Gone with the Wind
The greatest romance of all time!
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Production
Budget
$3 977 000
Revenue
$391 023 031
Director
Scenario
Margaret Mitchell
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Vivien Leigh
Scarlett O'Hara
Clark Gable
Rhett Butler
Olivia de Havilland
Melanie Hamilton
Leslie Howard
Ashley Wilkes
Hattie McDaniel
Mammy
Thomas Mitchell
Gerald O'Hara
Barbara O'Neil
Ellen O'Hara
Evelyn Keyes
Suellen O'Hara
Short description
Set in Georgia during the American Civil War and the years that follow, Gone with the Wind centres on Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong daughter of a plantation owner. She is pursued by many admirers but wants only Ashley Wilkes, who is engaged to her gentle cousin Melanie. At a gathering before the fighting begins, she meets Rhett Butler, a cynical, self-interested man who is drawn to her. As the war overturns the world she grew up in, Scarlett is forced to fight for her home and for a new life on ruined land.
Victor Fleming directed the 1939 film, one of two he made that year, between Test Pilot and The Wizard of Oz. George Cukor, whose previous film was The Women, and Sam Wood, whose previous film was Goodbye, Mr. Chips, also directed. Sidney Howard wrote the screenplay and David O. Selznick produced. Vivien Leigh plays Scarlett, with Clark Gable as Rhett, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie, Leslie Howard as Ashley, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy and Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O'Hara.
Made for about 4 million dollars, the film took roughly 391 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 8.2 out of 10 from 355,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.9 from 4,486. Its critics' rating stands at 9.1 from 103 reviews, above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Yielding to strong pressure from the Legion of Followers of the Catholic Church, censors allowed 'Gone with the Wind' to be shown only in a limited number of cinemas and for a limited time due to the 'low moral principles of the main characters, a decaying example of societal degradation, scenes of violence and excessive lust'.
- Mitchell first wrote the final chapter. Then she began to string chapters together onto the plot’s core, like pieces of shashlik onto a skewer. Among the writer’s peculiarities was the fact that she would hide many chapters under furniture in the house for a week or two before retrieving them, rereading them and making corrections.
- The Macmillan Publishers publishing house intended to publish the novel under the title “Tomorrow Is Another Day,” but Mitchell suggested several alternative titles, among which was “Gone with the Wind.” She found this phrase in Ernest Dowson’s poem “Cynara.”
- The film's screenwriter, Sidney Howard, died in a farming accident a month before the premiere. He was posthumously awarded the Oscar for Best Screenplay.
- Almost a million viewers watched the film in Atlanta. On the night of the premiere, up to 300,000 people stood near the cinema, wanting to personally greet the creators of the film.
- The search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara was even more intense. A total of 1400 candidates were considered.
- The author drew the idea for the novel from her own life. While studying at Smith College, she fell in love with a classmate, but their happiness was not meant to be: the man died on the front lines during World War I.
- Leslie Howard, who played the war hero Ashley Wilkes in “Gone with the Wind,” was a reserve military officer. When World War II began, he volunteered for the front and died: his plane was shot down.
- Screenings were held at Loew's Grand Theatre on Pear Street, and the cinema building was decorated like an old mansion of the O'Hara dynasty, with a photograph of Clark Gable embracing Vivien Leigh hanging above the entrance. Tickets for the premiere cost $10, but scalpers sold them for $200 (in today's money – $2000)...
- Selznick began filming the movie without yet having an actress for the lead role! For filming the plantation house, the estate of Selznick's brother, Myron, head of a Hollywood casting agency, was used. It was Myron who recommended the young actress Vivien Leigh. The role of the black nanny-maid was sought after by... the cook of President Franklin Roosevelt, Lizzie McDuffie, but Hattie McDaniel was ultimately chosen.
- Vivien Leigh was approved for the role quite by chance, after numerous auditions of other famous Hollywood actresses; it is also remarkable that the "American girl" was ultimately played by an Englishwoman. Around 1400 actresses auditioned for the role, of which 400 were invited to a second audition.
- When director George Cukor left the set due to disagreements with the producer, Selznick quickly found a replacement in Victor Fleming.
- Despite the fact that color became established in cinema much later (approximately in the 1960s), "Gone with the Wind" is a fully color film. It was shot using the "Technicolor" system, in which black and white shots were dyed red and green and bonded into a single reel, allowing for the desired color palette; this method was expensive, as it not only consumed a large amount of film but also required a specially modified camera.
