Movie Description
Hot-tempered, self-centered, part-Irish Southern beauty Scarlett O'Hara, played to the teeth by Vivien Leigh, loves the gentlemanly Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). Smug, rebellious, honest, blockade-running profiteer Rhett Butler, portrayed gracefully and naturally by Clark Gable, loves Scarlett. Ashley, who is also in love with Scarlett, marries his genteel cousin Melanie (Olivia de Havilland) because he believes that their quiet similarities will create a better marriage than Scarlett's passion. Meanwhile, sparks fly between Rhett and Scarlett at their first encounter and continue throughout Scarlett's first two marriages. Scarlett and Rhett finally wed, but Scarlett continues to pine for her beloved Ashley. Set against the Civil War and Southern Reconstruction, this tragic love quadrangle offers the burning of Atlanta and fields of wounded Confederates as part of its lush scenery. Meticulous backdrops, glorious sunsets, numerous silhouettes, and the ultrasaturated Technicolor film create a hyperreal vision. The romantic score is every bit as lush and dramatic as the photography, borrowing folk melodies from the Old South to make the tragic war concrete. Heavy nostalgic tones pervade the often witty dialogue and larger-than-life charms and faults of the leads. GONE WITH THE WIND stands among the greatest epic dramas ever filmed.
| Credits | | Producer: | David O. Selznick | | Cast: | Alicia Rhett, Carroll Nye, Fred Crane, Harry Davenport, Isabel Jewell, Jackie Moran, Laura Hope Crews, Leona Roberts, Lillian Kemble-Cooper, Mary Anderson, Olin Howland, Paul Hurst, Robert Elliott, Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond, Yakima Canutt |
Editorial Reviews
"...For contemporary audiences, a vertiable shock of pleasure....Weep for the fearlessness with which Hollywood once believed the sublime was possible..." -- Rating: A
Entertainment Weekly - p.62 - Owen Gleiberman (07/17/1998)
"...Greater than ever....The older it gets, and we with it, the more we're able to see in it..."
Los Angeles Times - Kevin Thomas (03/02/1989)
"...It is still a great film, above all, because it tells a great story..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (12/02/1994)
"...[A] masterpiece....Gorgeous whether you're watching moving images or frozen ones..."
USA Today - Mike Clark (01/03/1992)
"...The Everest of grand Hollywood moviemaking..."
Premiere - Premiere Staff (12/01/2003)
"One of those rare moments when stars align, and the perfect actress finds the perfect role at the perfect time."
Total Film - Matt Mueller (03/01/2004)
"Leigh is electric, wicked, incorrigible, lovely."
Uncut - Chris Roberts (01/01/2005)
Awards
1939Academy AwardsBest ActressVivien Leigh, 1939Academy AwardsBest Adapted ScreenplaySidney Howard, 1939Academy AwardsBest CinematographyErnest Haller, 1939Academy AwardsBest CinematographyRay Rennahan, 1939Academy AwardsBest DirectorVictor Fleming, 1939Academy AwardsBest Film Editing, 1939Academy AwardsBest Interior Decoration (b&w)Lyle Wheeler, 1939Academy AwardsBest Picture, 1939Academy AwardsBest Supporting ActressHattie McDaniel
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