Gone with the Wind – Four-disc Collector’s Edition

Format: DVD
No. Discs: 4 + 19pg. booklet
Duration: 238min.

Technical Specs

Region: 1 – USA/Canada
Sound: English Dolby Digital 5.1ch / French Dolby Digital 5.1ch
Video: Standard version – 1.37:1 Original Theatrical Exhibition
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish – Only Feature Film

Content

DVD Disc 1:

• Movie Part I (1. Overture – 31. Intermission Music)
• Commentary by Rudy Behlmer (Film historian)
• Original Mono Track

DVD Disc 2:

• Movie Part II (1. Entr’Acte – 32. Exit Music)
• Commentary by Rudy Behlmer
• Original Mono Track

DVD Disc 3:

• The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
• Restoring a Legend
• Dixie Hails “Gone with the Wind”
• Historical Theatrical Short: The Old South
• Atlanta Civil War Centennial
• International Prologue
• Foreign Language Versions
• Theatrical Trailers
  • 1939 Announcement Trailer
  • 1961 Civil War Centennial Trailer
  • 1967 70mm Re-issue Trailer
  • 1968 Re-issue Trailer
  • 1989 50th Anniversary Trailer
• Awards

DVD Disc 4:

• Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland
• Gable: The King Remembered
• Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond
• The Supporting Players

Released in 2004 for the 65th Anniversary of the film, Warner released this remastered print alongside a remastered soundtrack in Dolby 5.1 in both English and French. Though the image is pristine, it REALLY does look good on an HD converter, the audio is pushing it a bit. At moments, the English 5.1 track is so low compared to the French track or the commentary track.

The commentary by Behlmer is interesting and full of details, though most of the times he’s reading and the striking visuals of the film distract you from it. One of the best features is the 1988 nearly 2-hour documentary chronicling the making of the film that talks about author Margaret Mitchell, and moves on from the struggle that was setting up Gone with the Wind to put it through production.

The fourth disc contains a 1975 1-hour Clark Gable documentary, a 1990 45-minute Vivien Leigh documentary, and even a wonderful nearly 40-minute sequence lovely narrated by Olivia de Havilland herself, which plays more charmingly than anything on the commentary track, which explains why she was a star, I guess. There’s a delightful bit when she explains how she managed to work for a MGM production when she was working for Warner, a move which involved the boss’ wife. There are also brief segments on all the supporting players, including Hattie McDaniels and Butterfly McQueen.

Just wished the extras were subtitled.

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Part of the 1939 Film Blogathon. Don’t forget to check all our post on the Classic Film Blogathon ;D

Photos