Review of The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

Good documentary about the perils and rewards of film making. I like how it puts the true auteur of this famous, if controversial, work, producer David O Selznick, at the center of the story. It shows that the guy possessed the three qualities that all great producers must have, namely boundless energy and determination and an ability, shared by successful baseball managers and high school principals, to properly evaluate one's personnel. For example, a lesser producer would have gone with the proven, safe choices of either Joan Bennett or Paulette Godard as Scarlett and they would have been fine and the film most likely would have done quite well. But it wouldn't have been an iconic performance as is Ms. Leigh's and the film would have been merely good rather than great which, despite its mirroring noxious mid century racial attitudes, it is, largely owing to Ms. Leigh's matchless ability to inhabit the body, mind and soul of one of the most fascinatingly ambiguous characters in Hollywood film history.

A couple caveats. Like an earlier reviewer I found Christopher Plummer's narration borderline annoying; needlessly cheeky and at times mumblingly unintelligible. A more serious criticism is that for a documentary about the making of GWTW made in 1988 director David Hinton and writer David Thomson puzzlingly neglect the importance of Hattie McDaniel's pathbreaking and magnificent performance as a counterweight to the offensive prejudices that are, regrettably, central to this work.

Bottom line: Doesn't make me want to watch the movie again but it drove me to google Selznick. Give it a B plus.