BEST Best Picture Ever: Round One, Match #3

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Additional info here (and cast your vote).

I'm voting for the film on the left.  

Yesterday's result?  LOTR (71%) defeats Godfather II (29%), surprisingly easy.  Next up for LOTR?  Today's winner.  Can any film stop LOTR?  I'm curious whether the LOTR fan base crosses all ages, or is primarily a younger crowd (e.g., under 35).    

Comments

[Kelly Anders]

I, too, voted for "Gone With the Wind," but it was not an easy choice. Both films deal with war, but GWTW is an epic, while TSOM is an appropriately-titled musical. Interestingly, GWTW (yet another amazing film released in 1939) had a multicultural cast, although it's well known that Mitchell addressed the issue of slavery with rose-colored glasses, and this is reflected in depictions of African-Americans in the film. In contrast, TSOM skirted the underlying issue of Anti-Semitism entirely, merely offering veiled references to negative feelings about the Nazi regime. I find it especially interesting that GWTW was released more than 20 years before TSOM, yet it offers much more stark realism, along with a decidely unromanticized view of what is sometimes necessary for basic survival. (For that reason, I think GWTW would have been better matched against "Dr. Zhivago.") As for whether GWTW can topple LOTR during the next round, I have not seen the latter film, but I suspect it may inch out because of voters' lack of exposure to GWTW. TSOM would have an even slimmer chance of advancing.

[Lance McMillian]

Only The Godfather has the possibility of stopping LOTR now.

[Colin Miller]

My favorite story connected to "Gone With the Wind" goes as follows. George Cukor (My Fair Lady, A Star is Born, Born Yesterday, Gaslight) was originally slated to direct. But then, as the rumor goes, Clark Gable got Cukor fired because Gable didn’t want this ”woman’s director” throwing the movie to Vivien Leigh. Of course, Victor Fleming then went on to make Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara into possibly the most iconic female character in film history.

[AGR]

Wow. Who says professors are in thrall to political correctness?

[Hugh]

Frankly, I don't give a damn who wins this round.