Gone with the Wind

Gone With the Wind, is a 1939 American musical drama film based on the 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Margaret Mitchell. The novel is one of the most popular of all time, and the film adaptation became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywood and received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.

Mitchell's work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia woman named Scarlett O'Hara and her travails with friends, family and lovers through the pre-war American South, the American Civil War, and the Reconstruction period. It also tells the story of the love that blossoms between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.

The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson: "I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind."

Production[]

Producer David O. Selznick decided that he wanted to create a movie based on Gone With the Wind after his story editor Kay Brown read a pre-publication copy of the novel in May 1936 and urged him to buy the movie rights. A month after the book's publication in June 1936, he bought the rights for $50,000, a record amount at the time. A well-publicized casting search for an actress to play Scarlett resulted in the hire of young English actress Vivien Leigh, although many other famous or soon-to-be-famous actresses had been auditioned, considered for the role, or tested, including Katharine Hepburn, Norma Shearer, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Susan Hayward, Carole Lombard, Paulette Goddard, Irene Dunne, Merle Oberon, Ida Lupino, Joan Fontaine, Loretta Young, Miriam Hopkins, Jean Arthur, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee, and Lucille Ball.

Several actresses were given screen tests for the part, but only two finalists — Paulette Goddard and Vivien Leigh — were tested in Technicolor, on December 20, 1938. Producer Selznick had been quietly considering Vivien Leigh for the role of Scarlett since at least February 1938, although for publicity reasons he arranged to first meet her on the night of December 10, 1938, when the burning of the Atlanta Depot was filmed. Her casting was announced on January 13, 1939.

Principal photography began January 26, 1939, and ended on June 27, 1939, with post-production work (including a fifth version of the opening scene) going to November 11, 1939. Most of the filming was done on the Selznick International lot, with the few location scenes photographed in Los Angeles County or neighboring Ventura County. Estimated production costs were $3.9 million; only Ben-Hur (1925) had cost more.

The film premiered in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 15, 1939, (soon after the start of World War 2 in Europe), and has become the highest-grossing movie of all time (adjusted for inflation). It garnered thirteen Academy Award nominations and eight Awards. Rhett Butler's infamous farewell line to Scarlett O'Hara, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," was voted in a poll by the American Film Institute in 2005 as the most memorable line in cinema history [1].

Although some have criticized the film for sanitizing or even promoting the values of the Old South, still the film is merely telling the story of the plantation, and filmgoers in 1939 probably had a different view than the critics. Scarlett O'Hara's father, Gerald, deferred to his wife, Ellen, who was portrayed as the real head of the O'Hara household. A black woman, Mammy, was not shy about upbraiding her white mistress, Scarlett. In early 1940, Hattie McDaniel won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first time an Oscar was given to an African American.

In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it #4 on its "100 Greatest Movies" list. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry and has undergone a complete digital restoration.

Plot[]

In 1861, on the eve of the American Civil War, Scarlett O'Hara lives at Tara, her family's cotton plantation in Georgia, with her parents and two sisters and their many black slaves. Scarlett is the prettiest and the eldest child, because of her beauty many suitors come for her which makes her self-centered and vain. The one man Scarlett is deeply attracted to is Ashley Wilkes, and learns that he is to be married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. At an engagement party barbecue the next day at Ashley's home, Twelve Oaks, which is a nearby plantation, Scarlett makes an advance on Ashley but is rebuffed; however, she catches the attention of another guest, Rhett Butler. The party is disrupted by news of President Lincoln's call for volunteers to fight the South, and the Southern men rush to enlist in defense of the South. In a bid to arouse jealousy in Ashley, Scarlett marries Melanie's younger brother Charles before he leaves to fight. Following Charles's death while serving in the Confederate States Army, Scarlett's mother sends her to the Hamilton home in Atlanta, where she creates a scene by attending a charity bazaar in her mourning attire and waltzing with Rhett, now a blockade runner for the Confederacy.

The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg, in which many of the men of Scarlett's town are killed. Eight months later, as the city is besieged by the Union Army in the Atlanta campaign, Melanie gives birth with Scarlett's aid, and Rhett helps them flee the city. Once out of the city, Rhett chooses to go off to fight, leaving Scarlett to make her own way back to Tara. Upon her return home, Scarlett finds Tara deserted, except for her father, her sisters, and former slaves Mammy and Pork. Scarlett learns that her mother has just died of typhoid fever and her father has lost his mind. With Tara pillaged by Union troops and the fields untended, Scarlett vows to ensure the survival of herself and her family.

As the O'Haras toil in the cotton fields, Scarlett's father attempts to chase away a carpetbagger from his land but is thrown from his horse and killed. With the defeat of the Confederacy, Ashley also returns but finds he is of little help at Tara. When Scarlett begs him to run away with her, he confesses his desire for her and kisses her passionately, but says he cannot leave Melanie. Unable to pay the Reconstructionist taxes imposed on Tara, Scarlett dupes her younger sister Suellen's fiancé, the middle-aged and wealthy general store owner Frank Kennedy, into marrying her, by saying Suellen got tired of waiting and married another suitor. Frank, Ashley, Rhett, and several other accomplices make a night raid on a shanty town after Scarlett is attacked while driving through it alone, resulting in Frank's death. Shortly after Frank's funeral, Rhett proposes to Scarlett and she accepts.

