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Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Description:

Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary 5-Disc DVD set: LIMITED and NUMBERED one-of-a-kind Velvet Box packaging. Contains the feature film mastered in hi-definition plus more than 8 hours of timeless extras, including an all new documentary narrated by Kenneth Branagh “Warner Bros. Home Entertainment presents 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year,” “Gone with the Wind: The Legend Lives On” featurette, and much more. Collectibles include an Exclusive 52-pg Hardcover Photo and Production Art Book, ten (10) 5”x7” frameable Watercolor Reproduction Art Prints, Bonus CD Soundtrack Sampler, and Reproduction of the Original 1939 Program.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19777 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2009-11-17
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Collector’s Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 238 minutes

Features

• GONE WITH THE WIND: ULTIMATE CE (DVD MOVIE)

Customer Reviews:

Near-Perfect Edition of Hollywood Classic…
It seems like a ‘new, improved’ edition of “Gone With the Wind” has appeared every couple of years, offering the ‘ultimate’ in picture and sound reproduction, and extras. It can become expensive keeping up, and frustrating (much like buying a classic Disney DVD, when you know a more complete “Special Edition” will soon render your “First Time on Video” copy obsolete), but the new GWTW Four-Disc Collector’s Edition most assuredly deserves a place in your collection.

First off, the picture and sound quality is astonishing. Warner’s Ultra-Resolution process, which ‘locks’ the three Technicolor strips into exact alignment, provides a clarity and ‘crispness’ to the images that even the 1939 original print couldn’t achieve. You’ll honestly believe your TV is picking up HD, whether you’re HD-ready, or not! This carries over to the Dolby Digital-remastered sound, as well. All of the tell-tale hiss and scratchiness of the opening credit title music, still discernable in the last upgrade, is gone, replaced by a richness of tone that will give your home theater a good workout. (Listen to the brass in this sequence, and you’ll notice what I’m talking about…)

The biggest selling point of this edition is, of course, the two discs of additional features offered, and these are, in general, superb. Beginning with the excellent “Making of a Legend” (narrated by Christopher Plummer), Disc Three offers fascinating overviews about the film, the amazing restoration, footage from the 1939 Premiere (and the bittersweet 1961 Civil War Centennial reunion of Selznick, Leigh, and de Havilland), glimpses of Gable and Leigh with dubbed voices for the foreign-language versions, the international Prologue (tacked on to explain the Civil War to foreign audiences), and a 1940 MGM documentary on the “Old South” (directed by Fred Zinneman) memorable today for it’s simplistic view of the time, and stereotypical portrayal of blacks.

Disc Four is a mixed bag; the long-awaited reminiscences of Olivia de Havilland are more chatty than informative (with the 90-year-old actress more interested in discussing her wardrobe than on-set tension…although a prank she pulled on Gable is amusing), and the Clark Gable Profile is superficial (A&E’s biography of ‘The King’ is far superior). Things improve, however, with the insightful, sympathetic TCM biography of Vivien Leigh (hosted by Jessica Lange), and a WONDERFUL section devoted to brief bios of many of the GWTW supporting cast, narrated, again, by Christopher Plummer (although I wish the filmmakers would have included bios for Ward Bond, Victor Jory, Fred Crane, and George ‘Superman’ Reeves).

All in all, the GWTW Four-Disc Collector’s Edition isn’t perfect, but offers so much terrific material that it is CERTAINLY the one to own!

A Classic but it’s NOT for everyone!
I used to think that this Hollywood classic was for everyone. However, after reading nearly 300 reviews of the film, I think that isn’t true anymore. This movie is NOT for you IF 1) you think a movie must be as historically accurate as a history book, 2) you think a 1939 movie should reflect the values of the 21st century, 3) your attention span is so short that you must only see movies from 90-120 minutes in length, 4) you can only accept politically correct films, particularly in terms of racial issues, 5) you are so DUMB as to think widescreen movies were made before the 1950s (although to be fair, Selznik originally intended to use a special widescreen process for the so-called “burning of Atlanta” sequence but gave up on the expensive idea), 6) you can only accept computerized special effects as they appear in modern films, or 7) your idea of great acting is to be found in slasher or teen films being made these days.

