In 1939, the motion picture "Gone with the Wind" was presented. The American epic film has become one of the most successful and famous in the history of cinema.
Margaret Mitchell's bestseller Gone with the Wind hit bookstores in 1936. Soon, Hollywood producer David Selznick bought the rights to the film for $ 50,000 and immediately began recruiting actors for the film. Each of them had to correspond to the era of the Civil War in the South of America and be able to vividly convey the image of their character.
Clark Gable was immediately approved for the role of Rhett Butler. And this is not surprising. After working in the motion picture It Happened One Night, for which he received an Oscar in 1934, almost any film with his participation was guaranteed success.
Also quickly actress Olivia de Havilland got the role of Melanie Hamilton. But the search for the perfect Scarlett O'Hara, the central character of the future film, lasted more than two years. More than a hundred actresses have auditioned or viewed for the lead role. In the end, Selznick narrowed his choice down to two actresses: Tallulah Bankhead and Paulette Goddard. But Hollywood studios began to include "moral clauses" in their contracts, which once again puzzled the producer. After all, his beloved actress and Charlie Chaplin's wife Paulette Goddard could not prove that she was in the official with the famous film actor. The couple claimed that they were married aboard a ship on a cruise to the Far East in 1936. But they could not document this. And Tallulah Bankhead, who had found the fame of a brawler in Hollywood, could have become a bad publicity for the film, which Seleznik could not allow. After agonizing thought, Selznick finally made his choice. Scarlett O'Hara will become the relatively unknown British actress Vivien Leigh.
The filming of the film itself took 140 days. As many as five directors and 13 writers worked hard to bring the plans to life. The famous scene of the "burning of Atlanta" required a fiery destruction of an area of about 12 hectares.
At the film's premiere in Atlanta, the celebrations took three days. Gone With the Wind was the first color film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, and Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to be nominated and awarded the same prestigious film award.
The film is set in the American South during the Civil War and tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara, the willful daughter of the owner of the Tara plantation. A young girl is in love with Ashley Wilkes. He sympathizes with Scarlett, but intends to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton. At one of the parties, a frank conversation takes place between young people, in which Ashley rejects Scarlett. Rhett Butler becomes an involuntary witness to these explanations. In retaliation for Ashley, the offended girl marries Melanie's brother - Charles. But soon the war begins. Scarlett's husband, who is at the front, becomes infected and dies from measles. And the widowed girl goes to Melanie's house in Atlanta. There, at a charity bazaar, she meets Rhett and agrees to dance together, breaking the rules of mourning.
Over the next several months, he continues to visit Scarlett. Meanwhile, Atlanta is under siege. And being in the position of Melanie, it is time to give birth. Scarlett and her maid Prissy are forced to give birth on their own and flee from the city on fire.
With Rhett's help, they get out of the burning city and successfully get to Tara. But here she is waiting for a house plundered by soldiers, the news of the death of her mother, a sick father and desperate sisters.
In the second half of the film, Scarlett tries to resurrect Tara. She, her sisters and servants work in the fields. Yet they cannot afford to pay exorbitant taxes. Scarlett decides to take a desperate step and asks for money from Rhett Butler. However, he cannot help her. Then Scarlett marries a wealthy admirer of her sister, Frank. She uses his money to save Tara and then opens a sawmill business in Atlanta.
One day, while driving past a slum, she is attacked. Frank, Ashley and some other men go there. During this raid, Frank is wounded and killed. Once again a single woman, Scarlett marries Rhett Butler. They have a daughter.
But while riding a horse, she falls and dies. Later, during childbirth, Melanie also dies. When Ashley becomes free again, for the first time the realization comes to Scarlett that she loves Rhett, and Ashley is only a hobby of youth. However, Rhett abandons her and leaves. And Scarlett is left sobbing alone on the steps of her luxurious house. But the final shots of the motion picture show the main character returning to Tara and standing in the very place where her father once said that love for her native plantation would definitely come to her.
