"Scarlett" (1994) TV mini-series

Director:

John Erman

Writers (WGA):

Alexandra Ripley (novel)
William Hanley (teleplay)

Release Date:

13 November 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Atlanta, 1873. It's another day (Melanie's funeral, in fact), and Scarlett is determined to win back...

Plot Keywords:

Ireland | Sister Sister Relationship | New Baby | Sequel To Best Picture Winner | Expectant Mother

Awards:

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Joanne Whalley	...	Scarlett O'Hara (as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer)
Timothy Dalton	...	Rhett Butler
Barbara Barrie	...	Pauline Robillard
Stephen Collins	...	Ashley Wilkes
Annabeth Gish	...	Anne Hampton / Butler
George Grizzard	...	Henry Hamilton
Julie Harris	...	Eleanor Butler
Melissa Leo	...	Suellen O'Hara Benteen
Esther Rolle	...	Mammy
Jean Smart	...	Sally Brewton
Elizabeth Wilson	...	Eulalie Robillard
Paul Winfield	...	Big Sam
Sara Crowe	...	Lulie
Rakie Ayola	...	Pansy
Ray McKinnon	...	Will Benteen

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence including sexual abuse, sensuality and a childbirth.

Runtime:

360 min | Brazil:155 min (video version) | 45 min (8 episodes)

Country:

France | USA | Germany | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Carton House, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland

Company:

TF1

Trivia:

Last film of Manning Redwood.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Unknown Sender: If You're Seeing This Tape... (#1.1)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Camptown Races

tomorrow is another day... and indeed another story

It's common knowledge and has been said before: No one can ever play Scarlett and Rhett like Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. Joanne Whalley Kilmer (no longer Kilmer having been divorced from ex-hubby Val Kilmer) plays her own Scarlett and although this is a sequel and not a re-make (God-forbid!!!) she still cannot rise to the occasion (i.e. her voice sounds evil on several occasions, she's got brown eyes [Scarlett in both novels had green eyes and even Vivien Leigh's eyes were green] and her vocal power was not up to the job either. Scarlett is a Southern Belle; therefore she has an incredible talent for flirting (as she did in SCARLETT the novel and GWTW, of course) and to be a great flirt like Scarlett is, you would most likely need a higher-pitched voice, like Vivien Leigh.

I suppose I'm comparing Kilmer to Leigh a bit too much but when someone possesses a role so masterfully as Leigh did with Scarlett you simply can't help but to criticize any new prospective Scarletts. Timothy Dalton should have had no accent whatsoever, due to the fact that both Margaret Mitchell's Rhett and Gable in the film had none. His acting has never been truly noteworthy (except, maybe his portrayal of the evil, conniving King Phillip of France in THE LION IN WINTER) and he gives very little (if any) freshness or vitality to his Rhett.

Standouts in the cast are most notably Tina Kellagher (a born actress with plenty of authenticity in her deliverance) as the tragic victim Mary Boyle. And then of course there's Sean Bean as the cold, calculating and not to mention, almost demonically evil Lord Fenton, Mary's nemesis and Scarlett's eventual violator. One thing I could not forgive the writer for was the fact that Scarlett is raped in this movie (a fact that never occurred in the novel; Lord Fenton is cold and of ill-repute among the Irish in the book but he's nowhere near as heartless as his screen counterpart. Another omission from the novel but readded for the film is the character of Belle Watling, played most horribly by Ann-Margret in a cameo role, which we all could have lived without, seeing as how the book was such a run-away bestseller without requiring any assistance from Ms. Watling.

For a film by itself, SCARLETT is a very good one but not quite in that lofty of a place in terms of being GONE WITH THE WINDs sequel. Another actress was highly necessary for Scarlett as well as Rhett.