Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind is a historical romance novel by American author Margaret Mitchell, published on June 30, 1936, chronicling the life of fictional Scarlett O'Hara amid the American Civil War and Reconstruction era in Georgia.[1] The work, Mitchell's only novel, sold over 30 million copies worldwide and earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.[2] It was adapted into a 1939 Technicolor film directed primarily by Victor Fleming, featuring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, which grossed over $390 million at the box office (equivalent to billions today when adjusted for inflation) and held the record as Hollywood's highest-grossing film for nearly three decades.[3][4] The story centers on the decline of the Southern plantation aristocracy, Scarlett's survivalist pragmatism, and her tumultuous relationships, set against Atlanta's siege and the social upheavals of postwar Reconstruction.[5] The film adaptation received ten Academy Award nominations and won eight, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for Leigh, marking a technical and artistic pinnacle of 1930s cinema with innovations in color photography and epic scale.[4] Hattie McDaniel's portrayal of Mammy earned her the first Oscar for a Black performer in a supporting role.[4] Despite its commercial dominance and cultural impact—evidenced by enduring popularity and influence on Southern identity narratives—Gone with the Wind has faced scrutiny for its sympathetic depiction of the Confederacy and benign portrayal of slavery, reflecting the "Lost Cause" interpretation prevalent in early 20th-century historiography that emphasized Southern honor over the war's causal link to emancipation.[5] Production records indicate initial scripts included harsher slavery elements that were softened, contributing to later debates over historical fidelity versus romanticization.[6] Modern critiques, often amplified by institutions with documented ideological leanings, highlight these as perpetuating outdated racial tropes, though contemporary audiences in the 1930s and 1940s embraced the work for its dramatic resonance with economic hardship and resilience themes.[7][6]Source Material
Margaret Mitchell's Novel
Margaret Mitchell, born November 8, 1900, in Atlanta, Georgia, to a prominent family immersed in Southern history, drew inspiration for her novel from oral accounts of the Civil War provided by Confederate veterans, including her great-aunt and grandmother, who shared firsthand experiences of the conflict's hardships.[8] Her father, Eugene Mitchell, a lawyer and president of the Atlanta Historical Society, facilitated access to local archives, while Mitchell herself, after working as a feature writer for the Atlanta Journal Magazine under the byline Peggy Mitchell, turned to writing full-time following a 1926 ankle injury from an earlier automobile accident that confined her to home.[9] She amassed extensive notes over a decade, consulting Civil War-era newspapers, soldiers' diaries, and government records to ground the narrative in verifiable events such as the Siege of Atlanta and Sherman's March, emphasizing causal chains of economic disruption and social reconfiguration over idealized portrayals.[10] The story follows Scarlett O'Hara, the pragmatic and self-interested eldest daughter of Gerald O'Hara, owner of the Tara cotton plantation in Clayton County, as she navigates romantic entanglements, familial obligations, and economic ruin from 1861 to 1873. Pursuing her infatuation with the aristocratic Ashley Wilkes amid the Confederacy's collapse, Scarlett resorts to strategic marriages for financial security, manages Tara's survival through shrewd opportunism during Reconstruction's carpetbagger influx and labor shifts, and engages in a tumultuous relationship with the cynical blockade runner Rhett Butler, whose realism contrasts the Old South's chivalric pretensions. Core themes revolve around individual adaptation to scarcity—Scarlett's willingness to exploit opportunities, including mills and speculation, underscores how self-preservation drives human action amid the aristocracy's obsolescence, as traditional land-based wealth yields to industrial pragmatism and the war's destruction of over 30% of Georgia's infrastructure.[11][12] Macmillan Publishers released Gone with the Wind on June 30, 1936, with an initial print run of 5,000 copies that sold out immediately, propelled by advance word-of-mouth and bookstore demand.[1] The novel achieved over 1 million copies sold in its first six months, a commercial phenomenon amid the Great Depression, and secured the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in May 1937 for its vivid historical reconstruction rooted in empirical details of Southern resilience rather than sentimentality.[13] By prioritizing characters' rational self-interest—such as Scarlett's rejection of ideological purity for tangible survival tactics—the work challenged prevailing romanticized views of the antebellum South, attributing its downfall to structural vulnerabilities like overreliance on slave labor and monoculture rather than external moral failings alone.[9]Production
Development and Adaptation