GWTW is NOT a documentary on the Civil War period. It is NOT a history of slavery in America. It is NOT a story of perfect people behaving perfectly at all times.

It IS an adaptation of a novel written by a Southern woman who, as a child, sat and listened to the stories the old Confederate veterans told about the old days before, during, and after THE war. It IS a love story, probably about the novelist’s grandmother, which reflects the attitudes left over from that long-ago time.

To criticize this film for so many unrelated issues is silly. It stands on its merits as a masterful film that tells of bittersweet love and lost fantasy. That it succeeds so well is a tribute to the actors and filmmakers of over sixty years ago.

“And you, miss, are no lady!”
As with the “Wizard of OZ” BD set, the GWTW set is elaborated — and made “spendier” — with the addition of material that might not be absolutely necessary for one’s enjoyment. The box is covered in red velvet flocking (green would have been more appropriate and amusing — qv, Carol Burnett). There’s a CD “sampler” of Max Steiner’s score, running a measly 45 minutes. Given that Max took excessive scoring to the max (Bette Davis had some pointedly unkind things to say about it), a “sampler” could have filled two CDs, and still not have exhausted the music (though the music might exhaust you). *

As with “OZ”, there’s a 52-page hard-backed book that’s largely content-free, plus reproductions of some of the watercolor set-design paintings (in their own little envelope), and various memoranda sent to and from David O. Selznick. I was expecting a reproduction of Gerald O’Hara’s pocket watch, but it likely would have been of even poorer quality than the kiddie watch in the “OZ” box.

The best bonus is a reproduction of the 25-cent (expensive in 1939) souvenir booklet. It includes pieces by the principals, notably one from Clark Gable telling how badly he wanted to play Rhett Butler and much he enjoyed every minute of making the film. (He didn’t want to appear in “costume” films (having had bad luck in a film about Irish revolutionaries), was afraid to take on a role the public had such definite ideas about, and got along poorly with the first director, George Cukor.)

As I write this, I haven’t viewed all the supplemental material on the second disk. (There’s a lot.) The third disk duplicates the “When the Lion Roars” feature included in the “OZ” box — though the package labeling suggests it’s unique to GWTW.

GWTW was always unsharp and muddy-looking — until the Ultra Resolution transfer of the original three-strip negatives a few years ago. It was a major improvement, and the DVDs showed the film as it had never been seen.

This edition apparently uses a new Ultra Resolution transfer, at twice the resolution (8k versus 4k) of the previous. Some scenes — such as Ashley escorting Melanie to the balcony of Twin Oaks — are breathtaking, far superior to what the DVD offered (and /that/ wasn’t exactly chopped liver). The best Technicolor films, properly transferred, push HD to its limit.

What most surprised me, though, was the awareness of how the film’s color balance is adjusted to produce specific effects. Many scenes have an appropriately warm, “burnished” coloration that /does not/ carry over to the scene’s subtle colors. For example, at the fund-raising bazaar, there’s a bottle of pastel-colored candies (which you’ll probably never notice in the SD edition) that retain their correct colors, “unromantized” by the rest of the image’s warmth. Similarly, in the scene outside the hospital where Belle Watling makes a donation, her costume is vividly colored (there’s no question about her profession!), even though everything else is drab.

Several sequences are outstanding, particularly the one where Scarlett returns to Aunt Pittypat’s home to tend to Melanie. It’s a model of Technicolor photography, one that any cinematographer would be proud of — as good as anything being done today. In earlier transfers of poorer prints, this sequence is flat and two-dimensional. You can’t see how magnificently lit and photographed it is.

At its best, the Technicolor resembles large-format, ultra-sharp Polacolor. That’s a compliment! If you’re fortunate enough to have a large display, you’ll gasp at some of the images.

One of the most-startling moments occurs when Scarlett goes to the train station to look for Dr Meade, one of the most-famous scenes in movie history. Hundreds, if not thousands of injured men lie on the ground, waiting for medical attention that will likely never come. There weren’t enough extras, so dummies were used. And for the first time, you can actually /see/ which of the “extras” are dummies! You can probably tell better than the camera operator!

