The Making of Gone With The Wind
by Steve Wilson
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Description
Gone With The Wind is one of the most popular movies of all time. To commemorate its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2014, The Making of Gone With The Wind presents more than 600 items from the archives of David O. Selznick, the film's producer, and his business partner John Hay "Jock" Whitney, which are housed at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. These rarely seen materials, which are also being featured in a major 2014 exhibition at the Ransom Center, offer fans show more and film historians alike a must-have behind-the-camera view of the production of this classic. Before a single frame of film was shot, Gone With The Wind was embroiled in controversy. There were serious concerns about how the film would depict race and violence in the Old South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. While Clark Gable was almost everyone's choice to play Rhett Butler, there was no clear favorite for Scarlett O'Hara. And then there was the huge challenge of turning Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic into a manageable screenplay and producing it at a reasonable cost. The Making of Gone With The Wind tells these and other surprising stories with fascinating items from the Selznick archive, including on-set photographs, storyboards, correspondence and fan mail, production records, audition footage, gowns worn by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett, and Selznick's own notoriously detailed memos. This inside view of the decisions and creative choices that shaped the production reaffirm that Gone With The Wind is perhaps the quintessential film of Hollywood's Golden Age and illustrate why it remains influential and controversial decades after it was released. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
his is a fantastic oversize book that covers the making of Gone With the Wind, written by the curator at University of Texas where producer David O. Selznick's items related to the film, including costumes, are housed. The photographs in the book are exquisite, with such detail, many of which you have not seen previously. The book described pre-production activities and then goes through the making of the film, month by month - as to what scenes where shot each month. Post-production activities and the Atlanta premiere are also discussed. The book also reproduces many of the memos that Selznick was famous for. These were a bit hard to read because some were fairly small and I did not realize until I got to the back of the book, that show more they were reproduced there. However, one of the items, Selznick's A list for invitees to premieres was not reproduced and I will need a magnifying glass to go back and review that document. This book is a MUST for any fan of GWTW. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2014-09-01
- People/Characters
- David O. Selznick; Margaret Mitchell
- Related movies
- Gone with the Wind (1939 | IMDb)
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 791.43 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Public performances Motion pictures, radio, television, podcasting Motion pictures
- LCC
- PN1997 .G59 .W55 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Motion pictures Plays, scenarios, etc.
- BISAC
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- 39
- Popularity
- 747,315
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.06)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
