Gone With The Wind: My First Time View

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2020)

Producer: David O. Selznick
Director: Victor Fleming
Writer: Sidney Howard
Stars: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Hattie McDaniel
3h 58min Drama, History, Romance melodrama.
Gone With the Wind. My new number 1 Greatest American Movie (followed by The Godfather, Ben-Hur , Casablanca, Taxi Driver, Star Wars , Citizen Kane , Rebecca).
"Gone With the Wind" presents a sentimental view of the Civil War, in which the "Old South" takes the place of Camelot and the war was fought not so much to defeat the Confederacy; as to give Miss Scarlett O'Hara her comeuppance. The tainted nostalgia comes with the territory. Yet as "GWTW" approaches its 81th anniversary, it is still a towering landmark of film, quite simply because it tells a good story, and tells it wonderfully well.
Vivien Leigh stars as Scarlett O'Hara. In Gone with the Wind, She is always after something. She is fiery, stubborn, beautiful, and selfish, and won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal. When Scarlett O'Hara raises her fist to the sky and vows never to be hungry again, not only do we believe her, we understand her. Vivien Leigh's Scarlett , is one of greatest , most moving and varied , performance I've ever seen on the screen. A touchstone of great melodramatic acting. Rhett Butler is played by Clark Gable, a mustached, cocky, manly actor. Although Scarlett is the center of the film, Gable's intensity matches Leigh's. His ego seems to be competing with hers, physically wrestling hers on the screen. Their energy and passion rise up to meet the gigantic film. The supporting characters are lovely, too, especially Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel as Scarlett's Mammy. She steals every scene she's in with her explosive line readings, and her compassion.
five-time Oscar nominee Olivia de Havilland's performance as the moral fiber of society, was absolutely compelling and as beautiful as see is.
Tremendously impressive cinematic experience. From the amazing performances to Fleming's incredible direction and awe-inspiring images and music. This is a film that deserves to be experienced. A time-tested favorite,"Gone With the Wind" 10/10
Trivia about Gone With the Wind:
The four principal stars were billed in this order: Clark Gable, followed by Leslie Howard (as Scarlett's obsessive love, the glum Ashley Wilkes) and Olivia de Havilland (as sweet Melanie Wilkes, Ashley's cousin), and then Vivien Leigh last with "...and presenting" -- that is, until she won the Oscar and it was changed to "starring."
The film (originally rough-cut at 6 hours in length) was challenging in its making, due to its controversial subject matter (including rape, drunkenness, moral dissipation and adultery) and its epic qualities, with more than 50 speaking roles and 2,400 extras.
Adjusted for inflation, no movie can match the $3.7 billion haul that Gone with the Wind's $390 million box-office receipts since its 1939 release would be worth in today's dollars. The film currently remains the box-office (Champ). Yes More Than #2. 1. Avengers: Endgame (2019). Box office: $2.796 billion.
A nationwide casting search for an actress to play the Southern belle Scarlett resulted in the hiring of young British actress Vivien Leigh, although over 30 other well-known actresses had been tested or considered including: Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, Susan Hayward, Loretta Young, Carole Lombard, Paulette Goddard, Margaret Sullavan, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Lana Turner, Joan Bennett, Mae West, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Arthur, and Lucille Ball. In all, 1,400 actresses were interviewed for the part of Scarlett O'Hara, and 400 performed audition-readings. Although MGM star Clark Gable was expected to play the role of the dashing Charlestonian war profiteer Rhett Butler, Errol Flynn, Ronald Colman, and Gary Cooper were also considered for the part.
The landmark film received tremendous accolades, more than any previous films to date: thirteen nominations and eight (competitive) Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Victor Fleming - the only credited director), Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), a posthumous Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard, along with collaborative assistance from Edwin Justin Mayer, John Van Druten, Ben Hecht, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Jo Swerling) - the first post-humous winner of its kind, Best Color Cinematography, Best Interior Decoration, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel - the first time an African-American had been nominated and honored) and two honorary plaques, one for production designer William Cameron Menzies for the "use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood," and the other a technical production award for Don Musgrave for "pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment."
Many of the five nominations that lost were unexpected: Best Actor (Clark Gable who lost to Robert Donat for Goodbye, Mr. Chips), Best Supporting Actress (Olivia de Havilland who was competing against co-star Hattie McDaniel), Best Sound Recording, Best Original Score (Max Steiner), and Best Special Effects. Its record of a total of ten Academy Awards wins held firm until 1959, when Ben-Hur (1959) won eleven Oscars. It was phenomenal that Gone With the Wind did so well, given that 1939 boasted some of the greatest American films ever made, including Ninotchka, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and Stagecoach.