"GONE WITH THE WIND" AT LAST

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 89, 7 March 1941, Page 12

"GONE WITH THE WIND" AT LAST

os af (6G ONE WITH THE WIND," the most frantically boosted film of a decade, is at last to bé shown in New Zealand, nearly a year after its first screening in Australia, and 18 months after production was completed in Hollywood. It will be released here "shortly," the distributing firm of M.G.M. has warily admitted; but further details must remain shrouded a little longer in the mass of secrecy and rumour which have made "G. with the W.", as the film has become affectionately known overseas, almost a legend in the New Zealand picture business. For many months rumour has had it that "G. with the W." has been in "the vaults" in this country, awaiting the result of prolonged negotiations over such matters as amount of film hire, release of dollar funds, prices of admission, and deletion of too realistic war scenes, Many New Zealanders had given up all hope of seeing the film, at least till after the war. "Gone with the Wind" was released in Sydney simultaneously at the St. James and Liberty Theatres at substantially~ increased admission prices, this being in accordance with precedent established at many main release centres in the U.S.A. It is understood that in New Zealand, even in the four big centres, it will be shown at one theatre at a time. It is expected, however, that admissions prices will be increased.

T took Margaret Mitchell seven i years to write her marathon novel "Gone with the Wind "; it took David O. Selznick two years to find a girl to play Scarlett -O’Hara and then three years to make the film. In those five years, millions of words of publicity were flashed round the world until "Gone with the Wind" had become the most thoroughly publicised film ever made in Hollywood, until the

ability of an English actress to play Scarlett had apparently become more important to millions of Americans than any "Lease-and-Land bill ever put through Congress"; until even in New Zealand there are thousands of picturegoers who have made it a main topic of tonversation. They will know, in all probability, that it cost 3,850,000 dollars to produce, more than any other film except " Ben Hur" (4,500,000 dollars) and "Hell’s Angels " (4,000,000. dollars). They will know that it is one of the longest pictures @ver made (three and a-quarter hours of

technicoloured action). Many of them will know by heart the love story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. The Story Begins The story of the filming of "Gone with the Wind" begins when Selznick received from his story editor in New York a telegram: "We have just airmailed detailed synopsis of ‘Gone with the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell, also copy of book. I beg; urge, coax and plead with you to read this at once. I know that after you read the book you will drop everything and buy it." Selznick read the synopsis, but with the fate of "So Red the Rose" in mind,

he was in no mood to rush in and pay 50,000 dollars for another Civil War book. When a business associate offered to buy the book on his own, Selznick said "I'll be damned if you do," and closed the deal. Then he took the book on an ocean voyage to Honolulu to see what he had bought. It required a week’s concentrated reading to finish, and the first thing he realised was the impossibility of making a film of usual length. » First job was to reduce the 1,037 page novel to a workable script. Selznick went to the late Sydney Howard, one of the ablest writers ever to turn his own suc-

cessful plays ("The Silver Cord," "Yellow Jack," " Dodsworth") into successful pictures. After reading once through "Gone with the Wind," Howard arrived in Hollywood in 1937, and with Selznick and George Cukor (to supply the director’s angle) immediately settled down and wrote a preliminary script. This contained 30,000 words and would have taken five and a -half hours to run if it had ever been filmed. Another was written. Then Selznick himself made another, and the following year nine different script writers had a finger in the "Gone with the Wind" pie, including such famous writers as John Van Druten and Ben Hecht. But next to Sydney Howard’s work, the bulk of the final script was done by Selznick. Not Anxious to Finish Having made a serious start, Selznick suddenly decided that he was in no hurry to complete the job, reasoning that the novel was still too fresh in most people’s minds, and that they would be hypercritical of even the best film version. Moreover, he still had no one to play Scarlett O’Hara. And so for two years, to the accompaniment of much ballyhoo and beating of drums, he searched for a

heroine. Polls were held all over the U.S., talent scouts combed the country, a play was even written about the search, No One but Gable But if there was almost complete lack of unanimity over Scarlett O’Hara, one thing was apparently firmly fixed in picturegoers’ minds-the man to play Rhett Butler was Clark Gable, and no one else would do. Accordingly Selznick had to make a bargain with M.G.M., to whom Gable was under contract. The terms arranged were: First. M.G.M. to have exclusive distribution rights for "Gone with the Wind " and a good-sized share of the profits; second, M.G.M. to finance the film to the extent of 1,250,000 dollars; and third, Gable to start work for Selznick in February, 1939, and not to be kept beyond a reasonable time. This settled, the next thing was to find Scarlett O’Hara. By a remarkable piece of luck for the publicity-writers, the discovery happened to coigcide with the first shots filmed of "Gone with the Wind," the burning of the city of Atlanta. This was shot on a back lot of Selznick Studios which for years had been piled up with old sets. The sets were filled

with waste, soaked with kerosene and set alight, while technicolour cameras ground away. Scarlett is Found In the light of the dying flames Myron Selznick, Hollywood’s biggest agent, stepped up to his brother and introduced a@ young British actress by the name of Vivien Leigh. " Dave," said Myron, "I want you to meet Scarlett O’Hara." Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, India in 1913, and spent the first five years of her life in Calcutta. She was educated in London, studied dramatics, married a barrister by the name of Leigh Holman and had a child. After an early picture, " The Mask of Virtue," she had small parts in "Storm in a Tea Cup," "Fire Over England," " Dark Journey," "St. Martin’s Lane," and "A Yank at Oxford." While playing in a later picture ("21 Days Together ’’) she met Laurence Olivier, to whom, after both had been granted divorces, she was recently married.

