Gone with the Wind
Directed by Victor Fleming
Written by Sidney Howard from the novel by Margaret Mitchell
1939/USA
Selznick International Pictures in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#133 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
[box] Scarlett: I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.[/box]
The best films are timeless – like this romantic melodrama about various sorts of unrequited love. I can’t think of a thing that could be changed without hurting the movie. Perfect cast, perfect production, perfect music, etc., etc. Amazing that all this came out of such a fraught production history and so much micro-management.
Gone with the Wind won an unprecedented eight Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel), Best Screenplay, Best Color Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Film Editing. William Cameron Menzies won an Honorary Oscar for “outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood” and R.D. Musgrave won a Technical Achievement Award for “pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment.” The film was also nominated in the categories of Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress (Olivia de Havilland), Best Sound Recording, Best Special Effects, and Best Original Score.
Clip – Scarlett makes her way through the wounded after the Battle of Atlanta
GONE WITH THE WIND changed my life and, I suspect, I was not alone this ….
No, you were not alone.
There is nothing to say about this film that hasn’t already been said. It is simply magnificent in every way and it has not dated one iota since it was released. I cried like a baby in parts when Sherman began his infamous march to the sea, destroying everything in his path. The pan shot at the Atlanta railroad station is breathtaking. The film strikes a chord with all viewers, regardless of where you live or on which side your ancestors fought…….and who would have thought that a British actress could play Scarlett to such perfection. If I have any gripe at all, it is the casting of Leslie Howard as Ashley…….he did not attempt the southern accent as did Leigh (who did it beautifully) and his British accent jarred just a bit in the beginning. It is such a minor point that it makes no difference to my overall love of this classic of classics.
I read the novel in my early teens before I had seen the movie. The ending reduced me to a sobbing mess. I agree it has not dated a bit. Leslie Howard was too English and too old but I can’t imagine anyone else in the part.
Jill, “classic of classics” says it all. Bea, I too was a sobbing mess over the book. I remember crying solidly for the last 75 pages. I intend to revisit the novel very soon.
I think whether you do or do not like the movie is almost irrelevant. The film is so overpowering superior to anything contemporary on practically every account that it defies criticism. When I saw it not too long ago I had to check if it was some sort of restored or revived version I had found. I just could not believe this was from 1939.
I intensely dislike Scarlett in all her incarnations (and think Rhett is the coolest guy around), but I still like to watch this film. It is awesome.
The movie almost defines excellence. It’s funny about Scarlett. She is reprehensible in so many ways and yet when I was sobbing at the end of the novel it was because Scarlett had blown it. Mitchell made me identify with the character and her survival skills counted for a lot in my book. I guess I could kind of see the part that Rhett loved.