Mark's Movie of the Week #1: Gone with the Wind

 Gone with the Wind 

(Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; December 15, 1939; 221 minutes; 234-238 minutes)

Screenplay by Sidney Howard 

Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell 

Produced by David O. Selznick

Directed by Victor Fleming

Gone with the Wind, based on the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell, was the greatest film of all time.  Set in the American South against the backdrop of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era, the film stars Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes and Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton.  The film begins in 1861 at Tara, the cotton plantation in Georgia on the eve of the American Civil War, the place where the O'Haras and their many slaves lived.  At Twelve Oaks, Scarlett O'Hara meets Rhett Butter, when Melanie's brother, Charles dies in battle; Scarlett was in trouble.  At the charity bazaar, Dr. Meade tells that Rhett is now a blockade runner for the Confederacy.  This film has such moments as the Battle of Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Reconstruction, the birth of Rhett and Scarlett's daughter, Bonnie Blue and a miscarriage. 

Gone with the Wind has a list of supporting players including Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil. Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, George Reeves, Fred Crane, Hattie McDaniel, Oscar Polk, Butterfly McQueen, Victor Jory, Everett Brown, Howard Hickman, Alicia Rhett, Rand Brooks, Carroll Nye, Laura Hope Crews, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Harry Davenport, Leona Roberts, Jane Darwell, Ona Munson, Irving Bacon, Ward Bond and Cliff Edwards.  The film was known for its quotes:  "Fiddle-dee-dee.", "I don't know nothin' bout birthin' babies.", "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.",  "After all, tomorrow is another day!" and "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Gone with the Wind was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won 8 Oscars, including Best Picture (David O.Selznick), Best Director (Victor Fleming), Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel), Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard), Best Cinematography-Color (Ernest Haller and Ray Rennaham), Best Art Direction (Lyle Wheeler), Best Film Editing (Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom), a Special Award to William Cameron Menzies and a Technical Achievement Award to Don Musgrave.  The film was rereleased in 1942,1947,1954,1961,1967,1971,1989, and 1998.  This film was received by U.S. television premiere on HBO on June 11, 1976, it made its network television debut in November, 1976 on NBC and on CBS in 1978 and it was launched by two cable channels- Turner Network Television (TNT) in 1988 and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in 1994.  There never has been a film like Gone with the Wind.