Tess + Alec = GWTW?

The version of Tess and Alec in this adaption of TOTD remind me so much of Scarlett and Rhett from Gone With The Wind. Stylewise especially, plus part of the plot where Alec continued to pursue Tess in the second half of the film, despite the fact that Tess really loved Angel. Plus the scene at the end (aka Alec's murder) even though Alec no longer had his moustache, reminded me of Vivian Leigh & Clark Gable's Scarlett & Rhett's bedroom scene.

Anyway, since the plot & characters from TOTD in general remind me of GWTW, it makes me wonder if Margaret Mitchell based GWTW on Thomas Hardy's novel? Both Scarlet and Tess were 16 yr old brunettes when they first met & piqued the interest of their mustachioed seducers Rhett and Alec, who pursued them despite their inital lack of interest and their desire for other men. (Yes Scarlett was even more ridiculous than Tess in the fact that she was in love with Ashley Wilkes but kept marrying other men, and was a definite flirt to all men, unlike Tess who just subtley flirted with Angel.)


CB in a decade http://www.hansmatheson.org/hansgallery/photohans7.jpg