Premiere GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American film, a historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard. Set in the 19th century American South, the film stars Clark Gable (Rhett Butler), Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara), Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes), Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton Wilkes), and Hattie McDaniel (Mammy), among others, and tells a story of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era from a Southern point of view. Before publication several Hollywood executives and studios declined to create a film based on the novel. Jack Warner liked the story, and he helped the producer David Selznick to buy the film rights. A month after the book's publication in June 1936, Selznick bought the rights for $50,000, a record amount at the time. Many actors and actresses participated in the casting of the film, but only the most suitable ones had the fortune to become stars. Principal photography began January 26, 1939, and ended on June 27, 1939, with post-production work (including a fifth version of the opening scene) going to November 11, 1939. The film premiered in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 15, 1939. It was the climax of three days of festivities hosted by Mayor William B. Hartsfield, which included a parade of limousines featuring stars from the film, receptions, thousands of Confederate flags, false antebellum fronts on stores and homes, and a costume ball. Eurith D. Rivers, the governor of Georgia, declared December 15 a state holiday. This great event for the US was mirrored in many newspapers, especially in The New York Times. In Los Angeles, the film had its premiere at the elegant Carthay Circle Theatre. From December 1939 to June 1940, the film played only advance-ticket road show engagements at a limited number of theaters, before it went into general release in 1941. Gone with the Wind was given theatrical re-releases in 1947, 1954 and 1961. The 1961 release commemorated the 100th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and included a gala "premiere" at the Loew's Grand Theater. Clark Gable had died months before, but other stars from the film attended. It was re-released in 1967 in a 70 mm stereophonic version, which is best known today for its iconic poster. It was further rereleased in 1971, 1989, and by New Line Cinema in 1998. The 1954 release was the first time the studio issued the film in widescreen, compromising the original Academy ratio and cropping the top and bottom to a normal aspect fot those times. On November 14, 2009, on the occasion of the film's 70th anniversary, the film was re-issued in a new high definition transfer to the Blu-ray format. When adjusted for inflation, Gone with the Wind is estimated to be the highest grossing film domestically of all time.

The film made its television debut on the HBO cable network in June 1976, and its broadcast TV debut in November of that year in two parts on the NBC network, where it became at that time the highest-rated television program ever presented on a single network, watched by 47.5 percent of the households sampled in America, and 65 percent of television viewers. Ironically, it was surpassed the following year by the mini-series Roots, a saga about slavery in America. The film was later shown on CBS, and is currently (2011) telecast by Turner Entertainment on their various cable channels.
The film received 10 Academy Awards (8 competitive, 2 honorary), a record that stood for 20 years. In the American Film Institute's inaugural Top 100 Best American Films of All Time list of 1998, it was ranked fourth. Gone With the Wind is considered one of the greatest and most popular films of all time and an enduring symbol of the golden age of Hollywood. The film was the longest American sound film made up to that time 3 hours 44 minutes, plus a 15 minute intermission. It was among the first of the major films shot in color (Technicolor), and won the first Academy Award for Best Cinematography in the category for color films.