Title: Gone With the Wind
Year: 1939
Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Hattie McDaniel
Director: Victor Fleming
Runtime: 3 hrs 58 mins
Is It Any Good?: It’s one of the greatest cinematic experience you’ll ever witness! Truly an all-time great film, it’s digitally remastered version looks like it hasn’t aged one bit. Its scope is as epic as it gets, and it’s legacy even more historic. Not only was it the most expensive film at the time, and a huge risk for producer David O. Selnick, it’s also historic for a far more important reason. You see Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for her role of Mammy. She was the first African-American to win any award at the big show. Along with her win as well as producer Selnick accepting for his Best Picture win, Vivien Leigh accepting the gold fella for her role as Scarlett O’Hara.
Memorable Quote: Scarlett O’Hara: You low-down, cowardly, nasty thing you! They were right! Everybody was right! You – You aren’t a gentleman.
Competition: Ridiculous! Not only did Gone with the Wind have to fend off an all-time classic in The Wizard of Oz, but it had to claw past two excellent book adaptations (Of Mice and Men, and Wuthering Heights) but two more great pieces of cinema in the Jimmy Stewart/Frank Capra second run Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but also Bette Davis’ juggernaut performance in Dark Victory, and the excellent Stagecoach. All of that wouldn’t matter as the first ever full-color motion picture nominee won its competition against Fleming’s other opus in Oz. 1939 was a year that revitalized Hollywood, and put it out front as the true medium for this century! In the way oils, or watercolors shaped centuries motion pictures did the same for us.
As we approach a new decade we get a Best Picture winner from an all-time great director. Along with a plethora of other great performances in some amazing films! We hope you’ll join us for that when we get there and please feel free to use the hashtag #bestpicquest on Twitter to open the discussion.
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