David O. Selznick acquired the film rights to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind on July 7, 1936, for $50,000, the highest sum paid for a manuscript up to that point.[14][15] This purchase reflected Selznick's ambition to adapt the 1,037-page novel into an epic production amid growing public demand for Civil War-era dramas following successes like The Birth of a Nation.[16] Selznick commissioned Sidney Howard as the primary screenwriter to condense the expansive narrative while retaining core sequences such as the siege of Atlanta and Scarlett O'Hara's defense of Tara plantation. Howard's initial draft underwent extensive revisions by multiple writers, including contributions from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ben Hecht, to streamline the story from over 400 pages of script material into a manageable runtime.[17] These changes addressed structural pacing and emphasized character consequences, such as Scarlett's pragmatic survivalism amid moral trade-offs, rather than romantic idealization. Script delays arose from mandatory alterations to comply with the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code), which required toning down the novel's explicit sexual elements and profanities to avoid outright rejection by censors. For instance, Rhett Butler's dialogue was sanitized, though Selznick contested the infamous "damn" line, incurring a $5,000 fine to retain it for dramatic authenticity.[18][19] This process prioritized causal fidelity to the characters' flawed decisions over unbridled sentiment, ensuring the adaptation's moral realism aligned with enforceable industry standards. Principal photography began in December 1938 under initial director George Cukor, who was dismissed after three weeks in February 1939 due to Selznick's dissatisfaction with the filming pace and tonal execution evident in dailies footage. Cukor's approach, criticized for excessive focus on female characters and slower scene development, clashed with the need for dynamic epic momentum. Selznick replaced him with Victor Fleming, pulled from The Wizard of Oz, to inject vigor and align the visuals with the story's high-stakes historical realism.[20][21]Casting and Pre-Production
Producer David O. Selznick initiated a highly publicized nationwide search for the role of Scarlett O'Hara, auditioning approximately 1,300 women and conducting screen tests with 32 candidates, including established stars such as Joan Bennett, Lana Turner, and Loretta Young, to identify an actress capable of embodying the character's fiery resilience and broad commercial appeal.[22] The selection process emphasized screen chemistry and star potential, with public speculation heightening anticipation for the film's box-office prospects. Vivien Leigh, a British stage actress with limited Hollywood experience, was ultimately cast on December 10, 1938—the same day principal photography commenced on the burning of Atlanta sequence—following a recommendation from Selznick's brother and agent Myron Selznick, who arranged her audition after observing her resemblance to the character's description in Margaret Mitchell's novel.[23] Leigh's casting came after Clark Gable had been secured for Rhett Butler, as Selznick prioritized pairing leads with proven drawing power to ensure audience turnout. Clark Gable's involvement as Rhett Butler was pivotal, secured through negotiations with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), his home studio, which loaned him to Selznick International Pictures in a deal granting MGM 50% of the production costs, profits, and worldwide distribution rights, reflecting the studios' mutual interest in leveraging Gable's status as a top box-office attraction.[22] Gable, who had expressed initial reservations about the project, accepted after the financial terms aligned with his career interests, undergoing tests to confirm his fit for the roguish blockade runner. Leslie Howard was cast as Ashley Wilkes despite his personal reluctance, viewing the character as passive and himself too old at age 46 for the early-20s role, a decision driven by Selznick's aim to balance the ensemble with Howard's established dramatic presence from films like Pygmalion, though Howard agreed primarily to fulfill contractual obligations rather than enthusiasm for the part.[24] Hattie McDaniel secured the role of Mammy after auditioning, becoming the first Black actress cast in a prominent supporting part in a major Hollywood production, selected for her commanding screen presence and prior comedic work in films like Alice Adams.[25] Pre-production efforts focused on assembling massive sets at Selznick's studios in Culver City, California, including replicas of Tara plantation and Atlanta landmarks, to support the epic scale demanded by the script's Civil War sequences. Thousands of extras were recruited and trained for battle depictions, with specific scenes requiring up to 2,500 participants to simulate wounded Confederate soldiers strewn across fields, ensuring visual authenticity to draw audiences seeking immersive historical spectacle.[26] Historical accuracy in costumes and props was prioritized through designer Walter Plunkett's research into 1860s Southern attire, sourcing fabrics and patterns to replicate period hoop skirts, military uniforms, and domestic furnishings, aiding the film's commercial viability by appealing to viewers' fascination with romanticized antebellum life.[27] These preparations, spanning from mid-1937 acquisitions to late 1938, underscored Selznick's commitment to technical grandeur as a hedge against the adaptation's narrative risks.Filming and Technical Innovations
