Scarlett

I am a huge Gone With the Wind fan, and I read "Scarlett" before it was a miniseries and loved it. This is a sequel of sorts. Like you didn't expect it with that "Frankly dear, I don't give a damn" ending. Timothy Dalton was great as Rhett, though no one will ever replace Clark Gable. Joann Whaley-Kilmer, on the other hand, could give Vivien Leigh a run for her money (though I feel almost guilty even saying that.) Her attitude and presence in the film fits the character to a tee, making you love and hate her at the same time, which is how most feel about Ms. Leigh's portrayal as well. The film does move slowly, mostly because it follows the book so closely and was not released as a feature film. Excellent choice on the producer's part. I think this movie deserves some recognition for the great storyline, the revival of characters that had been gone for almost 50 years, and for being something that even Margaret Mitchell herself could have been proud of.

Frankly my dear, I was quite happy that a sequel to "Gone With the Wind" had finally been made. I had never been satisfied by the way the original movie ended. I could not see Rhett Butler walking out on his wife forever. Maybe temporarily.

Robert Hami did an excellent job with the cast and production. It was delicious. Joanne Whalley-Kilmer did such an excellent job as Scarlett O'Hara that when I first saw it, I had difficulites trying to remember Vivien Leigh's face. She was also cheated out of an Emmy nomination. Timothy Dalton was marvelous - as usual.

What I best liked about "Scarlett" was the fact that from Part 1 to Part 4, it was strictly one genre. Meaning, it was strictly a costume melodrama. It did not suffer from a schizophrenic genre, like GWTW (going from a historical drama to a costume melodrama in such a startling manner). "Scarlett" also benefited from a superior ending, in compare to GWTW. On the whole, it was excellent.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie Scarlett. I am a huge fan of Gone with the Wind. I have read the book and seen the classic movie many times. I even have a small collection of Scarlett O'Hara ornaments and other things. I must admit that Gone with the Wind is my all-time favourite book and movie. Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable are remarkable actors and two of my favourites. Unfortunately, I was unable to read the book Scarlett, but I was excited to see the movie. Truth be told, the movie is not any where close to the calibre of Gone with the Wind and neither are the actors. However, Joan Whalley Kilmer and Timothy Dalton were pleasant actors in the roles and at many times Joan sounded like Vivian Leigh in her portrayal of Scarlett. Dalton also portrayed Rhett well at times. It took some time getting used to the different actors, but overall I really enjoyed it ,being the fan of Gone with the Wind as I am. One major disappointment was that Joan did not have green eyes and Scarlett O'Hara and Vivian Leigh both did. I also found the Lord Fenton absolutely appalling and I did not like his character. If you are a Gone with the Wind fan and/or enjoy romantic stories, see the movie Scarlett. However, do not expect it to be remarkable like Gone with the Wind. It is far from it although it is interesting with the new characters and so on. I am happy it is not a remake and some of the events in the story was what I imagined the continuation to be of the Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler love story. If you haven't seen it today, get it tomorrow…after all tomorrow is another day. :)

The is the mini-series that was inspired by the novel written by Alexandra Ripley.

The story begins at Melanie's funeral in Atlanta, GA. Rhett has decided to proceed with the divorce that he threaten to get from Scarlett. Poor Scarlett has schemed to get him back but to no avail. Eventually, Scarlett decides to visit her relatives on both sides of her family & we are whisked away to Ireland, the home of her father's ancestors due to a secret she's carrying.

Many plots take place in this mini-series. So many that the viewer may need a score card: 1) Scarlett's attempts to get Rhett back. 2) Rhett's attempts to forget Scarlett. 3) Scarlett's Irish branch of the family and an impending revolution. and 4) Scarlett's attempts to hide her secrets(she's got a ton of them!).

And that's just the the surface! There are two things that make this wild ride problematic: Too many sub plots and characters. When I first saw this on TV, I would get confused at times because there where so many new characters created just for this story. At times it would seem the writers would just draw plots out of thin air. Many of them are never resolved and are just left hanging.

For those of you that have seen "Gone with the Wind", I only recommend you see this film for the very same reason I did, I wanted to know what would happen to Scarlett. I also recommend you see "Gone with the Wind" first, then see this film.

The cast is top-notch, a who's who among TV & film actors alike spanning over three countries and so are the locales. You will travel from Atlanta, GA to Charleston, SC to London, England then to Ireland. The scenes that take place in Ireland will take your breathe away.

I will admit that this sequel does read like a soap opera which is why I only would recommend it to fans of the genre.

I read the book 'Scarlett' by Alexandra Ripley and enjoyed it very much and I anticipated to TV movie. The thing was the movie was greatly different from the book. Honestly, if you read the book and saw the movie you would think they were two different stories. I believe the book had greater merit and a more interesting story. The movie wasn't that bad, its just that the book was better.