Frankly, My Dear: Gone with the Wind Revisited

by Molly Haskell

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300117523
• ISBN13: 9780300117523
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Epic Examination Of An Epic

To me "Gone With The Wind" is one of my earliest memories at the Movies, and the first book I ever read at age ten. I picked up Molly Haskell book with great anticipation and was not disappointed. She is an engaging writer who is both well versed in her close to the heart of the nation subject and she is fun and witty and utterly charming. A little like Scarlett herself. The book covers the three most important personas in the legend, Margaret Mitchell, David O. Selznick and the incredible and ultimately tragic Vivien Leigh. Miss Haskell peels the layers away from the history of each of these incredably fascinating real life characters to reveal complex and interesting people. She also delves deep into the psychology of GWTW as it connects through the decades and human ages of those it has effected, that being most of the world but in the end the United States most of all. How it defines us as a culture a people by our reactions to it both in love and hate, kind of like Scarlett and Rhett's relationship. "Frankly My Dear..." is a must have for any fan of history, film, Hollywood and that consummately towering epic that is "Gone With The Wind".

Frankly, dear fans

The story behind Margaret Mitchell's phenomenon is as fascinating as Scarlett herself. Haskell provides all the essentials: the author's story, the story of the movie and, most astutely, a look at why we will never get enough of its spirited and controversial heroine. Seventy years after the movie's release, Haskell doesn't ignore its flaws. But she reminds us of why this story changed us forever. My only reservation is about the cover. It looks like a promo for the Hitchcock remake of GONE WITH THE WIND.

Thank You, My Dear

For anyone who loves "Gone With The Wind" this is the book to read. Against all odds, Molly Haskell has taken a film classic set in amber and raised questions that are not merely fresh but also provocative. At the same time, she brings to the film's seventieth anniversary a voice that is at once personal, clearsighted, and wonderfully exhilarating. Like the movie itself, this book arrives on the scene already assured of its place in film history. In addition it is a pure delight.

Frankly, It's Fabulous

Molly Haskell is a genius. With scholarship and enormous wit, she shows us why GWTW means so much to us as individuals and to our culture. Every page of FRANKLY, MY DEAR informs and resonates. GWTW is seared into the American psyche more deeply than CITIZEN KANE, ON THE WATERFRONT, THE GODFATHER rolled into one. Molly Haskell inhabits GWTW. I think of her now as Molly O'Haskell. This is a must-read.

The Return of Ms. Haskell

Ever since the author published her memoir of her marriage, "Love and Other Infectious Diseases" (1990), I have loved her writing. Now she has taken on the late 1930's with her cultural review and history of the book/movie, "Gone With the Wind". The "Titantic" of its day was a best-seller and Oscar winner. She argues that Scarlett was a feminist hero for her day, the Depression and pre-World War II era. You may not agree with her insights but the reader will be entertained by them.