Principal photography for Gone with the Wind occurred from January 26 to July 1, 1939, primarily on soundstages and backlots at Selznick International Studios in Culver City, California.[28] The iconic Tara plantation facade was constructed on the studio's "Forty Acres" backlot, designed to replicate an authentic Southern estate using wooden frameworks and period-appropriate materials.[29] Select exterior sequences, including cotton fields symbolizing the antebellum economy, were shot in northern California near Chico, leveraging the region's expansive agricultural landscapes for authenticity.[30] The production pioneered extensive use of the three-strip Technicolor process, capturing the vibrant greens of Georgia's terrain and the fiery oranges of destruction with unprecedented depth and realism for a historical epic.[31] Cinematographer Ernest Haller employed innovative crane shots to convey the chaos of war, such as sweeping pull-backs revealing the besieged Atlanta skyline amid bombardment.[32] For the pivotal burning of Atlanta sequence—filmed prior to principal photography on December 10, 1938—seven Technicolor cameras documented the controlled incineration of obsolete studio sets, including the Skull Island wall from King Kong (1933), augmented by miniatures and over 50 matte paintings crafted by effects artist Jack Cosgrove to simulate a sprawling metropolis ablaze.[33][34] These techniques integrated live action with painted glass elements, achieving seamless illusions of scale without relying on contemporary computer-generated imagery. Filming faced logistical hurdles, including on-set script revisions that extended shooting schedules and director Victor Fleming's demanding style, which prioritized visceral depictions of survival amid devastation.[28] Actor exhaustion was prevalent, with Vivien Leigh enduring physical strain from prolonged hours in corseted period attire under intense lighting.[35] These factors, compounded by the complexity of coordinating massive sets and pyrotechnics, drove budget overruns to a final cost of $3.9 million—unprecedented for the era and justified by the pursuit of immersive, evidence-based recreations of historical events.[3][36]Music and Post-Production
Max Steiner composed the original score for Gone with the Wind in 1939, drawing on leitmotifs to underscore character traits and thematic elements, such as "Tara's Theme" to evoke the plantation's enduring symbolism of Southern land and resilience.[37] The score integrates period-appropriate Civil War-era songs like "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag," employed both diegetically in scenes depicting Confederate morale and non-diegetically for emotional layering, enhancing the film's historical immersion without altering empirical depictions of wartime causality.[38] [39] Post-production editing, led by Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom, involved rigorous assembly and trimming of extensive footage shot over five months, reducing preliminary cuts—initially exceeding four hours in preview form—to the final runtime of 3 hours and 58 minutes to tighten pacing while preserving the narrative's chronological sequence from secession through Reconstruction.[40] [41] This process prioritized causal flow over extraneous subplots, with Kern's team selecting takes that maintained empirical focus on war's devastations and personal opportunism, culminating in their Academy Award for Best Film Editing in 1940.[41] Test previews in late 1939, including one in Riverside, California, informed further refinements for audience clarity on romance amid devastation, though without added voice-over narration.[42]Release and Commercial Success
Premiere and Distribution
The world premiere of Gone with the Wind occurred on December 15, 1939, at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, where thousands gathered to witness the event, including author Margaret Mitchell accompanied by her husband, John Marsh.[43][44] The premiere reflected the racial segregation enforced under Jim Crow laws in the South, with theaters maintaining separate seating for Black patrons in balconies where permitted, and key cast members such as Hattie McDaniel barred from attending due to these policies.[45][46] Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) handled distribution, opting for a selective roadshow strategy in major U.S. cities with reserved seating to heighten exclusivity and demand, rather than an immediate wide release.[47] This approach involved testing engagements to refine exhibition terms, including guarantees for exhibitors, while marketing emphasized Clark Gable's star appeal through extensive publicity and newsreel footage linking the film's Civil War setting to historical commemoration.[47] Roadshow tickets reached up to $1.00, significantly above the era's average of 23 cents, building prestige akin to live theater presentations.[48] The film's international distribution faced delays from the European outbreak of World War II in September 1939, shortly before the U.S. premiere, limiting initial access in belligerent nations but enabling prioritized releases in neutral markets where themes of Southern endurance resonated amid global conflict.[49]Box Office and Financial Impact
Gone with the Wind achieved unprecedented box office success, earning approximately $30 million in domestic rentals during its initial 1939–1942 run, equivalent to the highest earnings of any film up to that point.[50] By the end of its first decade, cumulative U.S. grosses reached over $50 million, driven by sustained attendance amid the Great Depression, where audiences favored the film's epic scale and themes of resilience as escapism from economic hardship.[51] Worldwide, unadjusted totals approached $393 million through multiple theatrical engagements, holding the record for highest-grossing film for nearly three decades until surpassed unadjusted by Star Wars in 1977.[52] Re-releases significantly amplified returns, with key revivals in 1947 (general release), 1954 (reserved-seat roadshow featuring an overture and intermission), 1961, and 1967 generating additional tens of millions domestically—$5.3 million in 1954 alone and $29.2 million in 1967.