电影一经上映,消费者杂志和报纸普遍给予了极高的评价;然而,虽然其产值、技术成就和宏大规模得到了普遍认可,但是当时的有些评论家认为这部电影过长且戏剧性不足。《纽约时报》的弗兰克·S·纽金特(Frank S. Nugent)总结了这一普遍看法,他承认尽管这是当时最有野心的电影制作,但它可能不是有史以来最伟大的电影,不过他仍然认为这是一个“精彩动人的故事,讲述得很美”。《国家》的弗朗茨·霍勒林(Franz Hoellering)持同样的观点:“结果是一部在行业历史上具有重大事件意义的电影,但在电影艺术上只是一个次要成就。有些时刻两者配合得很好,但大多数部分只是充满了单纯的视觉冲击力。”
虽然影片因忠实于小说而获得了赞誉,但这一特点也被指出是导致影片时间过长的主要因素。约翰·C·弗林(John C. Flinn)在《綜藝》杂志中写道,塞尔兹尼克“留下了太多内容”,指出如果删减后半部分的重复场景和对话,电影的娱乐性会更好。《曼彻斯特卫报》认为电影的一个严重缺陷是故事缺乏史诗般的气质来支撑其耗费的时间,认为后半部分专注于郝思嘉的“无关婚姻”和“家庭纷争”大多是多余的,之所以保留只是因为玛格丽特·米切尔是这么写的。《卫报》认为,如果“故事在中间点被剪短整理,使个人戏剧性服务于电影对老南部衰落和毁灭主题的呈现,那么《乱世佳人》可能会成为一部真正伟大的电影”。同样地,霍勒林也认为影片的后半部分比前半部分弱:他指出内战是第一部分的驱动力,而角色在第二部分中占主导地位,认为这是影片的主要缺陷,评论称“仅有角色本身并不足够”。尽管许多场景十分出色,但是他认为戏剧性不够令人信服,心理发展也被忽视了。
电影上映以后,黑人评论家批评其对黑人的描写以及对奴隶制问题的“美化”。然而,最初由白人控制的报纸并未报道这些批评。黑人剧作家卡尔顿·莫斯(Carlton Moss)在一封公开信中指出,《一個國家的誕生》是“对美国历史和黑人人民的正面攻击”,而《乱世佳人》则是对同一问题的“背面攻击”。他还将其描述为“对南方反动势力的怀旧表示同情的请求”。莫斯进一步批评了黑人的刻板形象,如“懒散而迟钝的迫克”、“懒惰且完全不负责任的普里斯”、“欣然接受奴隶制的大山姆”,以及奶妈“对郝思嘉无休止的唠叨和百依百顺”。同样,诗人和教育家梅尔文·B·托尔森(Melvin B. Tolson)写道:“《一個國家的誕生》是一个赤裸裸的谎言,连一个愚蠢的人都能看穿。而《乱世佳人》则是一个微妙的谎言,会被数百万白人和黑人视为真相。”
在哈蒂·麦克丹尼尔获奥斯卡奖后,全国有色人种协进会领导人沃尔特·弗朗西斯·怀特(Walter Francis White)指责她是《汤姆叔叔的小屋》中的“汤姆叔叔”。麦克丹尼尔回应称,她宁愿每周赚七百美元饰演一位女佣,也不愿赚七美元真正做一位女佣;她还质疑怀特是否有资格代表黑人发声,因为他肤色较浅且只有八分之一的黑人血统。
影片上映后,黑人社区对此意见分歧,一些人称该片是“对美国黑人的恐怖武器”并侮辱了黑人观众,许多城市举办了抗议活动。麥爾坎·X后来回忆说,“当巴特福莱·麦奎因开始她的表演时,我真想钻进地毯里。”即便如此,黑人社区的一部分人认为麦克丹尼尔的成就是一种进步的象征:一些非裔美国人越过抗议队伍,称赞麦克丹尼尔的温暖和机智的演绎,其他人则希望她的成就能为其他黑人演员带来更高的银幕曝光率。《机会:黑人生活杂志》(Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life)在对麦克丹尼尔获得奥斯卡奖的社论祝贺中,借《乱世佳人》提醒人们旧有的偏见为黑人的理想设置了“限制”。
儘管《亂世佳人》為投資者帶來的收入大約是先前紀錄保持者《一個國家的誕生》的兩倍,两部电影的票房表现却可能相差无几。《乱世佳人》大部分收入来自路演和首轮放映,发行商分别获得票房的70%和50%;与之相对,在普通上映中,发行商的分成通常只有票房的30-35%。《一個國家的誕生》的发行商Epoch以“州权”方式出售了许多放映地区的分销权——通常仅占票房的10%,而Epoch的账目仅显示了其自身从电影中获利的情况,并未包括地方发行商的收入。电影制片人和发行商协会秘书卡尔·E·米利肯(Carl E. Milliken)估计,到1930年,《一個國家的誕生》已有五千万人次观影。
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