After the Atlanta, GA premiere of Gone With the Wind in December 1939, the nation went crazy for the movie and its cast. Gone With the Wind fever gripped the nation. Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara became the duo on everyone's lips.

The languid, prosperous antebellum period is shown in harsh contrast to the post Civil War devastation and destruction. The scene at the Atlanta train station that starts with a close-up shot of a wounded Southern soldier and pans away to show thousands of wounded and dying troops is a movie scene never to be forgotten.

Before the Civil War the South was rich on cotton crops. All labor was performed by Negro slaves who worked in the fields and some who worked in the master's house.

These depictions of slavery did not and do not today sit well in the world of the rising aspirations of black America. Each of the characters in the film is a study of life among the Southerners both white and black on the plantation.

The cast of characters and my comments:

*Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh): Many actresses fought for this choice role but it was won by an English actress. She was married to Laurence Olivier. Scarlett was willful, proud, haughty and a survivor. At the end when she is alone and asked what she will do she says the famous quote, "I'll think about it tomorrow."

*Rhett Butler (Clark Gable): Smooth, swash-buckling (whatever that means), elegant and a ladies man. He is a rich, blockade runner and lives by his wits. He marries Scarlett even though she claims she still loves Ashley Wilkes. When he is finally confronted by Scarlett's tears he utters his famous line: "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn." At the time this was considered a strong curse word. The movie is actually the story of how Scarlett deals with losing her love to another woman.

*Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), another English actor, Scarlett's true love. He is happily married to Melanie. He constantly chides Scarlett for being so forward with him. He is a gentleman and he is wounded in the war.

*Melanie Wilkes (Olivia De Havilland), Scarlett's cousin. Scarlett is jealous of her because she is married to Ashley.

*Gerald O'Hara (Thomas Mitchell), owner of Tara Plantation and Scarlett's father.

*Ellen O'Hara (Barbara O'Neil), Scarlett's mother.

*Suellen O'Hara (Evelyn Keyes, married to Artie Shaw in real life), Scarlett's sister.

*Caren O'Hara (Ann Rutherford), Scarlett's sister.

*Jonas Wilkerson (Victor Jory), overseer at Tara Plantation.

*Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), house slave at Tara - bossy.

*Prissy (Butterfly McQueen), house slave at Tara - dizzy.

*The Tarlton Twins (George Reeve, became Superman in later films and Fred Crane), local boys with lots of spirit who go to the dance with Scarlett.

*Dr. Meade (Harry Davenport), physician.

*Belle Watting (Ona Munson), runs a brothel in Atlanta.

*A Yankee soldier (Ward Bond).

*A Confederate soldier (Tom Tyler).

This huge epic of a movie is both a love story and a war story wrapped around the American history of a brutal Civil War. It carries us from the gracious antebellum South through General Sherman's destructive march to the sea and finally to Reconstruction.

Because today's world is based on yesterday's historical events this is still a powerful and meaningful story.