Product Details

• Actors: Christopher Plummer, L. Jeffrey Selznick, David O. Selznick, Irene Mayer Selznick, William A. Wellman
• Directors: David Hinton
• Writers: David Thomson
• Producers: L. Jeffrey Selznick, Daniel Selznick, Jonathan Wickham
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301969219
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,679 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The actors, the sets, the exquisite period costumes, the behind-the scenes feelings and thoughts are revealed in this well-produced, entertaining 'Making of" of the engrossing saga ---- Gone With The Wind.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Documentary, February 4, 2001

By 

Stephen M. Moser "The Austin Chronicle" (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Everything you ever wanted to know about *GWTW* -- from Margaret Mitchell recalling her mother driving her out to see the ruined plantations around Atlanta, and telling her that she'd better learn to survive, to its historic status as being one of the most beloved movies of all time - even when it's not politically correct to love the movie. It is a documentary combining spoken word, letters, memos, newsclips, diaries and recreations - in a comprehensive style that predates Ken Burns by quite a bit. It is a dizzying montage of information and images that tells the story of the film - a monumental achievement that is one of the few films to not disappoint the lovers of the book. Selznick purchased the rights to the story for $50,000 - a fortune at the time, for a story so sprawling that it was impossible to visualize on the screen. As a superb craftsman, even Selznick was intimidated - not just by the scope of the story, but by the public's obsession with it. So it is with tender care that he began preproduction and scriptwriting on this sacred monster. The footage that we see in the finished version of *GWTW* shows only a small part of the passion, heartache and bloodletting that went on behind the scenes. Most impressive is the existing array of screen tests that were done for the movie - evidence that the much-ballyhooed Search for Scarlett O'Hara was far more than hype from a hotheaded publicist. Showing dozens of would-be Scarletts, Melanies, Ashleys and Belles, the most stunning footage is the multiple and lengthy tests that Paulette Goddard did for the role of Scarlett. She exhibits a cunning and slyness that is perfect for Scarlett, and the newsreports go crazy announcing her unconfirmed appointment. It is the sheer numbers of tests that Goddard did the continually amazing, and she had every reason on earth to believe she had the part. It's easy to see that she would have been delightful as Scarlett, but could she have made Scarlett into the legend that Vivian Leigh did? Fraught with tension, shooting began without Scarlett having been cast. The story behind the filming of the burning of Atlanta is riveting in its detail, showing how old sets from *King Kong* and *Birth of a Nation*, among others, were burned and then multiplied on film to create the effect. It was during the filming of this sequence that Selznick's brother, Myron, legendarily arrived on the set with a gorgeous young woman in tow and said to the producer, "I'd like you to meet your Scarlett." And the film's fate was sealed with the casting of the tragic and incandescent Vivian Leigh. Though Selznick was reviled by Hedda Hopper, among others, for casting an English girl, instead of a red-blooded American, even Margaret Mitchell herself said, "Better and English girl than a Yankee." Goddard had been frontrunner up to the last second when Leigh waltzed in and stole the part from under her nose. It must have been an unbearably bitter disappointment, and Goddard never again realized the potential she showed in these tests. But, it is also only a small facet of what happened behind the scenes. After a time, miles of film were scrapped when original director George Cukor was fired and replaced by Victor Fleming. There's quite a tale behind *that* that neither the documentary, nor we, will go into. The personal dramas are many, with Selznick's drug use, health problems and subsequent breakdown being addressed. The volume of information collected is awesome. From Butterfly McQueen speaking about her role as Prissy ("I wouldn't let them slap me, but I thought Prissy needed to be slapped...I thought she was horrid."), to the footage of Hattie MacDaniel's Academy Award speech that is so sincere and touching that it must be considered a gift that we can still see it. It was a scandal that the movie cost $3,000,000 to make: a jaw-droppingly small figure for a movie that paid for itself many, many times over - and *that's* just in financial terms.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The most fascinating aspect of this beautifully created documentary is how close we came to having Paulette Goddard--of all people--and not the mythical Vivien Leigh as our treasured Scarlett O'Hara. The screen tests were fascinating, as we watched everyone from Goddard to Lana Turner trying out for the greatest female role in movie history. Goddard was an all-American beauty, with a flat, nasal voice, which wasn't all that apparent in the movie comedies she played in. In real life, she had no other ambition than to be a party-girl and collecting fortunes from her many lovers and husbands. Only the fact that she was the mistress of Charlie Chaplin--and with David Selznick fearful of the puritanical reaction--did he reject her and wait around and then the miracle occurred. Vivien Leigh decided on the spur of the moment to fly to HOllywood to join her lover, Laurence Olvier. The whole making of GWTW sounds like a typical Selznick movie. Mistresses, battling film divas, the GWTW set being shut down on several occasions (the money ran out one time, Victor Fleming had a breakdown, George Cukor was fired as director, etc.) This is a "magic" movie. It could never be made again. And looked at that abominable mess of a TV mini-series, "Scarlett" which came and went and I don't know of anyone who can even remember who played Scarlett or any of the rest of those legendary figures. Equally fascinating is how the special effects transformed a Hollywood backlot to plantations and ballrooms and battlefields. Bravo to Vivien, David and GWTW.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, November 26, 2004

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This documentary is both cleverly done and very entertaining. We all know how GWTW turned out but the story of how it was made is fascinating. David O. Selznick was nuts--- mad scientist nuts mixed with Motzart nuts and he just about drove everyone involved mad as well but he made a great movie. Can you imagine Erol Flynn as Rhett or Paulette Godard as Scarlet? Although Flynn was only in the running for the role for the blink of an eye Paulette almost got the role but luckily she lacked ambition and something in Selznick just made him keep on looking for a Scarlet until Vivian Leigh came to America.

This is an exciting story and can be enjoyed either before watching GWTW again or on its own.