Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

[ClassyCo]

GONE WITH THE WIND is one of the most famous films of all time. The story of how it went from page to screen is nearly as famous as the film itself. It had a long production, full of a lot of behind-the-scenes sizzle, and it's all showcased here in this documentary.

Any takers?

 

[Alexis]

I'm sure I have watched the documentary at least once. I know GWTW is problematic and it doesn't depict a correct view of the era and circumstance in which it is set. However it is one of my favourite films. Leigh as Scarlett is one of the most magic performances ever captured to film for me. Gable is also a joy to watch, as is de Havilland. And as @Crimson has pointed out before in another thread Mammy is the most sensible character in the entire film. For me Ashley Wilks is the only flaw.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Is this the 3 hour MAKING OF from 1988? Because it's a great doc.

For me Ashley Wilks is the only flaw.

Yes -- and yet he was the first one cast... and he didn't even want to do the movie!

 

[Crimson]

MAKING OF A LEGEND is one of the great documentaries about filmmaking. Few movies had a more interesting production than GWTW and the documentary did an excellent job at covering it. I'd go as far as to say I think the story behind GWTW is more interesting than the movie itself. If memory serves, Olivia didn't participate in the documentary which might be its only obvious gap; as the sole surviving main cast member, her involvement would have been beneficial. (Her own documentary, MELANIE REMEMBERS, isn't nearly as good.)

As for GWTW itself, I admit I have muddled feelings about it. I generally have no problem putting works of art in the context of the time they were made, but GWTW is so deeply rooted in and responsible for perpetuating an inherent lie -- that moonlight & magnolias, noble Lost Cause BS that the South has pushed for 160 years -- I find it an increasingly bitter pill to swallow. It's not unlike a grand romance set in 1930s Germany where the heroes are all Nazi-sympathizers. Beyond that, I think the movie fails for the reason mentioned: Leslie Howard is terrible and I find it impossible to believe Scarlett would moon over that mawkish pansy when the alternative was Clark Gable.

Which isn't to say I find the movie bad. It's a remarkable production with some absolutely gorgeous visuals and is, at times, an emotionally charged melodrama. Vivien Leigh's florid performance is one of the best and practically carries the film on her shoulders. And, yes, Mammy is the only character in the movie that I actually like. Maybe she's a racist stereotype, but she's sensible and salty; I think I'd rather watch a movie about her.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Even Margaret Mitchell thought Howard was the only mis-cast.

Who would we cast as Ashley (note: it can't be Henry Fonda because he'd just done JEZEBEL the year before)?

 

[Crimson]

Tyrone Power?

 

[Toni]

Groucho Marx.

 

[Crimson]

Groucho Marx.

Still better than Leslie Howard.

 

[Toni]

Come on, don´t blame the actor only (now seriously!). The character is a total flake, a pansy who lets everybody to manipulate him, and even confesses to Scarlett that "yes, I do love you". Go to hell, blondie. There was more temper in one hair of Gable´s moustache than in his whole persona. Of course, Howard didn´t help because he was on auto-pilot most time. But he was too ambitious for some Hollywood soap opera with slaves being happy as such (not moi who criticizes the movie for that, otherwise no classic movie would stand on its own!). I wish other characters (like that bitchy "SueEllen", ahem) had had more development. Anyway, it´s my favorite movie ever.

"Oh, I think I´m gonna have a club soda didle-dee-dee"​

 

[ClassyCo]

Is this the 3 hour MAKING OF from 1988? Because it's a great doc.
Yes -- and yet he was the first one cast... and he didn't even want to do the movie!

Yes, this is the documentary from 1988. It's great.

Neither Leslie Howard or Clark Gable wanted to make GONE WITH THE WIND. Neither of them ever read the book. Gable felt this enormous pressure, considering he was hands down the fan favorite to play Rhett Butler and that he would disappoint those loyal fans of the novel. He felt there was never any possible way that he would live up to their vision and interpretation of the character as it had been written. He was finally convinced once L.B. Mayer gave him clearance to divorce his wife Ria to marry actress Carole Lombard.

Leslie Howard showed similar distaste for playing Ashley Wilkes. It was like pulling teeth to get Gable and Howard to take their roles.

Leslie Howard was not who I would've personally cast as Ashley. He was really the only weak link of the core characters. He was far too pouty and fussy for my taste, and it was kind of a stretch of the imagination that Scarlett would be chasing Ashley when Rhett was doing his best to swoon her.

