"Gone with the Wind" Still Blowing Strong Seventy Years Later
After All, Tomorrow is Another Day
We have all seen the movie and I won't recant the storyline but I wanted to share some very fascinating facts about the movie since it was released on December 15, 1939 - Seventy Years Ago!
The movie's total running time is 224 minutes (or almost 4 hours!) which was unheard of in those days. Although I bet no one walked out of the movie because it was so long- running.
The then-astronomical 3.7-million-dollar budget was huge (an unbelievable amount at that time) and the film has gone on to gross a whopping $1,450,680,400 dollars for MGM studios.
It garnered a total of 8 Oscars - again, a first for any film at that time.
The lead actors? Well, as it turns out, for the role of "Scarlet" Vivien Leigh was the dark horse who won the race. Can we truly imagine the film without her portrayal of Scarlet? The top choices were actually Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Joan Fontaine, Loretta Young, and Susan Hayward - just to name a few. It wasn't until Vivien Leigh screen tested again in Technicolor that she was finally chosen for the role. Her casting was announced in January of 1939.
Clark Cable remained the immediate favorite from the onset although other actors such as Gary Cooper and Errol Flynn were also entertained for the character of Rhett Butler.
The Production Code at the time forbade the words "hell" or "damn". Imagine how far we have come over the years! The Motion Picture Association had to pass an amendment for the use of the word "damn" in Butler's exit line when he says, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." The American Film Institute voted this infamous farewell salute as the "most memorable line in cinema history" in 2005.
The movie had more than 50 speaking roles and a cast of over 2400 extras! It is a quintessential Hollywood epic that continues to endear a whole new generation of viewers through the ages.
They just don't make them like this anymore!
Published by Michele Starkey
Optimist who enjoys writing, laughing and spreading good news. If I have but one life to live, I hope to make mine memorable. My epitaph will read: she lived, she loved, she left. View profile
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18 Comments
Post a CommentI like the movie, I have read the book several times. I wonder if they could re make the movie like the book? Just not put the degrading names on the servants, and have Scarletts two other children Wade Hamilton and Ella Kennedy
GWTW is the utter and complete bomb!!! I haven't used that expression in years lol. I first saw it when I was 16 and have seen it every year since. They just don't make them like they use to. I love that Vivian Leigh hated kissing Clark Gable because she said his dentures gave him bad breath. Then it came out he deliberately ate onion before kissing her because he didn't like her ROFLMBO They had such great chemistry on the screen but not in real life apparently. Can you believe Olivia De Havilland is STILL alive? Or was as of a few months ago.
"Streetcar". No Question.
Davis is really Scarlett, thank god for "Jezebel"! Taylor is definitely" Cat on a hot tin".
I'm sorry to have this position, I really wanted "Gone" to be great!
Gone with the wind is an epic MESS. Way too long, bad directing, ridiculous back lot sets.
The Scenes looked like scenes, not believable.
I am a big fan of classics and this is a big mess. You can almost peg where one director ends and a new one begins. The premise of the movie changes constantly. The movie should have ended with the first half. You can see toward the end they just wanted to finish it fast and ran out of money. I turned it off when little girl gets thrown from the horse.
I just couldn't take anymore!
I really was insulted. I'm far from a classic movie snob, but I can sure spot an awful flick.
The mood of the movie changes throughout, from drama to almost slapstick comedy.
The timeline is way too long, too many scenes, too short, didn't really allow actors to act. The actors almost seemed like props.
I was so disappointed, this movie reminded me of "Giant", with Taylor, another waste of good acting talent.
Vivien Leigh is definitely Blanche Dubois in "Streetc
My favorite book and movie of alltime.
GWTW is my absolute favorite book. I read it as a young teen, all 1064 pages of it in just a few days. I didn't see the movie until many years later, after the dog-eared book had been read at least a dozen times, so I already had every scene in my head and didn't think the movie as good. I was disappointed when 'Scarlet' was published a number of years ago.
Interesting info about a classic film!
I never watched Gone with the Wind, but now I am going to have to get it on Netflix!
LOL at JerseyNana's comment...loved Carol Burnett in her spoof! This article makes me want to watch GWTW again...it's been a long time since I last saw it :)
Michele, that was a total epic, will never forget, and on the other hand, will also never forget the Carol Burnett spoof either!