Though many people were alarmed at the idea of an English girl playing \ "srlett, most Southerners, according to vhe American news-magazine "Time," were relieved. Their real fear was that a damyankee girl would be given the part. More and More Trouble George Cukor began directing "Gone with the Wind" in January, 1939, and encountered trouble almost at once. Selznick was not satisfied that Cukor had the big "feel" of the picture and thought he worked too slowly. Cukor having resigned, Selznick called in Gable. and offered him a choice of directors from a list of four. Gable chose his old friend Victor Fleming, who had done good directorial jobs with such "problem" pictures as "The Crowd Roars," "The Great Waltz" and "The Wizard of Oz," and had also directed such moneéy-makers as " Captains Courageous" and "Test Pilot." Fleming started work immediately, and drove his team hard.

Various interesting tales circulated during the next few months concerning quarrels, differences of opinion and outbursts of temperament in the company. Fleming and Vivien Leigh quarrelled frequently, it was said, their main point of difference being the interpretation of the character of Scarlett. Fleming thought Cukor had taken the " guts" out of the part. Vivien Leigh wanted it left as Cukor had visualised it. In addition, there was continued dissatisfaction with the script, and valuable time was wasted while it was written and rewritten on the set. Fleming was at one point reduced to such a condition that he confessed afterwards he had thought seriously of driving his car over a cliff. Instead, he went to bed for a week, and left Sam Wood (who directed " Goodbye, Mr. Chips") to carry on. Finished at Last The actual shooting of "Gone with the Wind" was finished early in July, 1939. Now came the job of cutting the 225,000 feet of film (altogether 475,000 feet has been exposed) to a picture short enough to be exhibited. Fleming and Selznick worked day and night taking out, putting in, taking out, putting in, until they had a version of "Gone with the Wind " that would run for just under four hours. Said Selznick the night before the Hollywood preview: "At noon I think it’s divine, at midnight I think it’s lousy." But the real test by then lay with the public and the result has made cinema history. High Jinks at Atlanta With customary Hollywood strategy, the world premiere of "Gone with the

Wind " was held at Atlanta, where Statewide holidays and city festivals were proclaimed in honour of the occasion. Public feeling was at such at pitch that the mayor of Atlanta had to warn citizens not to tear off the clothes of visiting movie stars, as had happened in Kansas at the premiere of "Dodge City." Highlight of the celebrations prior to the screening was a "Gone with the Wind " costume ball, attended by 6,000 merrymakers, including movie stars and executives by the hundred and the

governors of five States. Belle of the ball, of course, was Vivien Leigh, who everybody agreed looked just like Scarlett O’Hara. Clark Gable was surrounded by hundreds of goggling young women, one one of whom looked at him too long, gasped, "Lord, I can’t stand this any longer " and fainted. Given an alternative of a fat Christmas present or meeting Gable, an 11-year-old girl chose Gable

When he kissed her she asked, " Now am I a woman?" Absent from the ball was Margaret Mitchell, the novelist, who is shy of publicity and has declared that she will never write again. Applause and Awards As well as endorsing the choice of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, Ameri-« can picturegoers subsequently also endorsed their own choice of Gable as (Continued on page 14)

"GONE WITH THE WIND" (Continued from page 13) Rhett Butler, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes and Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat. Further, they applauded the casting of Thomas Mitchell as old Gerald O’Hara, and the coloured actress Hattie McDaniel as Mammy. That the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also thought highly of "Gone with the Wind" was revealed when last year’s Academy Awards were announced. " Gone with the Wind" very nearly scooped the pool. Vivien Leigh and Hattie MacDaniel, and, so it seemed, everybody who had had anything to do with the making of the film, won an award. Just Like Northern France The profound effect "Gone with the Wipd" has had on picture audiences wherever it has been shown is perhaps best illustrated by a story told by George Slocombe from the BBC shortly after he had escaped from France last June. Describing, in his exact way, what he and his family had endured as the Germans marched through Northern France, he said that his daughter had to walk 40 miles to join them, with the thunder of German guns never very far away. When she arrived she told her father that she had felt like Scarlett O’Hara escaping from the ruins of burning Atlanta, and Slocombe observed sadly, "Here my daughter has been through one of the greatest military disasters of modern history, and all she can do is liken it to a film made in Hollywood."