It’s always amazing for me to think that after 70 years, any movie would still hold audiences enthralled. Of course in 1939, there were two. “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind.” Both are considered classics of the highest order, and while I have seen the former countless times over the years… “Gone with the Wind” I have only seen once. It was several years ago, when a colorized version was being released for special showings in theaters. I always avoided it on TV, and for some reason never picked up a video or DVD. And even though I am still vehemently against the process of colorization on B&W films, I will be the first to admit that it worked wonders restoring older color films. So I made the drive all the way to Fort Worth and sat in awed silence as I watched this amazing film play out before me.

“Gone with the Wind”, for the handful of you whose only movie experience has been “Deuce Bigalow” is the big budget movie version if Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Produced by David O. Selznick, it won an incredible (for the time) 10 Academy Awards and made a star of unknown actress Vivien Leigh. It told the saga of the Civil War through the eyes of the South, as it surrounded the blistery romance between Scarlett O’Hara (Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). The story spans years and is in every sense of the word… an epic.

There are those today who decry the film as being dated, revisionist, and racist. Of course, these aren’t very bright people (most are unemployed), and they can’t understand that this film was a product of its time. Beautifully written, gorgeously executed, amazingly filmed… “Gone with the Wind” is meant to do no more than tell a very big story. Anyone who takes the time to “read between the lines” has… well, too much time on their hands. So these people I largely ignore and feed on the weekends when time permits.

Warner Brothers is releasing several 70th Anniversary Edition of “Gone with the Wind” and I have to really hand it to them. They are giving it the star treatment. The film went through a restoration process just a few short years ago, however they did yet another re-mastering in order to ready it for the Bluray market. Unfortunately I was unable to get a copy of the Bluray, but I understand that it is amazing to look at. I currently have the 2-Disc DVD edition and I can say that now that I have seen the movie a second time, I cannot believe how incredible it looks. There is little to even give me reason to think it was filmed 70 years ago.

There are a couple of sets available for this new 70th Anniversary Edition. Both the Bluray and DVD sets are massive and include more special features than I can count. One of these days I am definitely going to get ahold of that Bluray set!! The 2-Disc DVDS edition only allows room for a commentary by historian Rudy Belhmer. But when I day only, I don’t mean to sell it short. He is a wealth of information and he shares as much as he can during the film’s run time.

“Gone with the Wind” lives up to all the hype you have ever heard about it and it deserves a place of reverence in every DVD (or Bluray!!) collection.

Directed by: Victor Fleming
Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland
Extras: Commentary by Historian Rudy Behlmer
Specifications: 1.33:1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Studio: Warner Brothers
MPAA Rating: NR
Release Date: 11/17/2009
http://www.gonewiththewinddvd.com

We'll give Gone with the Wind: 70th Anniversary an A.