DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Gone With The Wind - Four Disc Collector's Ed. (VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[Alejandro]

You are wellcome, Amy and Andrew! I'm happy to see you enjoy this interview as much as I did!

I don't want to add to the controversy:b but I will
It's not fair to compare both actresses but if you will I'll take Vivien's side (sorry George and Amy )

I think Vivien was one of the most beautiful women to light up the screen. I guess it helps that the character she plays is also one of the most fascinating. Certainly this mixture is a winner. Don't get me wrong, I think Miss De Havilland was very pretty , she still is at 88! but her beauty played a second role to her talent. I particularly love her in The Heiress (BTW when is this gonna have a deserved SE?) and she played ugly in that role!

Anyways, It sound so childish to make comparisons this sort, but actually is quite fun

 

[Steve Christou]

Vivien Leigh was a real beauty, a British gal picked to play Scarlett O'Hara, and played it to perfection, the most famous female character in movie history... or is it Bridget Jones? Oh yeah, American Renee Zellweger was picked to play the very popular very British Bridget Jones and played it perfectly too.

My GWTW set should arrive this week, can't wait to peruse it's contents.

 

[Al (alweho)]

Before he passed away Ron Haver hosted a two day presentation on GWTW at the Academy. (Right after the publication of his David O. Selznick's Hollywood book if I remember correctly.)

The first night we saw Selznick's print of the movie, the next day (among so many things that were covered that day) we spent watching many of the acting and color screen tests (that were later excerpted in the "Making of GWTW" documentary) in their complete form.

As Haver told the story, (and we could see from the many color tests) Leslie Howard was thought to be too old, and Howard himself really thought the part was thankless. He really didn't want to do it.

Selznick kept after him because he just couldn't find anyone else that fit the part so well. There was another actor being used during the many actress tests that was also under consideration but he didn't have the refined qualities Howard was thought to bring to the part. (I think it was both Melvin Douglas and Douglass Montgomery who were tested for Ashley.)

If I remember correctly, Howard was finally promised he could direct another film for Selznick and the make-up was finally settled upon that at least seemed to bring his age closer to Leigh's appearance-wise. I don't have the time to re-read Haver's book now but I think this is all detailed in it too.

To me Howard labors mightily in what is truly a thankless role - it is tough being in the same movie as a romantic lead along with the much more colorful Clark Gable.

Guys and Dolls as both a stage show and a movie also has a similar problem with the two female leads - the gangster's moll part just outshines the poor Salvation Army gal's no matter how good the actress was that tackled it.

 

[EdgarNazaretyan]

Hey guys, just came upon this website when seeing the Gone With The Wind DVD commercial.... hope u like it...


http://www.warnervideo.com/gonewiththewind/

 

[Randy A Salas]

Those who do worry that the new film is too colorful might like to know that the colors on the DVD were arrived at by comparing them to a 1939 nitrate print, the same one used for reference at the Technicolor labs. The color reference print was not known to exist until this DVD was in production. In fact, work that had begun on the film for this DVD had to be redone after the reference print was found because the colors were so different. This is according to George Feltenstein, the WHV exec who oversaw production of the DVD, but it is addressed some in the Restoring a Legend featurette. According to George, this is how the film was originally intended to look.

This is just an FYI addendum to Herb's fine review.

 

[Paul_Scott]

looking at the screencaps on the DVDBeaver site, it doesn't look like the new disc is a major departure from what i remember seeing broadcast on TCM back in late Aug/ early September.

people said that was the same transfer that has been around for awhile, but it looked different to me than what i remember of the old dvd.
would be very interesting if Gary can get a hold of some screen caps from the previous release to compare them.

also, looking over those, i see what looks to be color fringing in the title cards- most notably in the post battle narration.
i wonder if this is just a jpg artifact, since the whole purpose of UR was to line up separate elements more precisely

 

[Jonny_L]

Thanks for the link Edgar, that promo trailer was excellent. Anyone else notice that the set they showed in the trailer had slightly alternate packaging?

Also, Warner Brothers has streamed THE ENTIRE restoration featurette from the set.

I'd post a direct link but I dont have enough posts on the forum yet it's under video clips I think on the site.

