Perhaps it is technically the most perfect film ever made

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 2001)

It is astonishing that a film made in 1939 should be considered technically the best ever made film.
But technology has not progressed so much in the sense this film shines.
The shots are splendid, the action is magnificent, the pictures are natural and complete, people are filmed just closely as the script requires, actors direction is wonderful.
It would have been, in my opinion, the best ever made film if the sequence of emotive scenes would have been more solid and acting would have been perfect instead of almost perfect. I think that there are five films that I could put over this one, for different reasons, mainly due to better scripts, perfect acting or to originality: Fred Zinnemann´s "A Man for all Seasons", Léo Joannon´s "Le Defroqué", Serguei Bondarchuk´s "War and Peace", André Cayatte´s "La vie conjugale" and David Lean´s "Lawrence of Arabia". But only the last one and in a restricted sense - due to its impressive war scenes - the russian "War and Peace" could compete technically with "Gone with the Wind".
The famous burning of Atlanta is the best shot ever made. I could say absolutely insuperable.
Direction is very good, though I have learned that Victor Flemming was not the main responsible for it as he was not the only director hired by producer David O. Selznick and that direction was more in the hands of the latter than in anyone´s else.
Acting is not outstanding but I could say very good. Personally I liked the acting performances of secondary actors Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard more than the supposed to be fascinating Clark Gable´s and awarded Vivien Leigh´s and Hattie McDaniel´s performances.
Even with such minor limitations "Gone with the Wind" is a masterpiece and the fact that it belongs to 1939 is really incredible.