In saying that, I'm not entirely sure who I would cast in Howard's place. There was a lot of a publicity touting Henry Fonda for the role, but considering he was in JEZEBEL the previous year with Oscar nominee Bette Davis, his chances at getting the role were slim. I still personally think he would've done good with it. Tyrone Power might've been good as well, but he might've been a little young in 1939 to play such a role. He was only twenty-five, but Vivien Leigh was herself was about the same age. Melvyn Douglas was good in the screen tests the MAKING OF A LEGEND documentary shows, but apparently David O. Selznick him "too beefy" for the role.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

This ABC's "Our World" 1987 version:

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Jordan (named for Jordan Lee on DALLAS) wanders through the GWTW museum in Jonesboro just this week:

Two years ago, he visits the Margaret Mitchell house on the corner of 10th and Peachtree Street:

My maternal great grandparents are buried at Oakland, FYI.

 

[darkshadows38]

it's on my list to watch and i do have it on bluray but i've never seen the whole thing & i'm talking about the film not the Documentary for it

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

I just watched this, I thought it was very well made and enjoyed it a lot. I do note I thought it was quite poorly explained why they wanted Leslie Howard so much though. It seemed to be expected that we knew he'd make a great Ashley (debatable lol) but then they also went and criticised how old he looked on camera and how unsuited for the character age he actually was. Was it his acting they wanted him for?
I'd have liked more explanation about Olivia and Hattie's casting too, they were important characters.
I can see from the footage why they had Paulette Goddard as a strong contender, she struck me as the only one I wasn't constantly comparing to how Vivien Leigh eventually played the scenes.
I think too they glossed over the public reaction to some of the racial elements too. That may not have been big in comparison to everything else going on but it did happen.
I'd have loved to see more of the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor too. It might be optimistic to think they have that preserved at all though. The book was full of scenes that added a lot of extra detail to the story and I imagine they filmed a great number of them and then edited the film down.
Overall a good watch.

 

[Karin Schill]

I know GWTW is problematic and it doesn't depict a correct view of the era and circumstance in which it is set.

Who is to say that?
Some historians who are pushing their own agenda today?

I mean the movie is obviously a product of it's time. But let's think here for a moment. It came out in 1939. It depicts a time period around the civil war which was 1861-1865. This means that someone who was a child during the civil war era could have still been alive around the time the movie came out. (for instance someone who was 10 in 1865 would have been 84 when the movie came out in 1939). So if the people who were born in the 1800s had no issues with the way the movie portrayed their time era when it came out why should we have a problem with it now?

Also the author used stories she had been told by people who were living in the South during the Civil war when she wrote her book.

I wonder if we're gonna get the same kind of discussion about "Titanic" (1997) 50 years from now?
Maybe people will claim it is not accurate in the future. Even though when it came out people who were survivors were still alive.

 

[Alexis]

Who is to say that?
Some historians who are pushing their own agenda today?

I mean the movie is obviously a product of it's time. But let's think here for a moment. It came out in 1939. It depicts a time period around the civil war which was 1861-1865. This means that someone who was a child during the civil war era could have still been alive around the time the movie came out. (for instance someone who was 10 in 1865 would have been 84 when the movie came out in 1939). So if the people who were born in the 1800s had no issues with the way the movie portrayed their time era when it came out why should we have a problem with it now?

Also the author used stories she had been told by people who were living in the South during the Civil war when she wrote her book.

I wonder if we're gonna get the same kind of discussion about "Titanic" (1997) 50 years from now?
Maybe people will claim it is not accurate in the future. Even though when it came out people who were survivors were still alive.

I mean how the film depicts the issue of slavery. It's a glossy Hollywood dreamscape where the slaves seem delighted to be slaves. It in now way shows a realistic representation of slavery or the Civil war. You don't need to be a historian to see that.

 

[Crimson]

So if the people who were born in the 1800s had no issues with the way the movie portrayed their time era when it came out why should we have a problem with it now?

The aftermath of the American Civil War is an anomaly, in that the losers got to write the history. The rest of the country pretended to believe the "Lost Cause" bunk, to be reconciliatory and a bit patronizing.

Oh, and people absolutely had issues with the way GWTW potrayed the era.

 

[ClassyCo]

Today marks the 86th anniversary of Paulette Goddard and Vivien Leigh's Technicolor screen tests that were done on December 20, 1938.

Of the multiple actresses screen tested for Scarlett, only Paulette and Vivien filmed color ones. The decision had been narrowed down to the two of them by mid-December 1938. Just a few weeks earlier, Joan Bennett and Jean Arthur were still in consideration by producer David O. Selznick.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Paulette Goddard was one of Hollywood's best actresses, IMHO. But, as George Cukor pointed out years later, GWTW would never have become the classic of all time without Vivien Leigh in the role -- she was born to play it.