Gone with the Wind (1939) or, What Women!

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An epically romantic embrace and kiss adorn this beautifully framed poster for Victor Fleming, George Cukor and Sam Wood's Gone with the Wind

Scarlett O'Hara keeps her unhappy love of the already wed soldier Ashley alive in Georgia in 1861, through the coming horrors of the American Civil War and 3 marriages of her own, solely to learn that only her homestead Tara lasts forever.

Gone with the Wind is written by Sidney Howard (The Silver Cord (1933)), with Oliver H.P. Garrett (Street of Chance (1930, story)), Ben Hecht (The Indian Fighter (1955)), Jo Swerling (Lady by Choice (1934)) and John Van Druten (Old Acquaintance (1943)) contributing elements, based on the same-titled 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell (Lost Laysen (1916)), and directed by Californian master filmmaker Victor Fleming (When the Clouds Roll By (1919)), whose 42nd feature it was, with George Cukor (Gaslight (1944)) and Sam Wood (A Night at the Opera (1935)) making uncredited directing contributions.

The film is a splendid, fantastic epic: Every shot blinds with splendor and sumptuous dedication. (Cinematography by Ernest Haller (My Girl Tisa (1948)) and Lee Garmes (The Lusty Men (1952)).) The grandiose, story-telling score by Max Steiner (Marjorie Morningstar (1958)), magnificent Technicolor and performances are out of this world: Vivien Leigh (The Village Squire (1935)) and Olivia de Havilland (Government Girl (1943)) in particular, but really the cast is tremendous across the board. The wonderfully human story is also extraordinarily strong for its time in its African-American parts, and I don't write a single one off as a flat, stereotypical character. - Shame on those who dare to write off the entire film, which is so precious cinema history, and not just the line from it which every one still knows: "Frankly dear, I don't give a damn!"

Gone with the Wind is a true masterpiece, and is about women first and foremost! It is big-time American South nostalgia, which carries you off to that place with a wildly exciting 4-hour melodrama. An incredible achievement.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 3.85 - 3.9 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 400.5 mil. $

= Blockbuster (returned 102.69 - 104.02 times its cost)

