“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. is arguably one of the most memorable quotes from the movie Gone With The Wind spoken by Rhett Butler played by Clark Gable. What has made it so memorable? Is it that line alone? Is it the cold response from the impassioned plea from Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivien Leigh, when she says “Rhett! If you go, where shall I go what shall I do?”? Is it the exchange of the two of them? Or can the conscious awareness of a speech reversal reveal a complex combination?
Note: Bracketts “[ ]” indicate where the reversal occurs. Click on the reversals to hear the audio.
Gone With The Wind
(Scarlett, catches Rhett as he walks out the door to leave her for good.) [Rhett! If you go], where shall I go what shall I do? Our heart beating, terror. (Reversals are known to occur in the third person. “Our heart beating, terror.” is a pretty intense reversal. Could this reversal be what people unconsciously hear, that is so heart wrenching, to only be received by a callous response that makes “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” so wounding? Could Vivien Leigh be so deeply immersed in her character that she feels a loss deep in her soul, or is there more to this reversal than meets the ear?)
(A reversal can be found in the final lines of the movie from Scarlett) …[I’ll think of some way to get him back]. After all tomorrow is another day. Had me naked. Now must bring it out. (Did Leigh and Gable have a liaison while filming Gone With The Wind? If so, why would she want to have it known? The following is an excerpt from an article written by Peter Evans titled ‘A Very Scarlett lady: Sexual Adventuress Vivien Leigh And One Shocking Secret About Leading Man Clark Gable’,
…He turned out to be just another movie actor who won’t take “no” for an answer,’ she said. ‘The trouble was, Clark Gable was Rhett Butler, and Rhett Butler was Clark Gable.’
I asked what she meant about him not taking ‘no’ for an answer? Was she talking about the scene – considered to be outrageously daring at the time – when Rhett forces himself on Scarlett? ‘No, I’m talking about the time Mr Gable tried to rape me. He was a method actor long before they invented the method…
She told the reporter Gable tried to rape her. Notice in the forward speech the reversal “Had me naked. Now must bring it out.” occurs when she is talking about Rhett Butler as she says forward “I’ll think of some way to get him back (For the attempted rape?)”. And remember, she thinks of the character Rhett Butler and Clark Gable and the actor as having the same personalities.
Perhaps there are more reverse speech examples to be found from Vivien Leigh that may shed more light on the attempted rape, but for now if we were to put the two currently known reversals together they can begin to tell “one shocking secret about leading man Clark Gable”; Our heart beating, terror. Had me naked. Now must bring it out.)
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