[50] These periodic returns, totaling over $200 million in U.S. rentals by the 1970s, underscored the film's enduring draw, fueled by word-of-mouth acclaim for its unflinching portrayals of Civil War devastation rather than escapist fantasy tropes prevalent in contemporaries. Producer David O. Selznick, who retained a substantial profit share through his independent financing model, benefited immensely, with the film's economics setting a precedent for high-risk, high-reward Hollywood ventures where backend participation outweighed upfront salaries.[3] When adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars, the film's domestic earnings equate to approximately $1.8 billion, while worldwide figures peak at around $3.7 billion in various estimates, reflecting ticket price escalation and repeated viewings across generations.[53] This financial dominance stemmed causally from its technical innovations—like color and scale—attracting repeat audiences, rather than mere novelty, as evidenced by sustained per-re-release performance outpacing inflation alone.[52]Reception and Awards
Contemporary Critical Response
Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times praised Gone with the Wind as "the greatest motion mural we have seen" upon its December 20, 1939, premiere in New York, highlighting its epic scope in depicting the Civil War era and Southern plantation life with fidelity to Margaret Mitchell's novel, as well as strong performances by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton, and Hattie McDaniel as Mammy.[54] Nugent commended the film's technical achievements in Technicolor, costumes, and production design, describing it as an "interesting story beautifully told" that evoked "warm and grateful remembrance," though he noted it functioned more as "pure narrative" than profound drama.[54] Critics frequently addressed the film's length of approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes, with Nugent observing it might "strain the spine" of viewers and prove taxing due to sustained Technicolor exposure, while some scenes, such as the Atlanta siege, relied on "super-imposed melodramatics" or subtitles rather than full visualization.[54] Such concerns over runtime and occasional sentimental excess did not deter audiences, as Gallup's American Institute of Public Opinion reported a pre-release anticipation from 56.5 million potential viewers, validated by the film's immediate box office success exceeding $30 million in initial U.S. rentals by 1940, demonstrating sustained engagement despite the duration.[54][55] In Britain, where the film premiered in May 1940 amid escalating World War II tensions, reviewers in outlets like The Guardian appreciated its portrayal of war's devastation and societal upheaval, though C. A. Lejeune noted a potential shortfall in fully epic storytelling to match its lavish production scale.[55] The anti-war undertones, emphasizing loss and resilience without glorifying conflict, resonated with wartime audiences, contributing to its status as one of the most-viewed films in UK history, with over 35 million admissions by later tallies.[56]Academy Awards and Recognition
At the 12th Academy Awards ceremony on February 23, 1940, Gone with the Wind secured eight competitive Oscars from ten nominations across twelve categories, a record for the most wins at the time, reflecting the Academy's recognition of its technical innovations and standout performances that contributed to its massive commercial draw.[57] The victories underscored the film's appeal in an era when voter preferences favored expansive productions that boosted theater attendance through spectacle and narrative scale, rather than experimental or intimate works.[58] Key wins included Best Picture for producer David O. Selznick, Best Director for Victor Fleming's handling of the epic's logistical challenges, Best Actress for Vivien Leigh's portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara, and Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel as Mammy—the first Oscar awarded to an African American performer.[59] McDaniel's win highlighted her nuanced depiction of a loyal household servant amid the film's broader ensemble, though it occurred against the backdrop of segregated seating at the event itself.[60] The film also triumphed in technical categories vital to its visual grandeur: Best Cinematography (Color) for Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan's work in capturing the Technicolor palette of Southern landscapes and battle scenes; Best Art Direction (Color) for Lyle R. Wheeler's sets; and Best Film Editing for Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom's pacing of the 224-minute runtime.[57] Best Adapted Screenplay went to Sidney Howard for adapting Margaret Mitchell's novel, emphasizing dialogue and character arcs that resonated with audiences.[61] Additionally, two special awards were granted: one to William Cameron Menzies for innovative color use enhancing historical authenticity, and a technical plaque to the Technicolor Corporation for its three-color process.[62]| Category | Winner(s) |
|---|---|
| Best Picture | David O. Selznick |
| Best Director | Victor Fleming |
| Best Actress | Vivien Leigh |
| Best Supporting Actress | Hattie McDaniel |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Sidney Howard |
| Best Cinematography (Color) | Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan |
| Best Art Direction (Color) | Lyle R. Wheeler |
| Best Film Editing | Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom |