Gone with the Wind (1939)

American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Director:

Victor Fleming

Writers:

Margaret Mitchell (novel), Sidney Howard (screenplay),

Stars:

Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Vivien Leigh

Top 250 #156 | Won 8 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Thomas Mitchell	...	Gerald O'Hara
Barbara O'Neil	...	Ellen O'Hara - His Wife (as Barbara O'Neill)
Vivien Leigh	...	Scarlett - Their Daughter
Evelyn Keyes	...	Suellen - Their Daughter
Ann Rutherford	...	Carreen - Their Daughter
George Reeves	...	Brent Tarleton
Fred Crane	...	Stuart Tarleton
Hattie McDaniel	...	Mammy - House Servant
Oscar Polk	...	Pork - House Servant
Butterfly McQueen	...	Prissy - House Servant
Victor Jory	...	Jonas Wilkerson - Field Overseer
Everett Brown	...	Big Sam - Field Foreman
Howard C. Hickman	...	John Wilkes (as Howard Hickman)
Alicia Rhett	...	India - His Daughter
Leslie Howard	...	Ashley - His Son

Storyline

Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.

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Plot Keywords:

love | plantation | civil war | widow | barbecue | 

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Taglines:

The most magnificent picture ever!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 January 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lo que el viento se llevó

Filming Locations:

Agoura Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,977,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,192,593 (USA) (26 June 1998)

Gross:

$198,655,278 (USA) (13 November 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick International Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

238 min 223 min (1969 re-release) 234 min (1985 re-release) 224 min (1994 re-release) 233 min (1989 re-release) 226 min (copyright length)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Scarlett searches for Dr. Meade, making her way among 1,600 suffering and dying Confederate soldiers, to cut costs and still comply with a union rule that dictated the use of a certain percentage of extras in the cast, 800 dummies were scattered among 800 extras.

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Goofs

When Ashley comes to Atlanta for Christmas during the war, he and Melanie go upstairs to bed and call over the banister of the staircase landing to Scarlett. They proceed on to their room, and we see the light from their room reflected on the wall at the staircase landing. The light disappears as their bedroom door closes, leaving Scarlett watching in misery. However, when we see Prissy and Scarlett packing to leave Atlanta because Sherman is coming (while Melanie is in labor) it appears that there is no bedroom in a position that could leave a light on the landing wall.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Brent Tarleton: What do we care if we *were* expelled from college, Scarlett? The war is gonna start any day now, so we'd have left college anyhow.
Stuart Tarleton: War! Isn't it exciting, Scarlett? You know those fool Yankees actually *want* a war?
Brent Tarleton: We'll show 'em!
Scarlett: Fiddle-dee-dee! War, war, war; this war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream. Besides... there isn't going to be any war.
Brent Tarleton: Not going to be any war?
Stuart Tarleton: Why, honey, of course there's gonna be a war.
Scarlett: If either ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

George Reeves is credited as playing the part of Brent Tarleton, and Fred Crane is billed as Stuart Tarleton. This is incorrect: Crane played Brent, and Reeves played Stuart.

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Connections

Referenced in An Angel at My Table (1990)

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Soundtracks

"Ben Bolt (Oh Don't You Remember)"
(1848) (uncredited)
Music by Nelson Kneass
Poem by Thomas Dunn English (1842)
Sung a cappella by Vivien Leigh

User Reviews

An immortal and towering achievement

It is always in people's nature to put down great things and to nit-pick or sometimes just be plain mean. No matter what anyone says, this is utterly fantastic: in story, in special effects, in casting (with perhaps the sad exception of Leslie Howard as "Ashley") and in captivation. Vivien Leigh is so powerful, passionate, magnificent and beautiful that you could watch it 1000 times on that ground alone. She brings something so convincing and human to the role of the selfish, spoilt Scarlett; the character is larger than life.

Leaving Vivien's astounding performance aside, this remains a sweeping unrivalled epic. Watch it. Esther's rating: 20/10