Why was Gone with the Wind so popular?

It was welcome Depression-era escapism.

This Technicolor epic offered overwhelming spectacle.

It played to a general American desire, running contrary to everything we learn in history class about democracy and a classless society, to believe in a mythic lost era of grace and nobility.

We love to feel sympathy for the defeated, and in the 1930s sympathy for the defeated South was not a politically incorrect sentiment.

Vivien Leigh was a compelling and beautiful actress. She plays a ruthless, conniving heroine who gets her way and then her comeuppance.

There was chemistry between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, despite Rhett’s greasy, shiny hair.

The romance was complicated and lurid, with intrigue and scandal and more than a hint of sex.

The story was, undeniably, an exciting survival tale.

The film was based on a best-selling novel whose success became its own phenomenon and which came with its own Horatio Alger story about its author, a charming Southern woman.

The making of the film was its own epic struggle, widely publicized in the press, building anticipation and excitement over its premier.

It is, after all, even if by accident and happenstance, a well made film, especially the first two hours.

There is always Leslie Howard’s British accent.