Rhett and Scarlett have a daughter whom Rhett names Bonnie Blue, but Scarlett still pines for Ashley and, chagrined at the perceived ruin of her figure, refuses to have any more children or share a bed with Rhett. One day at Frank's mill, Scarlett and Ashley are seen embracing by Ashley's sister, India. Harboring an intense dislike of Scarlett, India eagerly spreads rumors. Later that evening, Rhett, having heard the rumors, forces Scarlett to attend a birthday party for Ashley. Melanie, however, stands by Scarlett. After returning home from the party, Scarlett finds Rhett downstairs drunk, and they argue about Ashley. Rhett kisses Scarlett against her will, stating his intent to have sex with her that night, and carries the struggling Scarlett to the bedroom.

The next day, Rhett apologizes for his behavior and offers Scarlett a divorce, which she rejects, saying that it would be a disgrace. When Rhett returns from an extended trip to London, in England, Scarlett informs him that she is pregnant, but an argument ensues which results in her falling down a flight of stairs and suffering a miscarriage. As she is recovering, tragedy strikes again; Bonnie dies while attempting to jump a fence with her pony. Scarlett and Rhett visit Melanie, who has suffered complications arising from a new pregnancy, on her deathbed. As Scarlett consoles Ashley, Rhett prepares to leave Atlanta. Having realized that it was him, and not Ashley, she truly loved all along, Scarlett pleads with Rhett to stay, but he rebuffs her and walks away into the morning fog. A distraught Scarlett resolves to return home to Tara, vowing to one day win Rhett back.

Cast[]

Clark Gable .... Rhett Butler
Vivien Leigh .... Scarlett O'Hara looks like Julie Andrews
Leslie Howard .... Ashley Wilkes
Olivia de Havilland .... Melanie Wilkes|Melanie Hamilton
Thomas Mitchell .... Gerald O'Hara
Barbara O'Neil .... Ellen O'Hara (as Barbara O'Neill)
Evelyn Keyes .... Suellen O'Hara
Ann Rutherford .... Carreen O'Hara
George Reeves .... Stuart Tarleton
Fred Crane .... Brent Tarleton
Hattie McDaniel .... Mammy
Oscar Polk .... Pork
Butterfly McQueen .... Prissy
Victor Jory .... Jonas Wilkerson, The Overseer
Everett Brown .... Big Sam, the foreman
Howard C. Hickman .... John Wilkes (as Howard Hickman)
Alicia Rhett .... India Wilkes
Rand Brooks .... Charles Hamilton
Carroll Nye .... Frank Kennedy, a guest
Laura Hope Crews .... Aunt Pittypat Hamilton
Ona Munson .... Belle Watling

Selected quotes[]

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." - Clark Gable as Rhett Butler
"Savannah would be better for ya. You just get in trouble in Atlanta." - Hattie McDaniel as Mammy
"With enough courage, you can do without a reputation." - Gable as Butler
"Lawzy, we got to have a doctor. I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies." - Butterfly McQueen as Prissy

Awards[]

Academy Awards won[]

Best Picture - David O. Selznick, producer
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Vivien Leigh
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Hattie McDaniel
Best Art Direction - Lyle R. Wheeler
Best Cinematography, Color - Ernest Haller, and Ray Rennahan
Best Director - Victor Fleming
Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern, and James E. Newcom
Best Writing, Screenplay - Sidney Howard
Honorary Award - William Cameron Menzies - "For outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone with the Wind." (plaque).
Technical Achievement Award - Don Musgrave - "For pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment in the production Gone with the Wind."

Nominated for an Academy Award[]

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Clark Gable
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Olivia de Havilland
Best Effects, Special Effects - Fred Albin (sound), Jack Cosgrove (photographic), and Arthur Johns (sound)
Best Music, Original Score - Max Steiner
Best Sound, Recording - Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

The book[]

Critics and historians regard the book as having a strong ideological commitment to the cause of the Confederacy and a romanticized view of the culture of the antebellum South. This is apparent from the book's opening pages, which describe how Scarlett's beaux, the Tarleton twins, have been expelled from university and are accompanied home by their elder brothers out of a sense of honor: a metaphor for the South's viewpoint on the statehood of Kansas.

Nevertheless, the book includes a vivid description of the fall of Atlanta in 1864 and the devastation of war (some of it absent from the 1939 film), and shows a considerable amount of historical research. Mitchell's sweeping narrative of war and loss helped the book win the Pulitzer Prize on May 3, 1937.

Alexandra Ripley wrote the novel Scarlett, in 1991, as the authorized sequel to Mitchell's novel.

In 2000, the copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone, a book that retold the story from the point of view of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the plaintiffs an injunction against publication in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin (2001), on the basis that the book was parody protected by the First Amendment. The parties subsequently settled out of court to allow the book to be published.

Songs Julie Andrews[]

A Spoonful of Sugar - Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins
The Sound of Music - Julie Andrews as Maria
Do-Re-Mi - Julie Andrews as Maria and the children

External links[]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations from or about:

Gone with the Wind

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Gone with the Wind. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with MOVIEPEDIA, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Moviepedia