Gone with the Wind

Review of the Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh classic, Gone with the Wind

Plot Synopsis:

Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.

Product Description 

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic historical romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel. It was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures and directed by Victor Fleming. Set in the 19th-century American South, the film tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, from her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, to her marriage to Rhett Butler. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, the story is told from the perspective of white Southerners.

Cast of characters

• Thomas Mitchell (It’s a Wonderful Life) … Gerald O’Hara
• Barbara O’Neil (Tower of London 1939) … Ellen – His Wife (as Barbara O’Neill)
• Vivien Leigh (A Streetcar Named Desire) … Scarlett – Their Daughter
• Evelyn Keyes (Here Comes Mr. Jordan) … Suellen – Their Daughter
• Ann Rutherford (Whistling in the Dark) … Carreen – Their Daughter
• George Reeves (Superman and the Mole Men) … Stuart Tarleton – Scarlett’s Beau
• Fred Crane … Brent Tarleton – Scarlett’s Beau

Slaves

• Hattie McDaniel (Thank Your Lucky Stars) … Mammy – House Servant
• Oscar Polk … Pork – House Servant
• Butterfly McQueen (I Dood It) … Prissy – House Servant
• Victor Jory (Cat-Women of the Moon) … Jonas Wilkerson – Field Overseer
• Everett Brown (Malice in the Palace) … Big Sam – Field Foreman

The Wilkes

• Howard Hickman … John Wilkes
• Alicia Rhett … India – His Daughter
• Leslie Howard (The Petrified Forest) … Ashley – His Son
• Olivia de Havilland (Captain Blood, Alibi Ike) … Melanie Hamilton – Their Cousin
• Rand Brooks (Babes in Arms) … Charles Hamilton – Her Brother

Additional Party Guests

• Carroll Nye … Frank Kennedy – A Guest
• Clark Gable (Band of Angels, Dancing Lady) … Rhett Butler – Visitor from Charleston
• Laura Hope Crews … Aunt ‘Pittypat’ Hamilton
• Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson (Broadway Rhythm, The Jack Benny Show) … Uncle Peter – Her Coachman
• Harry Davenport … Dr. Meade
• Leona Roberts (Having Wonderful Time) … Mrs. Meade
• Jane Darwell (The Lemon Drop Kid, The Grapes of Wrath) … Mrs. Merriwether
• Ona Munson (Broadminded) … Belle Watling
• Paul Hurst (Edison the Man, Island of Lost Souls) … Yankee Deserter
• Isabel Jewell (Marked Woman, The Leopard Man) … Emmy Slattery
• Cammie King Conlon … Bonnie Blue Butler
• Eric Linden … Amputation Case
• J.M. Kerrigan (Werewolf of London, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) … Johnny Gallagher
• Ward Bond (It’s a Wonderful Life, The Quiet Man) … Tom – Yankee Captain
• Jackie Moran … Phil Meade
• Cliff Edwards (Walt Disney’s Fun and Fancy Free, Maisie) … Reminiscent Soldier
• Lillian Kemble-Cooper … Bonnie’s Nurse in London
• Yakima Canutt … Renegade
• Marcella Martin … Cathleen Calvert
• Louis Jean Heydt … Hungry Soldier Holding Beau Wilkes
• Mickey Kuhn … Beau Wilkes
• Olin Howland (Blondie Brings Up Baby, Them!) … A Carpetbagger Businessman
• Irving Bacon (Blondie’s Blessed Event) … Corporal
• Robert Elliott … Yankee Major
• William Bakewell (Romance on the High Seas) … Mounted Officer
• Mary Anderson … Maybelle Merriwether