The Best Picture of 1939 is…..”Gone With The Wind,” no doubt the most popular motion picture of all time because it has everything: Drama, comedy, romance, disaster, sweeping historical context, big movie stars. And it won eight Oscars prompting Bob Hope, at the Academy’s ceremonies, to quip that it was a benefit for David O. Selznick.
Clark Gable seemed to be born for the part of Rhett Butler, the unconventional southern rogue with a wide streak of decency and skeptical of the South’s ability to win the war. It was always rumored that Margaret Mitchell wrote the GWTW lead character with Gable in mind. Whatever the case, Selznick went on a worldwide search for the actress to play his female lead, the mercurial Scarlett O’Hara. He wisely settled on English stage actress Vivien Leigh, who went on to win the Oscar for best actress.
GWTW’s eight Oscars, out of thirteen nominations, with Leigh, include producer Selznick, director Victor Fleming, Best Supporting Actress Hattie McDaniel as Mammy (first African-American Oscar recipient), Sidney Howard, for the superb screenplay faithfully adapted from Mitchell’s novel, as well as art-set direction, film editing, and cinematography.
The rest of the cast is so outstanding that it would take volumes to fully discuss. Olivia de Haviland stands out as Melanie Hamilton, Scarlett’s sister-in-law and opposite in personality and temperament, Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O’Neill as Scarlett’s parents, Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford as her sisters, George Reeves as one of her beaus, Butterfly McQueen as Prissy, Leslie Howard as Melanie’s husband Ashley Wilkes, Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson as Pittypat’s driver, Jane Darwell as Mrs. Merriweather, Ward Bond as the Yankee Captain Tom.
And the viewing and reviewing of the watchable Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer classic “Gone with The Wind” will go on as long as there are movies and DVD players.
Gone With The Wind (1939)
cinema
My Review
The Best Picture of 1939 is…..”Gone With The Wind,” no doubt the most popular motion picture of all time because it has everything: Drama, comedy, romance, disaster, sweeping historical context, big movie stars. And it won eight Oscars prompting Bob Hope, at the Academy’s ceremonies, to quip that it was a benefit for David O. Selznick.
Clark Gable seemed to be born for the part of Rhett Butler, the unconventional southern rogue with a wide streak of decency and skeptical of the South’s ability to win the war. It was always rumored that Margaret Mitchell wrote the GWTW lead character with Gable in mind. Whatever the case, Selznick went on a worldwide search for the actress to play his female lead, the mercurial Scarlett O’Hara. He wisely settled on English stage actress Vivien Leigh, who went on to win the Oscar for best actress.
GWTW’s eight Oscars, out of thirteen nominations, with Leigh, include producer Selznick, director Victor Fleming, Best Supporting Actress Hattie McDaniel as Mammy (first African-American Oscar recipient), Sidney Howard, for the superb screenplay faithfully adapted from Mitchell’s novel, as well as art-set direction, film editing, and cinematography.
The rest of the cast is so outstanding that it would take volumes to fully discuss. Olivia de Haviland stands out as Melanie Hamilton, Scarlett’s sister-in-law and opposite in personality and temperament, Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O’Neill as Scarlett’s parents, Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford as her sisters, George Reeves as one of her beaus, Butterfly McQueen as Prissy, Leslie Howard as Melanie’s husband Ashley Wilkes, Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson as Pittypat’s driver, Jane Darwell as Mrs. Merriweather, Ward Bond as the Yankee Captain Tom.
And the viewing and reviewing of the watchable Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer classic “Gone with The Wind” will go on as long as there are movies and DVD players.