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Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: GONE WITH THE WIND 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION (1 Viewer)

TonyD

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I've never seen this movie.

phew there I said it.

I have the special edition set from a few years ago but somehow never got around to watching it.
Won't be buying this current box set but will rent it from netflix and finally after all these years will see Gone With the Wind.

Hmm what other classics haven't I seen yet......
 

TonyD

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I know it's that long, somehow I just never got around to it.

Maybe I've just been waiting for a hi res version such as we have now.

If I can get to Target next Fridiay I'll pick it up for $12.99.
 

Brian Borst

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Originally Posted by TonyD

I've never seen this movie.

phew there I said it.

I have the special edition set from a few years ago but somehow never got around to watching it.
Won't be buying this current box set but will rent it from netflix and finally after all these years will see Gone With the Wind.

Hmm what other classics haven't I seen yet......
I'm not even embarrassed by the fact that I've never seen it, but about the fact that the four disc dvd is in my collection for about a year or so. I never got got around to seeing it. Now I want to see it, but I might as well wait for the Blu-ray to arrive. Since my mother loves the film, the SE dvd will go to her. This way everybody's happy.
 

CraigF

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I'm another one who kept the 4-disc DVD set on my shelf for a couple years before watching. Didn't think I'd like it, had never seen the whole thing (I later found out) but didn't like what I remembered. Was going to force myself to watch it...eventually. So...I ended up quite liking it. Not nearly as cheesy as I had thought when much younger. I think the movie-only BD release would be best suited for me, since I already have a lot of the SD extras and can decently upscale them at my end.
 

David_B_K

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Originally Posted by CraigF

I think the movie-only BD release would be best suited for me, since I already have a lot of the SD extras and can decently upscale them at my end.
Considering the price of the movie-only BD (unless you snag it on Black Friday), I recommend the 2-disc UK edition. You get all the extras from the 4-disc DVD version on the second BD, and it includes that recent TCM documentary on the great films of 1939, which is worthwhile, IMO and not included in the 2004 DVD set. My Amazon.uk order came to around $26.65 shipped. I'll probably give my 4-disc DVD set to one of my non-HD relatives.

I don't think I ever actually watched all of the 2004 version, either. I've seen the movie many times, and I think I only demo'd a few scenes in that version. I've demo'd a few scenes of the BD and hope to set aside 4 hours after Thanksgiving for the whole thing.
 

TonyD

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My wife and I watched it today.

The blu-ray presentation was fabulous, the movie was beautiful.
As for the movie itself, well......

If you are really wondering what I thought send me a pm.
 

Steve Tannehill

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Originally Posted by TonyD

If you are really wondering what I thought send me a pm.
Post it here! You're among friends.

I watched it yesterday, and it was a Melodrama with a capital M. Over-the-top Acting with a capital A. And I liked it. But I can see how this would not be everyone's cup of tea.

- Steve
 

TonyD

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I don't know maybe, I didn't want to look like I was dumping on a movie that so many people love.
 

Scott Merryfield

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I decided a few days ago to go ahead and order the U.K. version, too. I'll be avoiding the whole "Black Friday" shopping mess, so the single-disc Target version was no longer an option. Both GWTW and Batman Returns are already on their away across the pond to my doorstep. It's been awhile since I've watched this film all the way through, so I am really looking forward to getting this title now.
 

David_B_K

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Originally Posted by CraigF /forum/thread/295049/htf-blu-ray-re...ary-ultimate-collector-s-edition#post_3631868
My copy arrived Monday, so I may well have been one of the last to get one. Both the movie and the extra features on disc 2 will play in a region A player.
 

Robin9

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Originally Posted by Steve Tannehill

I watched it yesterday, and it was a Melodrama with a capital M. Over-the-top Acting with a capital A. And I liked it. But I can see how this would not be everyone's cup of tea.

With all due respect etc., only the second half is Melodrama with a capital A. The first half plus the beginning of the second half is a really good story, brilliantly told.
 

TonyD

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I always feel like whenever someone says with all due respect it still sounds like I'm being insulted.
How about saying the same thing without the all due respect.

something like, "I thought the second half was yes but the first half was was a brilliantly told story."

Anyway, I guess after that I might as well mention what I thought of the movie.


I loved the opening logo and the very beginning was good.
Vivian Leigh was miscast, she wasn't beautiful in the way she needed to be to have all these men fawning all about her the entire movie.


Scarlett O Hara must have been the least sympathetic heroin I have ever seen in such an important movie. All she did was whine and cry the entire film.
More like Pathetic.

The very instant their daughter climbed onto a horse it was obvious what was going to happen.

the soundtrack was too sappy, I could have taken the movie more serious without the sappy soundtrack.
I couldn't wait for it to end and when it finally did I felt just like Rhett Butler.


Now I am not saying the movie is a joke it is obviously a very well made and iconic film, but
as it ended I felt like someone had just told me a joke that was just an average joke that was long and seemed to never end but at least it had a terrific punch line.
Oh and the never go hungry and speech coming from her was laughable, poor little rich girl.

there you go.
 

Rob_Ray

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Originally Posted by Robin9




With all due respect etc., only the second half is Melodrama with a capital A. The first half plus the beginning of the second half is a really good story, brilliantly told.
That's always been the movie's biggest flaw. The section of the story covering the war and the south's defeat is so compelling that Selznick and his writers spend more screen time covering the first half of the book to the detriment of the second. The second half of the book's historical background deals with the politics of Reconstruction which Hollywood wisely didn't want to touch. That left them with just the marital woes of the Butlers and the story's historical sweep with all those Ben Hecht titles are gone with the wind as well. The basic tone shifts from vast historical epic to interesting historical melodrama.

I've always felt that after the "marital rape" sequence, Selznick and his writers and editors looked at their watches and said "Let's wrap this up." So that the last 200 pages of the book are covered in a matter of minutes and you have Scarlett's miscarriage, Bonnie's death and Melanie's death coming over a period of what seems like just a couple of days. The funeral parlor was working overtime. It's too bad they couldn't have added something in the way of a brief montage to suggest a passage of time between all the tragedies.

It's still a great achievement. Never has Hollywood been so faithful to a novel of such massive length while also capturing its spirit and flavor. But inevitably, Selznick and his writers bit off more than they can chew and second half suffers for it.
 

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