| Gone with the WindReleased: December 15, 1939 Studio: MGM Genre: historic/romantic epic Box Office (numbers in millions)
Domestic: 200.90 Worldwide: 402.40 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 1984.62 Worldwide: 4192.00 |
Directing: George Cukor, Sam Wood, Victor Fleming Screenwriting: Sidney Howard Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel Review:“The epic by which every other is measured.” TV This is “one of filmdom’s greatest cinematic achievements and blockbusters.” FS “If not the greatest movie ever made, certainly one of the greatest examples of storytelling on film, maintaining interest for nearly four hours.” LM It is based on Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel about “the South’s tragic history during the war and the Reconstruction period,” FS although “it never really confronts the political or historical context of the Civil War, relegating it to a backdrop for the emotional upheavals” T95 of Scarlett O’Hara, “brilliantly played by Leigh,” LM as “she struggles to protect her family and her beloved plantation, Tara.” FS “Closer to Jackie Collins than Shakespeare,” ML producer “David O. Selznick’s grand Technicolor version” TV of Gone with the Wind “is, quite simply, a glorious soap opera.” TV The film follows the “indomitable, fiery” FS Scarlett and her “conversion from bitchy Southern belle to loving wife.” T95 She is torn between Ashley Wilkes, “a married Southern gentleman” FS and Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler, “a slyly-dashing war profiteer.” FS Wind isn’t flawless. “It’s inevitably racist, alarmingly sexist (Scarlett’s submissive smile after marital rape), [and] nostalgically reactionary (wistful for a vanished, supposedly more elegant and honorable past).” T95 However, the film “epitomizes Hollywood at its most ambitious (not so much in terms of art, but of middlebrow, respectable entertainment served up on a polished platter.” T95 It was also “filled with technically complicated scenes, like the burning of Atlanta which was amazingly done on the MGM lot,” VD and “acted to the hilt by all concerned.” T98 Of course, there was also “Rhett Butler’s delivery of Hollywood’s first four-letter word, ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!’” A07 Sources:
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Oscars:Wins: 8 – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (McDaniel), Best Screenplay, Best Interior Decoration, Best Film Editing, Best Color Cinematography, Special Award for “use of color” Nominations: 13 – including Best Actor (Gable), Best Supporting Actress (de Havilland), Best Original Score, Best Special Effects, Best Sound Recording Other Lists/Honors:
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