Victor Fleming: American Master

Victor Fleming was the most sought-after director during Hollywood's golden age, renowned for his ability to make films across an astounding range of genres: westerns, earthy sexual dramas, family entertainment, screwball comedies, buddy pictures, romances and adventures. Fleming is best remembered for directing the two most iconic movies of the period, "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz," but the more than 40 films he directed also included classics such as "Red Dust," "Test Pilot," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Captains Courageous." Paradoxically, his talent for knowing how to make the right film at the right time, rather than remaking the same movie in different guises, has resulted in Fleming's relative obscurity in our time.
Speaker Biography: Michael Sragow is film critic for The Baltimore Sun.