Amazon.com Essentials:
David O. Selznick wanted Gone with the Wind to be
somehow more than a movie, a film that would broaden the very idea of
what a film could be and do and look like. In many respects he got
what he worked so hard to achieve in this 1939 epic (and all-time
box-office champ in terms of tickets sold), and in some respects he
fell far short of the goal. While the first half of this Civil War
drama is taut and suspenseful and nostalgic, the second is ramshackle
and arbitrary. But there's no question that the film is an enormous
achievement in terms of its every resource--art direction, color,
sound, cinematography--being pushed to new limits for the greater
glory of telling an American story as fully as possible. Vivien Leigh
is still magnificently narcissistic, Olivia de Havilland angelic and
lovely, Leslie Howard reckless and aristocratic. As for Clark Gable:
we're talking one of the most vital, masculine performances ever
committed to film. The DVD release has optional French subtitles and
theatrical trailer. --Tom Keogh
