David Selznick's Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2007)

David Selznick a true genius in my opinion created one of the greatest movies ever made in "Gone With The Wind". Filmed at Selznick International studios ( now best known as Desilu Culver), the film reflects film making at its best. David Selznick drove himself and most people around him relentlessly until he got the correct cast. It would have been easy to get Errol Flynn and Bette Davis and indeed Warners offered Selznick a better deal financially but he remained steadfast in his efforts to get Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and due to that fact Selznick International had to release the film via MGM Gable's studio Legendary actresses such as Jean Arthur, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Norma Shearer, Lucille Ball and then newcomers Susan Hayward and Lana Turner all were considered. Paulette Goddard almost had the part. Selznick was up against a filming schedule that he had to go with the picture and lo and behold Scarlett O Hara in the vision of Vivien Leigh appeared. We can all thank Selznick for his steadfastness in wanting the picture cast correctly. The supporting players such as Olivia De Havilland, Leslie Howard and most definitely Hattie McDaniel give an added thrust to the emotions of the picture. The sets, the camera work, the costumes (Selznick wrote tons of memos about Clark Gable's outfits), all resulted in a movie masterpiece. The windup of the movie was all Selznick's doing especially Scarlett hearing the voices of her past before her legendary " After All Tomorrow Is Another Day".
David Selznick loved Women and he guided the career of the love of his Life Jennifer Jones but also Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh,Joan Fontaine and made movies with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich and Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert et al Yet his determination to get the right Rhett Butler and the right Vivien Leigh nearly 70 years has proved correct, and nearly 70 years after its premiere one wonders if Hollywood has regressed not progressed. The camera shots of the wounded, the music, are all so impressive today as they must have been revolutionary in l939.
This is a masterpiece