David O. Selznick wanted Gone with the Wind to be somehow more than a movie, a film that would broaden the very idea of what a film could be and do and look like. In many respects he got what he worked so hard to achieve in this 1939 epic (and all-time box-office champ in terms of tickets sold), and in some respects he fell far short of the goal. While the first half of this Civil War drama is taut and suspenseful and nostalgic, the second is ramshackle and arbitrary. But there's no question that the film is an enormous achievement in terms of its every resource--art direction, color, sound, cinematography--being pushed to new limits for the greater glory of telling an American story as fully as possible. Vivien Leigh is still magnificently narcissistic, Olivia de Havilland angelic and lovely, Leslie Howard reckless and aristocratic. As for Clark Gable: we're talking one of the most vital, masculine performances ever committed to film. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Ecstacy and Agony "Gone with the Wind" is a fabulous film, the film by which all others are gauged. It debuted in 1939, perhaps the year that produced the most high quality films of all time. Watching this film is like viewing a great painting. Every time I watch it I get something new. I also detect subtleties and insights I never recognized when I was younger. I won't attempt to summarize this well-known film, because I see that there have been over seven hundred reviews before this one. I will tell you about a... more info
Everyone should own a copy of this My grandmother first introduced me to this movie and I've owned a copy since it first came out on DVD. Based upon one of the best-written novels of all time, the film is outstanding in it's own right. Covering the war from the viewpoint of it's heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, 'Gone With the Wind' explores the effects of the war on a well-to-do Southern family and the plantation they live on, Tara. A wonderful character study, Scarlett and her romantic interest, Rhett Butler, do what they must to survive in trying... more info
The Immortal GWTW Gone With the Wind is one of the alltime greatest movies ever made, with something for just about everyone to enjoy, whether it is the fine performance by Hattie McDaniel as "Mammy" or the scenes of Atlanta burning as Sherman marches to the sea. Some of the history is good, and none is as bad as its detractors would like it to be. If you have not seen GWTW, you must do so to say that you know great American films.
Isn't the defense of slavery romantic! I wonder what kind of reception GWTW would have gotten had it come out in 1945 and been about a love affair between a man and woman in Nazi Germany. Imagine Rhett Butler as the dashing U-boat captain who constantly evades those pesky British destroyers in the North Atlantic. Picture Scarlett O'hara as the totally self-absorbed Fraulein who can't quite figure out what is in all those trains leaving town for central Europe because she is too busy thinking about a party dress. Despite the cinematic qualities... more info
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