Andersonville/Gone With the Wind

REVIEW TITLE:Scarlett: "Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all... tomorrow is another day!"Jewel in the crown of the greatest year in motion picture history is GONE WITH THE WIND, David Selznick's epic four-hour adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel. Part soap opera/part chronicle of an Antebellum way of life soon to disappear forever, that of genteel Southerners made rich from plantation slave labor. Leigh is the self-centered mistress of stately Tara, a woman who loves unrequitedly but marries other men to advance herself financially. In the end she loses devoted husband Rhett (Gable), their young daughter Bonnie Blue (King) and the man of her dreams, Ashley Wilkes (Howard), yet Scarlett O'Hara undauntedly thinks only of a better tomorrow. A bit long in spots but worth the investment of time.GWTW TRIVIANA--The first cut ran 4.5 hour but 48 minutes were trimmed before release. Since then, not a second of footage has been eliminated from various home video versions.The crane shot where Scarlett searches for Dr. Meade was devised by Val Lewton. He went on to produce a number of classic fright films, including  CAT PEOPLE  (1942) and  THE BODY SNATCHER  (1945).Clark Gable's per-day salary was five times as much as Vivien Leigh's.Yakima Canutt stunted for Gable in the burning of Atlanta sequence, which was the very first scene shot in what would be a marathon production.Motion picture debut of George Reeves (TV's  Superman ).Margaret Mitchell borrowed the novel's title from Ernest Dowson's poem, "Cynara": "I have forgot much Cynara! Gone with the wind." Mitchell also considered calling it "Bugles Sang True," "Tomorrow is Another Day" and "Ba! Ba! Black Sheep." Ashley Wilkes was based on the author's cousin by marriage, 'Doc' Holliday of OK Coral fame.Martin Luther King Jr. attended the world premiere cotillion ball in Atlanta with his father, an invited guest. Also at the premiere were a handful of Confederate Civil War veterans.First color movie to win the Best Picture Oscar, also the longest-running. Was nominated for 13 Oscars.The story of this classic film's creation is almost as dramatic as the movie itself. A two-hour 1988 television documentary,  THE MAKING OF A LEGEND: GONE WITH THE WIND , is an ideal companion piece. Narrated by Christopher Plummer, it includes archival footage, screen tests and interviews with several who were involved in the production from both sides of the camera.Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.(8.2) Gone With the Wind (1939) - Vivien Leigh/Clark Gable/Leslie Howard/Olivia de Havilland/Barbara O'Neil/Thomas Mitchell/Ann Rutherford/Hattie McDaniel/Butterfly McQueen/George Reeves/Evelyn Keyes/Victor Jory/Cammie King/Ward Bond/Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson/Cliff Edwards/Yakima Canutt (uncredited: Marjorie Reynolds/Si Jenks).REVIEW TITLE:Gen. Robert E. Lee: "We are adrift here in a sea of blood and I want it to end. I want this to be the final battle."GETTYSBURG was filmed on location at the National Battlefield site. Thousands of passionate re-enactors help make this partial recreation of the pivotal Civil War battle a rousing experience for viewers. Points off for fakey-looking facial hair (Tom Berenger's beard is almost laughable) and some altering of facts for dramatic purposes, yet for feeling a part of a momentous clash of arms, this film tops them all.Martin Sheen portrays Confederate commander Robert E. Lee as philosophic, reverent, stubborn and devoted to his men, but with a volatile temper when crossed. (It is how I've always pictured him.)Jeff Daniels not only looks like the 20th Maine's Col. Chamberlain, he is very convincing as a college professor of conviction who went off to war, "because it was the right thing to do."Watching Sam Elliott's emotive cavalry general John Buford, the first Union commander engaged, and against vastly superior numbers, is like wolfing down a second helping of very salty ham. He and his successful stand leave one thirsty.Richard Jordan's emotional displays as Confederate general "Lo" Armistead are all the more touching, as the actor knew he was dying and this would be his last film.Stephen Lang delights as Gen. Pickett during a campfire argument over Charles Darwin and just who is "descended from uh ape." This playful banter makes so much more stark his bitter remorse after an open field "Charge" that Lee orders Pickett to attempt on Day 3 fails, and his division is decimated by Yankees safely entrenched behind Cemetery Hill's stone wall.With the crippling of Gen. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia ultimately went the hopes of the South to prevail in a long, hard-fought war. The Confederacy's supply of men and armaments were nearly exhausted. Lee was never again able to fight an offensive campaign.Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.(7.6) Gettysburg (1993) - Tom Berenger/Martin Sheen/Stephen Lang/Jeff Daniels/Richard Jordan/Sam Elliott/Kevin Conway/C. Thomas Howell/Brian Mallon/Andrew Prine/Cooper Huckabee/Patrick Gorman/James Lancaster/Morgan Sheppard/Royce Applegate/George Lazenby/Richard Anderson/John Diehl/Maxwell Caulfield/Ken Burns (uncredited: Ted Turner)