{"id":44251,"date":"2024-05-10T01:47:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T08:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=44251"},"modified":"2024-05-08T14:56:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T21:56:24","slug":"the-birth-of-a-classic-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/the-birth-of-a-classic-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"The birth of a classic movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Wallace, J.D. Dueckman, Matt Ramer and Rachel Craft in Metro Theatre\u2019s Moonlight & Magnolias, which runs to May 18. (photo by Emma Chan)<\/em><\/p>\n

Gone With the Wind (GWTW)<\/i> is my all-time favourite movie and, if adjusted for inflation, the highest ranking movie of all time. To think that the screenplay for Margaret Mitchell\u2019s 1037-page tome was hashed out in a five-day marathon by two Jews and a WASP holed up in producer David O. Selznick\u2019s Hollywood office beggars belief. And yet, that is what happened \u2013 and Moonlight and Magnolias<\/i>, currently playing at Metro Theatre, is Ron Hutchinson\u2019s hilarious take on what went on in that office.<\/p>\n

It is 1939, Selznick is producing both GWTW<\/i> and The Wizard of Oz (TWO)<\/i>. He has just sacked director George Cukor three weeks into production (due to a run-in with Clark Gable) and pulled Victor Fleming off the set of TWO<\/i> (he allegedly slapped Judy Garland) to direct. There are only five days until production resumes. Selznick\u2019s reputation with his father-in-law, studio head Louis B. Mayer, is at stake. He needs a hit. Enter Ben Hecht, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, to the rescue. However, Hecht has not read the book and is not crazy about the job \u2013 as he says, \u201cNo Civil War movie has ever made a dime.\u201d But he succumbs to Selznick\u2019s relentless pressure, sacrificing his artistic standards for financial security.<\/p>\n

Selznick gives strict instructions to his assistant, Miss Poppenghul, to hold all calls and let no one in or out of his office. He orders up a diet of peanuts and bananas (apparently brain food) for the triumvirate\u2019s sustenance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Hecht pecks away at his typewriter, Selznick and Fleming reenact various scenes from the book in zany physical comedy fashion, giving life to the iconic characters Scarlett O\u2019Hara, Rhett Butler, Melanie and Ashley Wilkes and even Prissy, the maid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Metro\u2019s production, J.D. Dueckman is sublime as the neurotic Selznick. Kudos to him for mastering his dialogue-intense role and for his parodies of various GWTW<\/i> cast. From his first approach to Fleming, played by Matt Ramer \u2013 \u201cHow do you feel about being locked up in a room with two crazy Jews?\u201d \u2013 to his eureka moment for Clark Gable\u2019s famous last line where yes, my dear, he frankly did give a damn, you can feel the passion behind the independent producer\u2019s quest for his holy grail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In counterpoint, David Wallace as Ben Hecht plays his role in a much more subdued manner. The audience gets that he is torn between writing the screenplay as Selznick envisions it and his own activist leanings to not glorify the Antebellum South but, rather, \u201cmake America look its ugly mug in the face\u201d \u2013 its racism and antisemitism (sound familiar?). He astutely points out to Selznick that, no matter what his successes are, he will never be allowed to join the country clubs of the WASP elite or buy a house in certain parts of Beverly Hills and that the handful of Jews who created Hollywood are always worried about being shipped back to a Polish shtetl.<\/p>\n

Ramer captures Fleming\u2019s broody persona and does a wonderful job portraying Melanie during her childbirth scene. All three men have great chemistry together.<\/p>\n

Rachel Craft brings a feminine presence to the testosterone-fueled stage as the ever-suffering and sleep-deprived Selznick assistant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the writing marathon continues, the order of the office disintegrates into paper- and peanut-shell-strewn chaos as the three amigos stumble around the office in a disheveled and bleary-eyed stupor. As they finish the project, the men realize that, indeed, \u201ctomorrow is another day.\u201d Cue the melodramatic theme song to close out the show.<\/p>\n

Francesca Albertazzi\u2019s set is what you would expect of a Hollywood mogul\u2019s office \u2013 a polished mahogany desk, a crushed velvet couch, leather-bound armchairs and elegant light sconces. In a subtle nod to detail, the office window is framed in the iconic green velvet drop curtains fringed with gold tassels (that Scarlett used to fashion the gown she wore to visit Rhett in jail to ask for money to save her beloved Tara). The glorious reds, oranges and golds of the film are reproduced throughout the play by lighting director Les Erskine.<\/p>\n

Director Catherine Morrison has ably helmed the production with her talented crew in this hidden gem of a funky theatre. You don\u2019t have to be a GWTW<\/i> fan to appreciate the show. Just go and see it. It will give you a nice escape from these troubled times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets can be purchased at metrotheatre.com<\/a> or from the box office, 604-266-7191.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tova Kornfeld<\/b> is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Wallace, J.D. Dueckman, Matt Ramer and Rachel Craft in Metro Theatre\u2019s Moonlight & Magnolias, which runs to May 18. (photo by Emma Chan) Gone With the Wind (GWTW) is my all-time favourite movie and, if adjusted for inflation, the highest ranking movie of all time. To think that the screenplay for Margaret Mitchell\u2019s 1037-page […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[23210,23209,23207,4242,20088,255,23208,6208,23211],"class_list":["post-44251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-ben-hecht","tag-david-o-selznick","tag-gone-with-the-wind","tag-history","tag-hollywood","tag-metro-theatre","tag-ron-hutchinson","tag-theatre","tag-victor-fleming"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}