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Gone with the
Wind is the story of a young southern belle and a
greedy southern gentlemen who endure the changes
brought to the south by the Civil War. It is the
stormy tale of their love and the events that are
presented to them as their way of life is changed
forever. Gone with the Wind has been placed in the
American Film Institutes top 100 movies list at
position #4. It is a timeless classic from
Hollywood and has been fully restored and presented
on DVD and is the finest version of this film
available.
Story
A vast majority
of the American public know the premise of Gone
with the Wind or have heard of the main characters,
Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler
(Clark Gable). Gable's last line of the movie is
perhaps as famous as the characters themselves;
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." For those
not familiar with the story, here is a brief
summary and for those who are a little rusty, here
is a little refresher.
Scarlett O'Hara
is a young southern belle who spends most of her
time flirting from guy to guy. She strives to be
the best and to be the most recognized of her
sisters and her colleagues. She seems to be living
in a perfect little world until she learns that
Ashley Wilkes, a man she dearly wants to be with
announces that he will marry someone else, Melanie
Hamilton. In a panic, Scarlett attends a gala where
Ashley is to make this announcement. At this gala,
Scarlett corners Ashley and proclaims her love for
him. He rejects her and Scarlett meets Rhett Butler
in a very awkward situation. Rhett instantly
attempts to charm her, but Scarlett will have none
of it. To make a statement and take away from
Ashley and Melanie's day, Scarlett moves in on
Melanie's brother, Charles, and marries
him.
Charles, Ashley
and many other men depart their wives to fight for
the South in the Civil War. Soon after the
departure, Charles is killed and Scarlett is left a
widow. She is not a very happy widow and does her
best to present herself as a happy woman, against
the will of others. During another gala, where she
is to present herself as "in mourning," Rhett
appears and makes a bid for her. This astonds the
crowd, who believes she should be mourning, but
they dance.
And dance is
about all that is done between the two. Scarlett
does her best to stay near Ashely and Melanie, and
this pushes Rhett away. Soon Rhett leaves, and
Scarlett stays behind to take care of a pregnant
Melanie in Atlanta. It is not long before General
Sherman places Atlanta under siege and the city is
left to burn. During a climactic escape, Rhett
comes to the aid and helps Scarlett and Melanie
escape the burning city. Rhett leaves Scarlett to
help fight in the final stages of the war. Scarlett
returns to her home, Tara.
Upon returning
to Tara, Scarlett finds her home in ruins and her
family broke. She does the best she can to keep the
home going. The war soon ends, and carpetbaggers
demand high taxes on the home. Scarlett once again
looks up Rhett Butler and attempts to talk him into
giving her the money to pay the taxes on Tara.
Rhett is unable to help her and Scarlett betrays
her own sister and marries her sister's fiancee,
Frank Kennedy. This turns Scarlett against her own
sister, but it saves Tara from being taken away by
the tax collectors. Rhett hears of this and scorns
Scarlett, but let's his love for her be known. It
is not long before Kennedy is killed and Scarlett
once again becomes a widow.
Finally, Rhett
and Scarlett marry. They have a relationship that
is nowhere near stable. Eventually, they bare a
child, Bonnie Blue Butler. This helps things smooth
out at first, but strain again presents itself, and
Rhett takes Bonnie to England. Bonnie is not
content in England and wants to return home. Upon
returning home many tragedies and sadnesses occur.
Rhett and Scarlett soon stray farther and farther
away. After the death of Melanie, Rhett decides he
must leave, because he will never be loved by
Scarlett more than she loves Ashley. It is at this
moment that Scarlett realizes her love for Rhett,
but it is too late. Rhett has made up his mind and
decides to leave, and in regards to what will
happen to Scarlett, frankly, he don't give a
damn.
The story
itself is like a very long soap opera. It is a very
good soap opera though. Rhett Butler provides the
majority of comic relief and the scenes and
settings are very impressive for a film from 1939.
