GONE WITH THE WIND

Margaret Mitchell's bestselling novel of the Civil War and Reconstruction revolves around the tempestuous love triangle of fiery southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, the noble but weak Ashley Wilkes, and the dashing scoundrel Rhett Butler. At the story's opening in the halcyon days of a romanticized Old South, the willful and spoiled Scarlett schemes to win Ashley's love, despite his impending marriage to his cousin Melanie. Over the course of this thousand-page novel, Scarlett survives the burning of Atlanta and the devastation of Tara, the O'Hara family plantation, by the Union army; picks cotton side-by-side with her former slaves to keep her family from starving; marries her sister's beau in order to pay the taxes on Tara; makes a fortune selling lumber during Atlanta's postwar boom; provokes a Ku Klux Klan raid on the local shantytown; and marries Rhett for his money only to find, after he no longer gives "a damn," that it is Rhett, not Ashley, whom she truly loves.

Outraged black and liberal critics condemned Gone with the Wind as an apologia for American racism, arguing that Mitchell's unabashedly pro-Confederate depiction glossed over the realities of slavery and condoned the atrocities of the Klan. Nonetheless, Scarlett's indomitable will to survive war, poverty, and heartbreak resonated powerfully for many readers in the midst of the trials of the Great Depression and with the prospect of a second world war on the horizon. Published by Macmillan in the summer of 1936, Gone with the Wind sold over a million copies in the first six months.

Independent producer David O. Selznick purchased the film rights for $50,000, a hefty sum at the time for the first work of an unknown novelist. The making of Gone with the Wind, which took three years and cost over $4 million, became an obsession for Selznick. His unwillingness to compromise his grand vision for the film ultimately cost him control of his studio, Selznick International Pictures. Selznick spent $100,000 on the now-legendary "search for Scarlett," a brilliant publicity campaign that involved screen tests for dozens of major Hollywood actresses, including Bette Davis, Paulette Goddard, and Katherine Hepburn, as well as beauty queens from around the country. Ultimately the part went to Vivien Leigh, a relatively unknown British actress. Fan mail convinced Selznick that only Clark Gable could play Rhett, and he paid MGM an exorbitant sum for Gable's services. Olivia de Havilland was cast as Melanie, Leslie Howard as Ashley, and Hattie McDaniel as Mammy.

Capturing the historical sweep and political themes of Mitchell's epic novel without offending the sensibilities of either African-American or white Southern audiences required eleven screenwriters, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ben Hecht, though playwright Sidney Howard received a sole writing credit. Similarly, four directors worked on the film, though only Victor Fleming received screen credit. Filmed in Technicolor, Gone with the Wind is a visually opulent extravaganza, thanks to set designer Lyle Wheeler and production designer William Cameron MacKenzie, who also directed key scenes, including the burning of Atlanta.

Gone with the Wind was a blockbuster hit with mainstream audiences and critics. At the film's premier in Atlanta on December 15, 1939, over one million spectators crowded the streets to catch a glimpse of the motorcade of Hollywood stars. The film grossed over __BODY__ million on opening weekend and eventually won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar. Though picketers protested in several major cities, for the most part black leaders and critics chose to overlook the film's questionable racial politics and stereo-typical "darky" performances (particularly Butterfly McQueen as Prissy), emphasizing instead the more rounded character of Mammy and the breakthrough of McDaniel's Oscar. Ranked as the topgrossing film for nearly thirty years, Gone with the Wind is still considered one of the best films ever made.

GONE WITH THE WIND

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