The Best Picture of 1939 is…..”Gone with the Wind.” This epic historical film is no doubt the most popular motion picture of all time. It has everything: Drama, comedy, romance, disaster, sweeping historical context, big movie stars, and more. It won eight Oscars prompting awards ceremony host Bob Hope to quip that it was a benefit for producer David O. Selznick. George Cukor was the original director, but was dismissed by Selznick early in production. He was replaced by Victor Fleming, who was pulled off of directing “The Wizard of Oz” late in that project. A handful of Cukor’s scenes in “GWTW” remained, but most of both “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” were Victor Fleming’s work.
Clark Gable seemed to be born for the part of Rhett Butler, the unconventional southern rogue. It was rumored that Margaret Mitchell wrote the book’s lead character with Gable in mind. (The novel was published in 1936.) He was indeed Selznick’s first choice. Selznick went on a worldwide search for the actress to play the female lead, the mercurial Scarlett O’Hara. He settled on English stage actress Vivien Leigh, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The rest of the cast includes Olivia de Haviland as Melanie, Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O’Neill as Scarlett’s parents, Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford as her sisters, as well as Hattie McDaniel, George Reeves, Butterfly McQueen, Leslie Howard, Laura Hope Crews, Eddie Anderson, Jane Darwell, and Ward Bond.
“Gone with the Wind” was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, winning eight for Best Picture, Best Director (Fleming), Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (McDaniel), Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan), Best Film Editing. There were two honorary Oscars: Special Award to William Cameron Menzies for “outstanding achievement in the use of color, and Technical Achievement Award to Don Musgrave and Selznick International Pictures for pioneering coordinated equipment.
Non-winners include Best Actor (Gable), Best Supporting Actress (de Haviland), Best Original Score (Max Steiner), Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American recipient of an Oscar. The next black actor to win an Academy Award was Sidney Poitier in 1963’s “Lillies of the Field.”
Margaret Mitchell steadfastly refused to write a sequel, but a book called “Scarlett” by Alexandra Ripley was published in 1991. The estate of Mitchell also authorized a film sequel in the form of a made-for-television mini-series in 1994, also called “Scarlett.” The four hour and six episode CBS film starred Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Timothy Dalton as Scarlett and Rhett.
An interesting footnote to this “GWTW” review is that Selznick’s Best Picture Oscar, purchased by Michael Jackson in 1999 for $1.5 million, remains missing and unaccounted for following Jackson’s death in 2009. Despite extensive searches of his estate, the whereabouts of the coveted statuette are unknown, with theories that it was lost, stolen, or taken by a friend or family member.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
cinema
My Review
The Best Picture of 1939 is…..”Gone with the Wind.” This epic historical film is no doubt the most popular motion picture of all time. It has everything: Drama, comedy, romance, disaster, sweeping historical context, big movie stars, and more. It won eight Oscars prompting awards ceremony host Bob Hope to quip that it was a benefit for producer David O. Selznick. George Cukor was the original director, but was dismissed by Selznick early in production. He was replaced by Victor Fleming, who was pulled off of directing “The Wizard of Oz” late in that project. A handful of Cukor’s scenes in “GWTW” remained, but most of both “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” were Victor Fleming’s work.
Clark Gable seemed to be born for the part of Rhett Butler, the unconventional southern rogue. It was rumored that Margaret Mitchell wrote the book’s lead character with Gable in mind. (The novel was published in 1936.) He was indeed Selznick’s first choice. Selznick went on a worldwide search for the actress to play the female lead, the mercurial Scarlett O’Hara. He settled on English stage actress Vivien Leigh, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The rest of the cast includes Olivia de Haviland as Melanie, Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O’Neill as Scarlett’s parents, Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford as her sisters, as well as Hattie McDaniel, George Reeves, Butterfly McQueen, Leslie Howard, Laura Hope Crews, Eddie Anderson, Jane Darwell, and Ward Bond.
“Gone with the Wind” was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, winning eight for Best Picture, Best Director (Fleming), Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (McDaniel), Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan), Best Film Editing. There were two honorary Oscars: Special Award to William Cameron Menzies for “outstanding achievement in the use of color, and Technical Achievement Award to Don Musgrave and Selznick International Pictures for pioneering coordinated equipment.
Non-winners include Best Actor (Gable), Best Supporting Actress (de Haviland), Best Original Score (Max Steiner), Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American recipient of an Oscar. The next black actor to win an Academy Award was Sidney Poitier in 1963’s “Lillies of the Field.”
Margaret Mitchell steadfastly refused to write a sequel, but a book called “Scarlett” by Alexandra Ripley was published in 1991. The estate of Mitchell also authorized a film sequel in the form of a made-for-television mini-series in 1994, also called “Scarlett.” The four hour and six episode CBS film starred Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Timothy Dalton as Scarlett and Rhett.
An interesting footnote to this “GWTW” review is that Selznick’s Best Picture Oscar, purchased by Michael Jackson in 1999 for $1.5 million, remains missing and unaccounted for following Jackson’s death in 2009. Despite extensive searches of his estate, the whereabouts of the coveted statuette are unknown, with theories that it was lost, stolen, or taken by a friend or family member.