I'm a major fan of Leslie Howard in general - normally I consider him unable to do any wrong - but have always found his performance in this film dull. I don't know whether it's truly that his performance is bland and uninspired, or if it's more so that the Ashley Wilkes character is so insipid.

Growing up, and in to my mid 20s, I viewed this film seems like just about every single year, when it would have its once-annual network t.v. airing. For sure I saw it at least 7-8 times back then (1970s and in to the mid '80s) and probably more like around ten times. Not because I have any great love (I don't) for the antebellum South, but because this is an ultra-famous Classic film, I loved old movies even while growing up, as well as history in general (and of course this is set in the distant past), and this film was (back then) considered pretty much the greatest Hollywood Classic film, plus there's the terrific cast and the lavish production. (See this thread for my present-day views on the movie.) I think just about everyone watched this when it annually had its decades-past network airing.

At any rate, even back then I thought Ashley Wilkes was the movie's dullest major character. I still feel that way. However upon rewatching this movie last night (after years of choosing to near completely bypass it during recent decades [due to having so overdosed on it in earlier life], I decided to buy the 2-discs DVD set yesterday), my updated opinion is that not only is Ashley a bland character, but also that Leslie Howard, indeed, gives a thoroughly unremarkable performance. Some might say that's to reflect the character, though I watched closely and think it's every bit as much that Howard didn't seem at all personally invested in the character.

As for Ashley, I've never at all understood his tremendous appeal to Scarlett.

Please check out the following list of titles and celebrities I've created TMDb threads for: https://www.themoviedb.org/list/118052