 

[EdgarNazaretyan]

If interested, go down to movie clips and on the site it says restoring under all the clips and its the full 17 mins about the restoration.

-Edgar-

 

[Alejandro]

Here's the New York Times' review of this DVD set:

 

[Sten F]

Sure sounds like a top contender for the best DVD of the year.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Unfortunately HTF will most likely not
be holding a DVD OF THE YEAR campaign.

The only reason I can give you is that
we sort of got slighted by a studio that
we showed a lot of support to last year.

Now back to the discussion of Gone With The Wind...

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Ron that is unfortunate. Perhaps an unofficial one will be in order? Have to make sure ROTK completes the hat trick!

 

[AdamW]

Arr, debating on making a blind purchase. I'm a poor college student, but... I'll do it!

 

[ScottR]

Do it Adam.....GWTW has something for everyone. It is the film I think of when I hear the word "movie" or "Hollywood". It's pure entertainment. Plus, even if for some weird reason it isn't your favorite film, at least you made a sound investment on:

1. The all-time box-office champ
2. One of the most beloved films of all time
3. Oscar winner for Best Picture
4. AFI list #4

...and on and on.......not a bad way to spend your cash.

 

[Jeffrey]

Adam,

As one that used to be in your shoes during my college years, you'll make it....

After all, "tomorrow is another day."

(Sorry, I just had to do it..... )

Jeffrey
(breaking his piggy bank in preparation for the big day)

 

[Andrew Budgell]

YAH! Gone With the Wind is officially out today! Is anyone doing anything special for the release?

Andy

 

[ScottR]

I'm spreading out the Gone With the Wind festivities over the course of five days:

Tuesday: The Making of A Legend
Wednesday: Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh Docs
Thursday: Olivia DeHavilland Remembers
Friday: The Film
Saturday: The remaining extras

 

[Alejandro]

My purchase is shipping today. Hopefully I'll have it here on thursday (that's priority )

I want all you guys to come back as soon as you've seen the contents of the 4 discs and share with the rest of us your thoughts, ok?

 

[Alejandro]

The Entertainment weekly Review:

 

[Rob_Ray]

Okay, Alejandro, I skimmed all four discs last night.

First of all, the color is not dramatically different from the last DVD. Slightly more reddish and slightly brighter. It looks lovely. I think I prefer the colors on the new DVD, but it's not a dramatic improvement. Where there is a dramatic improvement is in the handful of shots that always had registration problems. All long shots: Scarlett opening the hat box, Scarlett watching Melanie and Ashley say goodnight, Rhett saying that he'll be back after his proposal, etc. Everything's as sharp as it possibly could be. In the scene at the lumber mill (which always looked great) where Scarlett and Ashley reminisce, you can actually see some wild hairs sticking out on Ashley's head. And the textures of the costumes are seen like for the first time.

The sound is much stronger on both the mono and stereo tracks than the earlier DVD. However, the stereo track had some bad phasing problems during the opening titles, especially during the shot of the cotton fields containing the lesser behind-the-scenes credits. I don't know how serious a problem this is throughout the film, because I wanted to move on to the extras. But, to give the sound its due, both the mono and stereo had a force I'd never heard before.

Olivia's recollections are amusing and her delivery is very theatrical, as I expected. Most of the stories she told had been published in interviews over the years, but I'd never heard the "ruffles" story before. That was cute.

The restoration doc was really a 15 minute ad for the Ultra-Resolution process. It was not as exhaustive on the problems unique to GWTW as I would like. No in-depth discussion of the problems caused by the 1954 reissue, for example.

The Clark Gable doc was from 1975 and contains lengthy interviews with the likes of William Wellman (always feisty and frank: Gable was not a good actor, he says), Andy Devine and Adela Rogers St. Johns. You'd never see an interview like that today. It was so relaxed and leisurely in its pace.

I haven't yet watched Making of a Legend or the Vivien Leigh doc, for were both available on laserdisc. I'll get to those later in the week.

All in all, I don't think you'll be disappointed; however, I think there would be room for minor improvement. And it's a shame they did not offer a music-only track. But then you wouldn't buy the Rhino soundtrack, I guess.