GONE WITH THE WIND: 70TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (WB, 1939) Rating: NNNNN DVD package: NNNNN Rating: NNNNN
A brilliant movie gets a lavish presentation that includes three bonus discs running a total of eight hours, a hardcover photo book, reproductions of the original program book, watercolours and memos from producer David O. Selznick and a soundtrack CD. The whole thing comes in a red velvet case, itself encased in a sturdy red box.
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The saga of Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), her love for ne’er-do-well Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and the destruction of her way of life in the American Civil War is one of Hollywood’s greatest achievements, infinitely absorbing and rewatchable, not least because Scarlett is one of the great screen women – smart, frivolous, down-to-earth, romantic, pragmatic and, above all, a survivor.
The massive hunt for the right actor to play Scarlett gets the light-comedy treatment in The Scarlett O’Hara War, a 1980 TV movie that makes a good contrast to the excellent but reverent making-of docs in the extras. Tony Curtis plays an increasingly desperate Selznick, wheedling Louis B. Mayer for Gable, who doesn’t want the part, and fending off the likes of Joan Crawford, Carole Lombard, Tallulah Bankhead and Paulette Goddard, all of whom do. It’s very funny.
Availble for $59.99 at HMV, 333 Yonge and other locations. 416-586-9668. hmv.ca
