for Peggy and Professor Barnes. Peggy’s dreams of having a chemistry-teacher husband evaporate like steam from a teakettle. And what’s worse, Peggy is convinced that Jason really wants to be a professor, but thinks that he should be earning more money to provide for his wife.

Peggy reluctantly announces that she’s moving out to be with Jason in Chicago. Once again, Professor Barnes feels that he has no useful purpose in life. In his despair, he takes an overdose of sleeping pills. When Peggy finds out what he’s done, she forces black coffee down his throat and makes him walk around the house to stay awake. When Jason arrives on the scene and finds out what the professor has done, he gives him a tough-love speech. The speech is effective enough that Professor Barnes decides he really wants to live. In the end, Jason decides that he wants to be a chemistry teacher in spite of it all.

Holden as Jason Taylor

Seaton demonstrates his ability to portray characters that are true to life. The interactions between Crain, Gwenn, and Holden seem natural, not forced. Seaton manages to inspire the audience without being corny or overly sentimental. He also gets wonderful performances from the three stars, but Crain really shines as Peggy. The success of the movie rests on her shoulders. If you don’t care about Peggy, the movie falls apart. New York Times movie critic, Bosley Crowther thought Appartment for Peggy was a better movie than Miracle on 34th Street. Crowther also noted that Crain’s “vivid characterization” as Peggy contributed to the film’s overall success.

Through Seaton’s writing and direction, we see how liberating education, and not just the book kind, can be. The enthusiasm the wives show in Professor Barnes’s philosophy class is inspiring; the joy of learning is obvious and contagious. And what about the joy the instructor expresses? Seaton makes it clear there is wisdom in old age and it should be respected and appreciated, not thrown away or pushed aside.

Apartment for Peggy is a time capsule of what life was like (including the colorful slang of the day) during post-World War II America. It’s funny without being overly cute. It’s sad without being depressing. Seaton manages to capture the entire human experience in a wonderfully entertaining package. It’s a neglected classic that needs to be given its due.


Backstory: Apartment for Peggy was the first movie to actually portray a pregnant woman on screen with a large belly! Prior to this film, women were not pictured on screen in the “family way.”

Apartment for Peggy is available on DVD as part of Twentieth Century Fox’s Cinema Archives releases. The Technicolor Print is adequate, with interior scenes appearing on the dark side and with little contrast. The sound is perfect, but as with all of the on-demand Cinema Archives editions, it has no extras. It’s unfortunate that Fox didn’t think this film was worthy of a restoration with extras, considering the talent involved. It really deserves a better presentation on video.