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All fans of Olivia de Havilland MUST watch this film, as her outstanding performance in The Snake Pit just might be the greatest of her entire brilliant career. Olivia plays Virginia Cunningham, a woman in a state mental hospital not knowing how she got there. The film's director, Anatole Litvak, insisted that the cast accompany him to mental institutions to do some research before filming. Olivia took this ball and ran with it, engaging in research with complete dedication and intensity. This was evident in her performance, as her hands-on research combined with her extraordinary acting ability made Virginia Cunningham into a character that the audience may not understand, but has deep sympathy for. Olivia struck the perfect balance between normal and "sick," and showed the world that those with mental illnesses are not bad people, but simply misunderstood. She took a very difficult role and produced a masterpiece from it, and it's downright unbelievable that she didn't win an Oscar for this (although she was nominated).

As phenomenal as Olivia was, she was also accompanied by a fantastic cast, as the performances were great from top to bottom, even the uncredited roles. Leo Genn was great as Dr. Kik, Virginia's sympathetic doctor, as was Mark Stevens as her loyal and worried husband. Betsy Blair was extremely effective in her role as Hester, despite speaking only once in the entire film, and Helen Craig was great in a heel role as the hateful Nurse Davis. Jacqueline deWit was another memorable role as Ms. Sommerville, the kind nurse who loses her mind and becomes a patient in the institution herself. A few more actors of note in this film: Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell from Gilligan's Island) played Virginia's mother, silent film star Mae Marsh played a bit part, and Barbara Pepper (Doris Ziffel from Green Acres) played one of the patients in the institution. All of the nearly 100 actors in this film played their roles effectively, which added to the strength of the picture.

It is important to note that some parts of this film are quite disturbing, and it can be difficult to watch at times. However, it was a very effective film during its time because it exposed the many evils of the mental institutions of the time. Harsh treatments, such as the ones depicted in the film, were very common back then, and women's institutions in particular had little discretion with how they treated their patients. Furthermore, husbands could simply get sick of their wives, claim the wife is crazy, and have her committed to one of these institutions. While many of these institutions have been shut down today, these kind of treatments are not necessarily exclusive to the past, and the mistreatment of patients by nurses has spread into other medical facilities, such as nursing homes.

Sometimes, a great film NEEDS to make its viewers feel uncomfortable.

There are many things that make Twelve O'Clock High one of the greatest, if not THE greatest war movie ever made. During WWII, too many war movies were just lighthearted, unrealistic comedies designed to get a laugh and feel-good reactions out of the audience during a time of war. Conversely, Twelve O'Clock High is very serious, and does an excellent job of conveying the grim realities of war to the audience. Gregory Peck's performance was magnificent. He showed great character development, evolving from a hard-nosed general to eventually developing a loving relationship with his men. Peck called this his favorite role, and it's very obvious that he enjoyed this performance and put his heart into every scene. It wasn't just Peck who made this movie great, though. Every single actor in this film, from the top of the cast list to the bottom, put on a fantastic performance in which the audience can feel the emotion coming from them. Despite the film being from 1949, it doesn't feel the least bit dated, and every message in the film still resonates today. Lastly, if these weren't enough reasons to watch it, parts of the air combat scenes were filmed during ACTUAL COMBAT, and the way these scenes were interspersed with the drama of the film was incredible. Twelve O'Clock High is an absolutely phenomenal war film, and a great thing to watch on Memorial Day or Veteran's Day.

As a millennial, it is important for all fellow millennials to remember to not watch this film from a 21st century perspective. In order to appreciate Gone With The Wind, or any old classic film, one must watch it from the perspective of the period it was filmed as well as the period it describes. Certainly, the portrayal of the African-American characters is very dated, but that takes nothing away from how these roles were performed. Furthermore, while most today would disagree with the film's sympathetic disposition towards the south during the Civil War, everyone can agree that Gone With The Wind does an incredible job of highlighting the monumental costs of a war - the loss of lives, the strain put on those left behind afterwards, and the horribly wasteful drain of resources, money, and emotion that a war causes for everyone involved.

Another thing Gone With The Wind did extremely well was to abandon the traditional roles of heroes and heels and instead blur those lines, showing the good and bad qualities of every character. Clark Gable's Rhett Butler spent his entire life as a slimy, womanizing sleazeball, yet demonstrated numerous times that he has a huge heart. Vivien Leigh as Scarlett was a very selfish, crass, and heartless person, yet showed the strength and resilience to persevere through any hard situation thrown her way. Olivia de Havilland portrayed Melly as an incredibly warm, caring, sweet individual who cared deeply for everyone around her, but suffered from naïvety and an inability to truly care about herself. Just to note for Olivia fans, this role is a must-see because it was the first role that removed her from the standard "beautiful girl pursued by the lead man" roles that Warner typically gave her, and it truly gave her an opportunity to show off her acting chops like never before. Leslie Howard's Ashley was the strong war hero yet was too weak to fight off Scarlett's continuous tempting advances. Last to mention but certainly not least was Hattie McDaniel as Mammy. She may have been portrayed as an uneducated house slave, yet several times was the smartest character in a scene.

There are a couple characters who could've been done better, though. Victor Jory was a brilliant heel character actor, and Jonas Wilkinson was one of the few true heels in the film, yet he was confined to just a handful of scenes and was quite insignificant overall. Butterfly McQueen as Prissy was insufferable. It's not clear who told her to act like that or why they did, but her lines almost exclusively consist of screaming and extreme overacting, and her scenes are extremely painful to watch. She does have one worthwhile moment in the film though - to avoid a complete spoiler, just watch her lips.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Gone With The Wind is the cinematography. The color is gorgeous, and the HD copies of the film available today make it look like it was filmed just a few years ago. The use of thousands of extras in the outdoor hospital scene was very impactful. The fire scene was absolutely brilliant. Long-distance shots are used perfectly throughout the film. If someone wasn't told what year this film was made, it is highly doubtful that anyone would guess it dates all the way back to 1939. It could easily pass for the 90s. It looks THAT good.

Overall, this is one of the all-time greats of classic film. Gone With The Wind is a must-watch for all classic film buffs!