Olivia de Havilland Recommendation #2

Gone with the Wind (1939; in color)- 3 hrs 58 mins

Today I want to talk about Olivia de Havilland’s performance in Gone with the Wind. While there are other early films that offer fine examples of her acting abilities, I don’t think it would be fair to have Olivia de Havilland as the Star of the Month and not discuss her performance as Melanie Hamilton. It was influential to her career and a role that meant a lot to her personally. For more on the premise of the film, I encourage you to look at this old post. Please also see some of the links below. They provide helpful resources to a contemporary viewer and audience in terms of context and perspectives.

With all that being said, this post is really about Miss de Havilland and Melanie. When Gone with the Wind began casting, de Havilland wanted to play the kind-hearted young Melanie. She saw it as an opportunity to “portray the great agonies and joys of the human experience” in what was a more nuanced character. But ‘why not Scarlet?,’ you might ask. De Havilland explains it best in her own words.

“At so young, I had for four years been earning my living. Going through all of the problems of a career woman- self-supporting, and even contributing to the support of others…which is what Scarlett did. So I knew about being Scarlett in a sense. But Melanie was someone different. She had very deeply feminine qualities. Scarlett was a self-absorbed person. She had to be… But Melanie was other people-oriented…she was always thinking of the other person, and the interesting thing to me is that she was a happy person. Scarlett was not a happy woman - all self-generated and preoccupied, but there’s Melanie - other people-oriented and happy ... loving, compassionate... She had a marvelous capacity to relate to people with whom she would normally have no relation.”*

De Havilland’s pursuit of the role proved worthwhile. Producer David O. Selznick wanted her for the part, but Jack L. Warner refused. De Havilland took things into her own hands and with the help of his wife was lent out to MGM for the role. The film was a massive success. Melanie stood out among the film’s cast of characters and so did de Havilland's performance. Indeed, she was nominated for her first of five Oscars. She offered a nuanced performance of a woman whose vitality and heart were made all the more powerful and human by her quiet and unassuming presence.

Surprisingly, her performance did not make Warner Brothers think of her as more than an ingénue but it did make de Havilland more determined to fight even harder for better roles and to become the fine actress we remember today.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-gone-with-the-wind-1939

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DF2FKRToiQ

Availability: Youtube, Googleplay, Vudu, HBO Max (with subscription; includes context introduction and discussion panel), Amazon, DVD, and Blu-ray.