Character mistake: When Melanie and Scarlett are talking with an (off-screen) wounded Confederate soldier, the soldier says he hasn't heard from his brother since Bull Run. Only Northerners refer to that battle as Bull Run; Southerners have always referred to it as Manassas.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
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Directed by: Victor Fleming
Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Vivien Leigh
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More mistakes in Gone with the Wind
Rhett Butler: Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
Trivia: After Margaret Mitchell's (author of "Gone with the Wind") husband saw the scene with the wounded soldiers in Atlanta he is reported to have said "if we had had that many soldiers, we wouldn't have lost the war in the first place."
Question: When Scarlett visits Rhett in jail to get the $300 for taxes, can anyone speculate as to her plan? Why does she pretend to be rich when she's actually dirt poor? Why would that make her request for money more convincing? Did she plan to ask for a loan, and needed to make it appear as if she would be able to repay it in a reasonable amount of time? I read the book, but this wasn't made clear there either. Can anyone help me?
Answer: Scarlett tries fooling Rhett that she is in love him, somehow thinking that will persuade him to give her the money. She believes if Rhett is in love with her, she can manipulate him, which is what she did with her previous two husbands and various suitors. If she appears desperate and powerless, then Rhett will have the upper hand. He sees through her scheme, however.
Answer: In the book Scarlett's motivation for dressing up to see Rhett is so that she can go to him 'looking like a queen granting favors." She believes that her way of getting the money is by acting carefree and not desperate as if she looks desperate Rhett will guess it's money she's after (only) and any warmness towards him will look like a ruse to get his money. She is playing on his attraction towards her. Remember the last time she saw him she slapped him and said she hoped a canon ball would land "slap on him." So now she has to appear to be over her venom and her pride will not let her look desperate, also. She's not after marriage to him. If she looks sweet and helpless and gorgeous she figures she'll get the money out of him! (He does say he's tired of looking at women in mourning so she is partly right with her instincts).
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Answer: If she looked rich she could trick him into thinking she wasn't marrying him for his money.