[Gone with the Wind premiered 15 December (Atlanta, Georgia) and runs 234 minutes. Producer David O. Selznick bought the rights to Mitchell's novel in 1936 for a record 50k $. (Selznick would later acknowledge that Mitchell had still been underpaid, considering the film's success, and paid out an additional 50k $.) Production was delayed to secure Clark Gable's participation, whereas Leigh was cast from a vast pool of actresses following a hugely publicized national 'search for Scarlett'. Gable was paid around 120k, Leigh 25k $ (for a much longer working period), whereas the writing team reportedly earned 126k $. Cukor was fired as director after less than 3 weeks shooting; rumored to be due to his homosexuality, and possibly for knowing details as to Gable's secret gay past. Shooting took place in Arkansas, Georgia and California, including Los Angeles, from December 1938 - November 1939. Cukor continued coaching Leigh and De Havilland in private on weekends. Steiner's was the longest score written for a film up to that point. The preview screening concluded with cheers and a standing ovation. The Atlanta premiere was an event with record admission prizes and 300k people there to see and participate in the 3-day festivities and parade; one of the days was declared a state holiday. Hattie McDaniel (Maryland (1940)), who plays Mammy, was absent, because the racist Jim Crow laws kept her from attending the film. It was shown in North America as a roadshow engagement only in 1939-40 with a 1 $ admission prize, double the day's standard, and 70 % going to MGM (up from the typical 30-35 % of the period). Prizes were later normalized for a general release. The print, distribution and ad costs reportedly came to around 3.1 mil. $ additionally. It is estimated 60 mil. tickets were sold in North America in the film's first 4 years, around half the population. The film was nominated for 13 Oscars, winning 10, 2 of which were honorary: It won Best Picture, Actress (Leigh), Supporting Actress (McDaniel, first Africa-American to win an Oscar, though she was segregated from her colleagues at the ceremony; also nominated was De Havilland), Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Editing, and honorary Oscars for its use of equipment and color, (it was the first Best Picture winner in color.) The 8 competitive Oscars set a new record, which the film held until Gigi (1958) beat it with 9. It is still the longest Best Picture winner of all time. It also won 2 National Board of Review awards. Selznick sold his share in the film in 1942 to his business partner (for just 500k $), who sold it on to MGM for 2.8 mil. $. The film had brought the studio back 32 mil. $ in 1943, making it the most profitable movie ever made up to that point. Another 5 mil. $ was earned at the first re-release in 1947, where it again was one of the year's ten biggest earners. Subsequent re-releases continued to rake in tens of millions of $ worldwide. The film was finally overtaken in box office might by The Sound of Music (1966). The 1967 re-release was again a roadshow, and it became the most successful re-release ever, grossing 68 mil. $, and assuring its position as the 4th highest-grossing picture of the 1960s. It overtook Sound of Music with a 1971 re-release, but was then overtaken by The Godfather (1972) as the top-earner. An estimated 200 mil. tickets have been sold for the film in North America, more than any other film ever. It was immensely popular abroad as well, selling 35 mil. tickets in the UK and 16 mil. in France, during WWII, and in the recovering years after. Adjusted for inflation the film made more than 3.44 bil. $ at the box office. NBC paid 5 mil. $ to be the first network station to show the film in 1976, which became the highest-rated TV program and most-watched film to ever air on TV: 47.5 % of households in the US and 65 % of TV viewers saw it. CBS paid 35 mil. $ in 1978 for the right to show the film 20 times in the following 20 years. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, in line with this one. The 6-hour sequel miniseries Scarlett was released in 1994 with none of the original talents involved. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #168 on the site's Top 250, sitting between The Truman Show (1998) and Soul (2020). Fleming returned with They Dare Not Love (1941); Cukor with Susan and God (1940); Wood with Out Town (1940). Leigh returned in 21 Days Together (1940); De Havilland in My Love Came Back (1940); Gable in Strange Cargo (1940); and Leslie Howard (The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)) in Common Heritage (1940, short) and theatrically in 'Pimpernel' Smith (1941). Gone with the Wind is certified fresh at 91 % with an 8.79/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Gone with the Wind?

A Star Is Born (1937) - The Hollywood melodrama landmark

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The rising star and her moody husband stand out on this colorful poster for William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born

A sincere, good country girl has only a single thing on her mind: Hollywood. That magical place, where a person becomes a celebrated star. But when she pursues her dream, she learns that indeed very many share that very same dream. Her success comes nonetheless, (as the title indicates), but her worries do not end for that reason.

A Star Is Born is a wonderful story, and its description of the hard-elbowed, unusually tough movie business is still incisive.
The acting is excellent; Janet Gaynor's face is a perfect mold for the melodrama deluxe that takes place here, and Lionel Stander (New York, New York (1977)) has a marvelous role as a cynical PR-agent.
A Star Is Born is a first-rate romantic melodrama with an early Hollywood portrayal of alcoholism and a fine morale about loyalty, being true to one's feelings and coming back after a terrible loss.
It is directed by William A. Wellman (The Public Enemy (1931)), with uncredited sequences directed by Jack Conway (Saratoga (1937)) and Victor Fleming (Captain Courageous (1937)), and written by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell (Suzy (1936), both) and Robert Carson (Western Union (1941)), with producer David O. Selznick (Dracula's Daughter (1936)), Ben Hecht (Cleopatra (1963)), Ring Lardner Jr. (Laura (1944)), John Lee Mahin (Test Pilot (1938)), Budd Schulberg (Nothing Sacred (1937)) and Adela Rogers St. Johns (The Red Kimona (1925)) contributing uncredited writing.