In short… The BD edition is a major improvement over the excellent DVD edition. It gives the impression that the movie makers were able to manipulate Technicolor to get specific aesthetic effects. ** And it shows just how /beautifully photographed/ this film is, something even the original Technicolor prints never fully revealed. The DVD probably captured most of this (I no longer have it for comparison), but you’ll never see it in standard definition on a “small” screen. Looking at excerpts in the supplmentary material /not/ taken from the Ultra Resolution transfer is a reminder of just how “messy”-looking the original GWTW was. It no longer is. I’ve never enjoyed watching it so much.

It’s becoming apparent that an HD transfer, shown on a big display, is not the best way to watch a movie at home, but the best way to watch a movie, period.

The sound is so-so, of limited range and not particularly clean. (Disney does a much better job cleaning up the audio of its classic films.) The reviewer who said it filled the room as well as any modern soundtrack most own Bose 901s. It would sound better in a theater, with big horn speakers that started rolling off above 5kHz. If GWTW was recorded in RCA multi-track, the stems don’t appear to have survived. (Those for “OZ” exist and have been used, though not, apparently in the Blu-ray.) Music and dialog are mono throughout, but individual sound effects (particulary explosions) are panned to the side or rear when appropriate. The music sometimes seems too loud for the dialog, and the overall level is by far the lowest of any Blu-ray I’ve yet auditioned. I had to really crank up the volume, far, far beyond 11.

This is an expensive set, but it represents such a significant improvement over the last DVD edition (as good as it was) that it’s worth seriously considering. Even if your BD player has a good scaler, the DVD won’t look anywhere nearly this good on your HD monitor. Highly recommended.

PS: Just because a film is a classic doesn’t mean it’s suitable for everyone in your family. The G rating is ridiculous. GWTW is at least PG, containing, as it does, women of questionable virtue, a fair amount of violence (including a scene in which Scarlett is attacked, and another in which she shoots a Yankee, practically blowing off his face), and Rhett dragging Scarlett up the stairs to “molest” her. The MPAA ratings board is nothing if not inconsistent.

PPS: Though Vivian Leigh and Hattie McDaniel received Oscars, I consider Butterfly McQueen’s performance as Prissy the best in the film. Though she hated the role (it’s too easy to interpret Prissy as representing slaves in general, rather than one in particular), she showed great courage in taking it, and delivers a finely nuanced performance.

* Max Steiner wrote the first great film score for a talky - “King Kong”. It epitomizes his style — “Mickey-Mousing” almost every screen action, and the heavy use of Leitmotivs for characters and events. (Note how Melanie’s motive appears every time she does, and how Rhett’s is played — breaking the scene’s mood — when he leaves Scarlett for the last time.) He was also the first sound-film composer to underscore almost the entire length of a film — this is not a recent development. It’s worth noting that GWTW, despite some memorable music, did not win “Best Score” for 1939 — Herbert Stothart’s for “Wizard of OZ” did. I find it considerably more imaginative and appealing.

** The Technicolor print uses dye transfer, in which each color is layed down separately from its own gelatin matrix. This allows a great deal of flexibility in controlling the contrast and color balance — if you’re willing to put out the time and money. According to the supplementary material, the color balance /was/ adjusted on scene-by-scene basis for GWTW, just as it is for modern films - that’s what the “color timer” person does. A high-quality print from 1939 was found, and guided the restorers in adjusting color balance.

Amazon.com
David O. Selznick wanted Gone with the Wind to be somehow more than a movie, a film that would broaden the very idea of what a film could be and do and look like. In many respects he got what he worked so hard to achieve in this 1939 epic (and all-time box-office champ in terms of tickets sold), and in some respects he fell far short of the goal. While the first half of this Civil War drama is taut and suspenseful and nostalgic, the second is ramshackle and arbitrary. But there’s no question that the film is an enormous achievement in terms of its every resource-art direction, color, sound, cinematography-being pushed to new limits for the greater glory of telling an American story as fully as possible. Vivien Leigh is still magnificently narcissistic, Olivia de Havilland angelic and lovely, Leslie Howard reckless and aristocratic. As for Clark Gable: we’re talking one of the most vital, masculine performances ever committed to film. -Tom Keogh

Stills from Gone with the Wind (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition) (click for larger image)