Gone with the Wind, which was released in 1939, is widely regarded as the most successful picture, with an adjusted global total of $3.4 billion according to Guinness World Records in 2014.
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic historical romance movie based on Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel. Victor Fleming directed the movie, which was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures.
The movie follows Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, through her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), who is married to his cousin Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland), and her subsequent marriage to Rhett Butler, set in the American South against the backdrop of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era.
The movie had a rocky production. Because Selznick was determined to cast Gamble in the part of Rhett, filming was postponed for two years, until January 1939. Scarlett was a challenging job to cast, with 1,400 unknown women being interviewed for the part.
The original screenplay by Sidney Howard was heavily rewritten by a number of authors in order to trim it down to a manageable length. Shortly after filming began, the initial director, George Cukor, was sacked and replaced by Fleming, who was momentarily replaced by Sam Wood while taking a break due to weariness. Just a month before the film’s debut, post-production wrapped up in November 1939.
Despite being attacked for historical negationism and celebrating slavery and the idea of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, the film is credited with causing improvements in the way African Americans were depicted in the film. The movie is considered one of the best of all time, and it was chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1989.
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