 

Related post:

 

Top 10: Best Hollywood-set movies

  

Watch the original trailer here

Budget: 1.1 mil. $
Box office: 2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Box office success (returned 1.81 times its cost in North America alone)

[A Star Is Born premiered 22 April (Los Angeles) and runs 111 minutes. The story was reportedly inspired by Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay's marriage and upon John Bowers. Fredric March (Bedtime Story (1941)) was paid 125k $ for his performance. Shooting took place from October - December 1936 in California, including Los Angeles. The film had reportedly turned a profit of 181k $ by the end of 1939. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, including the first ever nomination of a color film as Best Picture. It won Best Writing, Original Story and an honorary Oscar for cinematographer W. Howard Greene (Night in Paradise (1946)) for the film's color photography. It lost Best Actor (March) to Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous, Actress (Gaynor) to Luise Rainer for The Good Earth, Assistant Director to In Old Chicago, Director to Leo McCarey for The Awful Truth, and Writing, Screenplay and Picture to The Life of Emile Zola. It also won a National Board of Review award. It has been remade theatrically 3 times with the same title, in 1954, 1976 and in 2018. It has fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Wellman returned with Nothing Sacred (1937). March returned in Nothing Sacred; Gaynor in The Young in Heart (1938). A Star Is Born is fresh at 100 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Star Is Born?

A Farewell to Arms (1957) or, Love in Spite!

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Despite this handsome poster for Charles Vidor's A Farewell to Arms, David O. Selznick's final production is not all that it promises to be

A Farewell to Arms is the second adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's (Death in the Afternoon (1932)) same-titled, semi-autobiographical 1929 novel.

The film portrays a romance during WWI between an American ambulance driver and an English nurse, who fall in love in Italy, before the war splits them up, and they later again find each other and are forced to flee to Switzerland, SPOILER where, however, tragedy awaits.

Despite criticisms to the contrary, I found Rock Hudson (Dynasty (1984-85)) and Jennifer Jones (The Wild Heart (1952)) to be a lovely couple, and the movie also attracts interest with its big sets and period vehicles etc., a warm sense of humor, - especially in the hospital scenes, - and in supporting roles, Viennese star Oskar Homolka (Five Fingers (1959, TV-series)) as a suspicious doctor, and great Italian actor/director Vittorio De Sica (Men and Noblemen/Uomini e Nobiluomini (1959)) as an Italian major. The film also has beautiful images of Milan, Switzerland etc.
But the lavish epic's second half does require strong nerves to take: The romance here turns too extravagant and unrealistic, SPOILER and the inevitable death is drawn out excessively. So the problem may lie mainly in screenwriter Ben Hecht's (Trapeze (1956)) work. Though Hecht penned scripts for many certified masterpieces and great films, he was also highly productive, and with impressive 165 writing credits, there is naturally a healthy dose of slush in there as well.
The movie is directed by Hollywood Golden Age filmmaker, Austrian-Hungarian Charles Vidor (Gilda (1946)).

Related post:

Charles Vidor: The Bridge/The Spy (1929) - Time-playing fine short debut of Charles Vidor

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4.3 mil. $
Box office: 6.9 mil. $ (worldwide rentals by 1958) - final gross reportedly 20 mil. $
= Big flop at release - later reportedly became a big hit
[A Farewell to Arms was released 14 December (North America) and runs 152 minutes. Power-producer Selznick wanted for long to make a film of Hemingway's novel, and bartered with Warner Bros. for the rights in return for his foreign rights to A Star Is Born (1937). Selznick hired master director John Huston (The Kremlin Letter (1970)), but the two fell out before shooting, and Vidor was hired instead, although he also had a hard time collaborating with Selznick. Shooting took place in Italy, including in Rome's Cinecittà Studios. Hemingway was to be paid a 50k $ bonus, if the film made profits, but the Nobel Laureate was incensed at Selznick's hiring his 38 year-old wife Jones for the novel's 24 year-old nurse character and told him to "take all of that money down to the local bank, have it converted to nickels, and then shove them up your ass until they come out your mouth." US critics lambasted the film upon its release, and Selznick never recovered his costs for the film, which became his last, but it did eventually make Fox money. The film was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar (De Sica), lost to Red Buttons for Sayonara and also won a National Board of Review award. Vidor returned with one last film, Song without End (1960)). Hudson returned in Twilight for the Gods (1958); Jones in Tender Is the Night (1962), and De Sica in Holiday Island/Vacanze a Ischia (1957). A Farewell to Arms is rotten at 0 % with a 3.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Vidor's A Farewell to Arms?