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 | reconstruction | widow | 

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Taglines:

The greatest romance of all time!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

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

Margaret Mitchell was dismayed at the scale of the Tara and Twelve Oaks sets, writing to her friend, technical advisor Susan Myrick, "I grieve to hear that Tara has columns. Of course, it didn't and looked nice and ugly like Alex Stephens' Liberty Hall [in Crawfordville, Georgia]." And, "I had feared, of course that [Twelve Oaks] would end up looking like the Grand Central Station, and your description confirms my worst apprehensions. I did not know whether to laugh or to throw up at the TWO staircases.... God help me when the reporters get me after I've seen the picture. I will have to tell the truth, and if Tara has columns and Twelve Oaks is such an elegant affair I will have to say that nothing like that was ever seen in Clayton County, or, for that matter, on land or sea.... When I think of the healthy, hardy, country and somewhat crude civilization I depicted and then of the elegance that is to be presented, I cannot help yelping with laughter... "

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Goofs

When the war is over, everyone at Tara runs to the front hall. We see Melanie run down with empty arms. In the next shot she is holding her baby.

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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 The Big C: Playing the Cancer Car (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Ring de Banjo"
(1851) (uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
In the score for Twelve Oaks scenes

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