- In the scene of the escape from Atlanta through the fire on the 86th minute of the film, the horse refuses to go further, as the ground is burning in front of it. When Rhett Butler covers the horse's head with a shawl, and they continue on their way, the flames in their path are already gone.
- Actress Barbara O'Neil, who played Scarlett's mother Ellen, was in fact only three years older than actress Vivien Leigh.
- Published in 1936, the novel sold over 50,000 copies on its first day. In its first year, it received the Pulitzer Prize and was reprinted 31 times.
- In 1976, when 'Gone with the Wind' was first shown on American television, sociologists estimated the audience to be around 130 million viewers.
- The first scene filmed for the movie was the scene of Scarlett and Rhett fleeing the burning Atlanta. The scene was filmed under natural conditions – the studio management set fire to an entire 'block' of sets remaining from the filming of another movie; at that time, the actress playing Scarlett had not yet been approved and was played by an actress whose name remains unknown.
- A well-known writer, Scott Fitzgerald, participated in writing certain scenes of the film, but his name did not appear in the credits.
- Vivien Leigh worked for 125 days and received $25,000, while Clark Gable worked for 71 days and received $120,000.
- Initially, it was planned to use 2000 extras in the scene where Scarlett walks through the battlefield among the bodies of dead and wounded Southerners. But the Actors Guild demanded that all of them be paid at the average rate, which Selznick refused. The scene involved 800 paid extras and 400 volunteers who filmed for free.
- The complete restored version of the film has a runtime of 238 minutes.
- Selznick was fined $5,000 for some rather uncensored expressions of the film’s characters, but he always believed he had paid the money well.
- The film featured 59 actors and 2,400 extras, 1,100 horses, 375 other animals, and 450 carriages and wagons. The final cost of the film was $3.7 million (equivalent to $41 million today) plus $550,000 for advertising, posters, and special brochures.
- Social customs in America in the 1930s were such that none of the Black actors and actresses who appeared in the film were allowed to attend the premiere.
- Among other candidates for the role of Butler, stars of the 1930s such as Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, and Errol Flynn were considered.
- 5,500 original costumes were sewn for the film, including 1,200 uniforms of the Confederate army. Their total cost was only $10,000. All uniforms underwent an aging process: they were rubbed with sand, brushed with metal brushes, and dirtied.
- In July 1998, the legendary film 'Gone with the Wind' was re-released in theaters across America.
- Paulette Goddard was approved for the role of Scarlett, but her contract was later terminated.
- As an advance for her future book, Margaret Mitchell received $500, and earned $3 million in royalties in the first year (equivalent to $33 million today).
- Clark Gable's wife, actress Carole Lombard, auditioned for the role of Scarlett.
- Bette Davis was considered the main contender for the role, but the star was bound by a long-term contract with 'Warner Bros.'. Jack Warner was willing to release Davis, but on the condition that Errol Flynn play the male lead. Bette Davis refused, as she believed Flynn looked too feminine.
- Initially, models were used instead of locomotives in the film. On December 29, 1938, Wilbert Kurtz, the film's historical consultant, wrote to the management of the NC&StL Ry railroad requesting the loan of the General locomotive (the General – a famous locomotive in the US, known after an incident during the Civil War) which was stored in Chattanooga at the time. However, on January 3, 1939, a reply came stating that the locomotive was already being prepared for shipment to the World's Fair in New York and would be unavailable for a year. Kurtz then sent a new letter, requesting the General for filming in February-March, i.e., before the exhibition. The response was positive, but the railroad management required payment for the delivery of the locomotive with its tender to Los Angeles and back at a cost of $3 per hundred pounds of weight. However, this resulted in a significant amount (the locomotive alone weighed 50,300 pounds), so the idea of using the General in the film had to be abandoned. As a result, there are no real locomotives in the film, only wooden models.
- The film's script was changed almost daily, and the actors did not receive the final version until after filming was completed.
- Two people from the cast of 'Gone with the Wind' lived during the years in which the film's plot unfolds: Harry Davenport (Dr. Meade) and Margaret Mann (a bit part as a nurse in the hospital, writing a letter dictated by a dying soldier).
- The film is based on Margaret Mitchell's novel 'Gone with the Wind' (1936).
- One month after the book’s publication, David O. Selznick acquired the film rights from Margaret Mitchell for an unprecedented $50,000. At the time, this was the highest amount ever paid for a debut novel.
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