Gone With the Wind, 1939, Victor Fleming, U.S.
Here’s why this is not on our All-Time 100 Movies List: It is indefensible as social history; it lags in its second half; it lacks a strong directorial signature. All that leaves is the film’s epic ambition, its steam train of story propulsion, a ravishing visual design and performances of glamour and power. Which makes this super-production of the Margaret Mitchell best-seller the ultimate Hollywood movie. No question that this is a producer’s, not a director’s project; David O. Selznick’s grand and niggling obsession stamps the movie like Kong’s footprint. So what? In its first two hours, which moves with whirring assurance, the film establishes two pairs of potent contradictions: the mercantile North vs. the slave-owning South, and the rakish male (Clark Gable) vs. the ferocious female (Vivien Leigh, in a performance of spectacular drive, complexity and star quality). In 1939 GWTW was the longest and most expensive film made to that time. Today it retains another distinction: in terms of tickets sold, it is the most popular movie ever.
From the TIME Archive:
1936: Review of Margaret Mitchell’s book
1939: The premiere, and a look inside the movie’s production
Next: Tenth Avenue Angel, 1949, Roy Rowland, U.S.
A - C
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God
- The Apu Trilogy
- The Awful Truth
- Baby Face
- Bande à part
- Barry Lyndon
- Berlin Alexanderplatz
- Blade Runner
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Brazil
- Bride of Frankenstein
- Camille
- Casablanca
- Charade
- Children of Paradise
- Chinatown
- Chungking Express
- Citizen Kane
- City Lights
- City of God
- Closely Watched Trains
- The Crime of Monsieur Lange
- The Crowd
D - F
- Day for Night
- The Decalogue
- Detour
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
- Dodsworth (1936)
- Double Indemnity
- Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Drunken Master II
- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
- 8 1/2
- The 400 Blows
- Farewell My Concubine
- Finding Nemo
- The Fly
G - J
- The Godfather, Parts I and II
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- Goodfellas (1990)
- A Hard Day's Night
- His Girl Friday
- Ikiru
- In A Lonely Place
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- It's A Gift
- It's a Wonderful Life
K - M
- Kandahar
- Kind Hearts and Coronets
- King Kong
- The Lady Eve
- The Last Command
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Léolo
- The Lord of the Rings
- The Man with a Movie Camera
- The Manchurian Candidate
- Meet Me in St. Louis
- Metropolis
- Miller's Crossing
- Mon oncle d'Amérique
- Mouchette
N - P
Q - S
- Raging Bull
- Schindler's List
- The Searchers
- Sherlock, Jr.
- The Shop Around the Corner
- Singin' in the Rain
- The Singing Detective
- Smiles of a Summer Night
- Some Like It Hot
- Star Wars
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- Sunrise
- Sweet Smell of Success
- Swing Time
T - Z
- Taxi Driver
- Tokyo Story
- A Touch of Zen
- Ugetsu
- Talk to Her
- Ulysses' Gaze
- Umberto D
- Unforgiven
- White Heat
- Wings of Desire
- Yojimbo
Behind the List
Great Performances
- Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
- James Cagney, White Heat
- Faye Dunaway, Chinatown
- Cary Grant, Notorious
- Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
- Jean Renoir, The Rules of the Game
- Raj Kapoor, Awara
- Judy Holliday, Bells Are Ringing
- Bill Murray, Groundhog Day
- Brigitte Lin, Swordsman II
Guilty Pleasures
- Gone With the Wind, 1939, Victor Fleming, U.S.
- Tenth Avenue Angel, 1949, Roy Rowland, U.S.
- Sailor Beware, 1951, Hal Walker, U.S.
- Diabolique (Les Diaboliques), 1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot, France
- School Girl, 1971, David Reberg, U.S
- There's Something About Mary,1998, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, U.S.
- Anatomy of a Murder, 1959, Otto Preminger, U.S.
- Gun Crazy, 1949, Joseph H. Lewis, U.S.
- The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1957, Jack Arnold, U.S.
- Joe Versus the Volcano, 1990, John Patrick Shanley, U.S.
10 Best Soundtracks
- The Adventures of Robin Hood
- Citizen Kane
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Laura
- On the Waterfront
- Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at RKO
- The Man With the Golden Arm
- Jules et Jim
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
- Roja
