antebellum (10. 597)

Miss Cellania directs our attention towards a substantial essay and exploration of scenes cut from the David O Selznick’s cinematic 1939 adaptation of Gone With the Wind by film historian and collector David Vincent Kimel. Writing for The Ankler, Kimel’s research uncovers a suite of lost scenes from the working-copy of the director’s assiduously organised ‘Rainbow Script’ that not only document Selznick’s struggle with the inclusion of racist descriptions and stereotypes but also his ultimate deletion of scenes that show Rhett Butler’s suicidal ideation, privation and looting, and a number of vignettes illustrating the mistreatment of enslaved individuals on Scarlett’s family plantation whose rawness frankly do not romanticise slavery and the Old South. It is impossible to say how their inclusion might have limned public reception and perception of one of the most celebrated and disgraced projects of the industry and their cutting is an indictment more than anything reflective and rehabilitating but it is nonetheless fascinating read into the early drafts and the pageantry and promotion surrounding the premier in Atlanta, Georgia.