Gone with the Wind

Released: 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:

^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”
^LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century”
^ML Movieline (Dec. 1995). “100 Best Movies Ever Made” by Virginia Campbell and Edward Margulies
^T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films”
^T98 Time Out (1998). “Readers’ Top 100 Films”
^TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video”
^VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists:

Box Office:

Awards:

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