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Decent Film, but Suffers by Comparison to GWTW

posted 9 years ago by Eric266
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I know Jezebel came out one year prior to Gone with the Wind (1938 to 1939), but it suffers from comparison because so much of the plot elements are the same. After an hour of Jezebel I felt like I was watching outtakes from GWTW.
- Julie/Scarlett falls for Preston/Ashley who can't deal with her behavior
- Preston/Ashley decides to marry Amy/Melanie who is less hassle
- Julie/Scarlett corners Preston/Ashley in the garden/smoking room and tries to
convince him of her love
- Julie/Scarlett lives with her disapproving Aunt Belle/Pitty Pat
- Julie/Scarlett uses Buck/Charles to try and make Preston/Ashley jealous
- Julie/Scarlett wears a red dress to party and scandalizes herself
- Julie/Scarlett realizes too late that she is responsible for her own lot
(Preston dying/Rhett leaving).
- Julie/Scarlett determining to make good (escorting Preston/getting Rhett back)

Admittedly, Bette Davis gives a wonderful performance as Julie. The scene where she first meets Amy is amazing in how she tries to maintain her composure while simmering beneath the surface. However, he conversion to sainthood was a bit forced. I didn't see anything that should have prompted it other than it was needed for the film's agenda.

Aside from Davis' performance, the movie has very little to offer that GWTW didn't do better. I couldn't accept Fonda as the love interest. He seemed too wooden and had no charisma. Richard Cromwell, playing the Charles Wilkes role as Preston's brother, Ted, actually had more spirit and did a better job in his role. The supporting cast of Donald Crisp and Fay Bainter as the General and Aunt Belle did well in limited screen time.

Had this movie come out a few years earlier and not so close to GWTW's release AND the plots not been so similar, I think it would have a much higher rating among fans. I simply think Vivien Leigh played a better Julie/Scarlett and Leslie Howard was a much better Preston/Ashley. The movies are too similar and GWTW just did a better job of storytelling.

My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.

[–] stanbrown32 9 years ago

Leslie Howard playing Ashley is the object of Scarlett's obsession, but he doesn't have that much screen time in GWTW--that story is really about Scarlett and Rhett, so Clark Gable, a much bigger star, played the critical role. Scarlett's realization is that she loves Rhett, not Ashley--and that Ashley really loved Melanie.

The story in Jezebe is much different. Preston, played by Henry Fonda, is a bigger part of this story. George Brent plays a tool that Julie uses to make Preston jealous, and then to try to punish him. Julie will regret her actions, but in that moment she did want to punish Pres, to have the Brent character kill him in a duel. That is a dark passion Scarlett never felt towards Ashley.

[–] Eric266 9 years ago

I never said plot and characters were exactly alike, just that the two films have a lot of similarities. I agree Rhett is the main protagonist to Scarlett, but his screen time is very limited as well. He kind of moves in and out of her life for the first two and a half hours of film time. Its not until the last 90 minutes of the film that he actually becomes integral and a solid presence. Remember GWTW has a run time of 4 hours while Jezebel is barely over 90 minutes. In terms of screen time percentage, I think the on screen face time of the characters in Jezebel match up pretty well with roles in GWTW.

I was comparing the characters' roles in the two women's lives, not necessarily their overall contribution to the plot. True, Brent has less time and less importance to the plot, than Rhett, but he is the same character (rakish, fights duels, etc). There are a ton of similarities between these two films. They are both done very well and the actresses do amazing jobs, but because they came out so close together, I think the more epic GWTW overshadows Jezebel and Jezebel suffers unfairly from the comparison.

My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.