Gone with the Wind (1939)

Director:

Victor Fleming

Writers:

Margaret Mitchell (novel)
Sidney Howard (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 January 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

Now in 70mm. wide screen and full stereophonic sound! [reissue]

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Giving Birth | Employer Employee Relationship | Loss Of Father | Dress From Curtains

Awards:

Won 8 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

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

Runtime:

226 min (copyright length) | USA:238 min (restored DVD version) | Sweden:223 min (1969 re-release) | Sweden:234 min (1985 re-release) | UK:224 min (1994 re-release) | UK:233 min (1989 re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (original release) | 70 mm 6-Track (re-release) (1967) | DTS (re-release) (1998) | Dolby Digital (re-release) (1998) | Matrix Surround (1989 remix by Chace) | Perspecta Stereo (re-release) (1954) | SDDS (re-release) (1998)

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (2004) | Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G (alternate rating) | Australia:PG | Belgium:KT | Canada:G (British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Québec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:PG | Norway:16 | Peru:PT | South Korea:12 | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #5729) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1971)

Filming Locations:

Agoura Hills, California, USA

Company:

Selznick International Pictures

Trivia:

Margaret Mitchell personally approved of Vivien Leigh's interpretation of Scarlett.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: An obvious stunt player drives the buggy through the burning Atlanta Depot.

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: Oh, isn't it exciting, Scarlett? You know those fool Yanks may 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 of you boys says "war" just once again, I'll go in the house and slam the door.
Brent Tarleton: But Scarlett...
Stuart Tarleton: Don't you *want* us to have a war?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Relative Strangers (2006)

Soundtrack:

(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land

A Classic in the History of Movie-making.

Every time I watch this film, and I've seen it more times than I can remember, I'm always astonished by the freshness of the story, the power of the emotions it conveys and the beautiful, detailed images of a time long gone. That this film was made in the 1930's is almost incomprehensible to me. The challenges that had to be overcome in order to bring it to life must have been monumental. But come to life it did, and still does! A triumph of film-making ingenuity and genius, that will live on for many generations to come.