Watch The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind For Free

Very disappointing...

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The Making Of A Legend: Gone With The Wind (1989): Starring the narrator Christopher Plummer, the voices of L. Jeffrey Selznick, Arthur E. Arling, Katherine Brown, Arthur Fellows, Ann Rutherford, Evelyn Keyes, Butterfly McQueen, Raymond A. Klune, James E. Newcom, Marcella Rabwin, Harry L. Wolf and the Archive Footage of Margaret Mitchell, David O. Selznick, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia De Havilland, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel, Oscar Polk, Carole Lombard, Paulette Goddard, Susan Hayward, Jean Arthur, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, George Cukor, Victor Fleming......Director David Hinton.This is director David Hinton's magnificent 1989 documentary about the making of the 1939 Oscar winning epic "Gone With The Wind", still considered by many to be the greatest film of the 20th century. Hinton's documentary first aired on PBS/KCET around 1990 and is now a bonus feature in the new Gone With The Wind 4-disc DVD Collector's Edition. This is a long, wonderfully detailed documentary that takes the viewers back to late 30's Hollywood for a step-by-step look at the making of this beloved American movie classic. For the most devote "Wind" fan, this is a huge treat. Veteran actor Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music) provides the narration and Max Steiner's enchanting score for the film plays in the background. The film was the product of ambitious director David O. Selznick, who bought the rights from Atlanta author Margaret Mitchell, whose Pulitzer prize winning novel had sold millions. We see into the lives of the prominent forces behind the film- Selznick, Mitchell, the principal actors, namely Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, as well as the buzz around the film. Selznick pulled one of the greatest publicity stunts of the time. He had cast Hollywood newcomer Vivien Leigh as Scarlett but still continued to deceive the public into thinking the perfect Scarlett had not yet been found. Because Scarlett O'Hara was the most coveted movie role for an actress in the late 30's, several brand name and no-name actresses were considered for the role and auditioned, including top choices Bette Davis (who received her second Oscar for the '38 film "Jezebel" in a similar role to Scarlett), Paulette Goddard who was chummy with the director, Katherine Hepburn, Southern-born Tallulah Bankhead, Miriam Hopkins (who had performed the Broadway play Jezebel) Joan Bennett, Susan Hayward, Lana Turner, Jean Arthur, even Lucille Ball. We watch as Vivien Leigh and her soon-to-be husband Laurence Olivier journey from England to Hollywood, hoping to land the role she was born to play. We watch as production is besieged with several problems including the chaotic use of three different-minded directors (Cukor, Wood and Fleming), difficulties with actors and directors including Gable's clash with Cukor, censorship and Hay's Code problems with Gable's infamous use of the word "damn" in the final scene and faulty, early Technicolor process. Finally, after two long years of filming, "The Wind" sweeps Atlanta for its December premiere in the grandest spectacle the town had ever seen, never mind the onset of World War II just around the corner. It swept the Oscars in 1940, earning Selznick, Leigh and Hattie McDaniel their Oscars. Selznick would never make a greater film. His tomb reads "Director of Gone With The Wind". We see interviews with actresses Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford (Suellen and Careen, Scarlett's sisters) and Butterfly McQueen (Prissy) who was still alive to comment on the film but who would die tragically in 1995. We watch as the film remains popular years afterward and when the remaining cast attends the 1961 Civil War Centennial and we learn about the tragic deaths of Leslie Howard, Clark Gable and Margaret Mitchell. America would see re-releases of the movie throughout the years, even well into the late 90's. This documentary strips the romantic glamor of the film to reveal it was just as difficult to make as any expensive film then and now. But the documentary honors the great film as a work of art, a film that will be loved for years to come. Gone With The Wind fans will cherish this priceless documentary. It is a film that represented the zenith of old Hollywood movie-making, a film based on a great American novel which still captures the imagination of modern-day audiences. Return to Tara with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, watch as we learn how Atlanta fell in a studio back lot which was once the set of "King Kong", watch as an obscure English girl reaches film immortality, watch the first black actress win her Oscar, learn the cold facts about the movie, look behind the scenes to discover beauty born out of madness and mayhem and watch as a legendary movie comes to glorious life. Enjoy!!

Outstanding documentary dealing with the trials and tribulations of making this 1939 monumental pictures.There were plenty of problems in production, casting,etc. Who knew that Paulette Goddard came so close to playing Scarlett O'Hara or that Jeffrey Lynn was so inadequate in the role of Ashley Wilkes?Made at the time that Hitler and Mussolini were menacing Europe, there is plenty of backstage gossip.David O. Selznick was a brilliant producer. His on screen disagreements with famed director George Cukor led to the latter leaving the film. The writing of Margaret Mitchell's classic book for motion picture viewing was memorably discussed.It was wonderful seeing many of the cast members participate in this wonderful documentary.Hattie McDaniel's supporting Oscar's acceptance speech must serve as an inspiration to us all. Like so many in the memorable cast, she left us way too young.

Whatever your opinion of the 1939 classic, 'Gone With The Wind' (and I happen to think it is the best film ever made), this documentary will have something to interest you. Whether it be the headache of securing expensive film rights to an 'impossible' bestseller and then wondering how to recoup your investment; or the power struggles between producer, director(s) and writers; or the studio shenanigans to ensure the best possible cast; or the celebration of a job well done, it is all here.Surviving cast members Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, and Butterfly McQueen (but curiously not Olivia de Havilland) contribute alongside Selznick colleagues and archive footage/reconstructed interviews with participants now dead. We see the story of GWTW from the first low-key appearance of Margaret Mitchell's soapy book, the fever as a nation sent it up the bestseller lists, and the struggle to condense its 1000 plus pages into a manageable film.We see the screen tests of failed Scarletts, Melanies, and Ashleys (although there was only ever one man really in the frame for Rhett - the wonderful Clark Gable). We hear the romanticised story of how Vivien Leigh won the part of Scarlett. Finally, we hear about the film's preview and the rapturous reception it received before its glitzy premiere in - where else? - Atlanta, Georgia.A worthy companion to a fabulous Follywood film. GWTW, all sprawling four hours of it, has no equal in the golden days of Tinseltown, and this documentary gives you just a few reasons why.

Gone With The Wind is a story you'll never forget. The documentry about Gone With The Wind was excellent because it explains in detail about the movie, how it was all set out and how long it took to take to decide who would take the main parts in it. It must have been very difficult for the people who made this movie to make up their minds of who shall be the best person to play and to take part in Gone With the Wind. I think it all started in 1937 when the people asks some Actors and Actresses to take an audition and show what they have got. The documentry is fantastic to watch. I give it 10 out of 10.