Scarlett
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend This soapy but highly watchable television "sequel" to Gone with the Wind, the most popular Hollywood movie ever made, has nothing to do with memories of a vanished antebellum South. But it does end up in Ireland, where the determined Scarlett O'Hara Butler (played with frosty passion by Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) turns hard times into an opportunity by buying the ancestral home of her family. Before that happens, however, Scarlett fights to win back… Product details and pricing info |
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196 Customer Reviews Posted
- Did they even read the book?
- So poor quality that it is embarrassing that they call it a "sequel" to Gone With the Wind. The story line is very weak and completely follows a re-write from the novel.
- 2007-07-29, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Blue-eyed Rhett, brown-eyed Scarlett?
- I was sorely disappointed in this mini-series. It was not true to Alexandra Ripley's book, which in turn was not true to the original GWTW. The whole murder and trial plot line was bizarre. Why did Belle Watling appear in Charleston? Rhett with blue eyes, Scarlett with brown eyes? Whoever wrote the screenplay was not familiar enough with the original material to realize what details were just not meant to be messed with. Okay as a television drama, but it doesn't live up to its association with GWTW. If you love Gone with the Wind, the characters of Rhett and Scarlett, or just want to see the screen adaptation of the book Scarlett, avoid this movie, you will be disappointed too.
- 2007-07-29, 2 of 2 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Scarlett the movie on DVD
- I was glad to be able to get the movie on DVD however I was not happy with the quility. The first DVD I received was not watchable. I contacted Amozon and was treated great. I was sent a new movie immediately. I must say thou that this movie on the 2nd DVD still has some block flutter. I have not contacted Amozon yet. Thank you for everything.
- 2007-07-27, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Hilarious!
- I am a huge, huge fan of "Gone With The Wind", and therefore had to really prep myself for this classic slice of early ninties TV Miniseries by completely abolishing my expectations, prejudices and memories of the indescribably brilliant prequel. "Gone With The Wind", I told myself, is an incredible motion picture, even now, some sixty eight years after its initial release. It's expansive, breathtaking, exciting, emotional, and absolutely riveting. "Scarlett", I replied, is a T.V. miniseries with that guy that used to be James Bond, and whats-her-name on a horse in "Willow".
And so, bearing in mind these limitations, I sat down to an altogether pleasant surprise: "Scarlett" is no "Gone With The Wind", but it does what it does with vim and vigour, and is a very, very entertaining (and oftentimes side-splittingly hilarious) way to pass six hours.
Basically: It's the day after the final scene of the original movie, and Scarlett shows up at Melanie Wilkes' funeral. She's still on her mission to recapture the affections of Rhett Butler, and must run a gamut of innumerable obstacles to get there, stretching from social disgrace, to the sale of Tara, to neatly sidestepping an incestuous relationship with her cousin - a Catholic priest - and becoming involved with a forerunner political group of the I.R.A.
True to miniseries form, the production design and sets are expansive and spectacular - from Charleston and Atlanta to Dublin and London, the recreation of the historic backdrop of the original "Gone With The Wind" is painstaking, and rewarding: a shame that there isn't the same talent behind the camera to photograph the beautiful sets and costumes in "Scarlett". Still, what's there is beautiful and very true to form, and visually, "Scarlett" works reasonably well.
Acting-wise there's not a whole lot to stand out - Joanne Whalley-Kilmer isn't very good - bored and restrained - for the first ninety minutes or so, but then sinks her teeth into her role and is, for the main, a very watchable and likeable actress. Timothy Dalton, poor soul, is really dreadful as Rhett - his "accent" is the stuff of ridicule and he generally looks like he'd rather be anyplace else. Other principal nods go to Sean Bean as Evil Lord Richard Fenton, Rosaleen Linehan as the put-upon Irish housekeeper Mrs. Fitz., Colm Meany as Fr. Colum O' Hara, and John Gielgud as Grandfather Robillard.
Sidebar: As an Irish man myself I am used to American actors forcing foul accents when Irishness is called for, but here, the actors are Irish so the accents are authentic, and that's a nice touch: even if the acting is, in parts, unspeakably foul, at least the audio is authentic!
The minus points of casting come in the shape of Ann-Margaret as Belle Watling (Oh good Lord, she is appalling, it's like watching a slow-mo clip of a car accident with a big red wig on it) and bored, trite Annabeth Gish as repulsively ordinary Ann Hampton-Butler (although, given Dalton's reading of Rhett, maybe she's not so out of place after all?). When Ann meets her untimely demise (she dies of a nasty case of Plot), you feel relief and satisfaction - odd, since she's supposed to be a sympathetic character. Tina Kelleher as Mary Boyle puts me in mind of that "Day In The Life Of An Irish Woman" puppet vignette from the episode of "Family Guy", where Peter takes Chris to discover his Irish roots - Mary Boyle is the personification of everything pathetic, and so it's no surprise that her appearances on screen makes you want to vomit. Still, for entertainment value, her wild ramblings and attempted suicides can't be beat: this is real train-wreck acting wrought by a normally decent actress - she must have been in on the joke!
So why, with an average, unintentionally hilarious cast and sub-average direction, am I awarding three stars to "Scarlett"? Well, it's a miniseries, and I like miniseries. It's a bodice-ripping, pot-boiling, totally chiaroscuro romp through six hours of implausible plot twists (Scarlett, at one point, resembles Saint TooraLoora of Ireland with a direct line to Jesus), hilarious historical inaccuracies, plenty of "Mommie Dearest"-esque overacting, and enough large gowns to keep a platoon of Drag Queens in work until the end of time. It's a lot of fun, but be warned: should you choose to watch it you WILL be bored silly for the first hour and a half or so: it's not really until Rhett leaves Scarlett in Charleston that the action really quickens pace. If you liked the likes of "Sins" and "Master of the Game" then you might like "Scarlett", too. Give it a chance and it will entertain you: as a continuation of "Gone With The Wind" it doesn't work at all, but then, what could have? "Scarlett" is self-contained, but for what it is, it's very enjoyable. - 2007-07-26, 6 of 7 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Not as good as the book
- The costumes are pretty good but they completely change the story and this actor doesn't do Rhett justice.
- 2007-07-24, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