The film takes great strides to paint a solid
picture on a large number of characters. It is rare
in today's Hollywood that this much pain is taken
for character development. Rhett, Mammy, Ashley,
Scarlett and other characters are well acted and
entertaining. The movie takes nearly four hours to
complete its story, but the movie does a wonderful
job of keeping the viewer entertained. Gone with
the Wind is truly a Hollywood classic and its story
stands up as good today as it did sixty years
ago.
Packaging
Gone with the
Wind is packaged in the Amaray keep case. The cover
artwork is identical the inferior VHS release. A
nice gold foiling is used for the title on the
front of the case and the spine and looks very
attractive against its background. The front of the
case points out the fact that the movie won 10
Academy Awards. The rear of the case is standard
MGM fare. Information is given near the bottom of
the rear facing that gives running time, audio
information and other useful tidbits about the DVD
release. Above that is the usual advertising story
and to the left is the breakdown of features for
the release.
Inside the case
is the usual MGM 8-page booklet and the DVD itself.
The booklet is a nice little thing to look at and
contains some very nice information. There are a
few nice photographs to look at and the rear of the
booklet is the useful chapter listing. The movie
runs four hours and contains 56 chapters. One
interesting note is on page seven of the booklet.
There is a screen shot of a "Special Features"
screen. This menu shot shows the following
selections: Theatrical Trailer, Premiere Footage,
Reissue Premiere Footage, Screen Test and Film
Trivia. Apparently, Gone with the Wind was to be a
special edition, but somewhere along the line, that
fell through. Would have been nice, but probably
require a DVD-18 (Dual Side, Dual Layer) disc or a
disc with one Dual Layered side and a single
layered side. These formats are presently having
difficulty being manufactured and are months away
from reality. Perhaps this is why the features
shown inside were not included on the final DVD
release.
The disc itself
is presented over two sides. RSDL (Reverse Spiral
Dual Layer) would have been nice, so that the disc
would not have required flipping over to watch the
second side of the film. However, the side change
occurs at a very user-friendly point, and since the
movie is four hours long, it doesn't really hurt
that much to get up and get a drink any other tasks
that may be necessary. The break occurs between the
Intermission and Entr' Acte
Video
The video on
this film is from the restored version that was
released theatrically in June 1998. The image is
much clearer than any other previous versions of
the film. Formerly, two MGM LaserDisc versions
existed, a CLV version ($49.98) and a CAV version
($99.95). The CLV version was spanned across four
sides, and the CAV version, a whopping nine sides.
Both were from the 25th anniversary print and no
where near the quality of the DVD release. The
previous VHS version also retailed at over $89.00
and was spread over two cassettes. Looking back at
the previous versions, the video is the best it has
ever been and there is a lot less work needed to
watch it.
The colors are
very good for a film of this age, and some scenes
are absolutely stunning to look at. The black
levels and the contrast levels are very good. Some
film grain is present, but not very much and
scratches and dirt are hard to find as well.
Granted, the film is not as sharp as the newer
releases, but for a film of this age, it is amazing
how good it truly does look. A handful of scenes
stand out as being aged, but do not detract from
the overall quality of the disc.
There was not
much activity in the area of digital artifacts, but
there were some. These occurred mainly in the
opening titles and some of the scene banners. The
opening title was by far the worst, but quickly
forgotten once the movie began. Occasionally, there
would be some strange background behavior, but this
is suspected to be from the original film elements
and the matte photography and/or paintings not
holding very stable. All in all, the print was very
clean and seemed to have been compressed very well.
A good mark on the quality of the film for
MGM.
Sound
Gone with the
Wind is presented with the new Dolby Digital 5.1
(AC-3) channel surround mix and its original mono
mix. Most of the audible action comes through the
center channel. The AC-3 track is very reserved and
uses the rear channel's sparingly. They are used
mainly for musical imagery and very rare
explosions. The front channels (left and right) are
used on occasion to bring about position to
explosions and crowds. They are again, used for
giving better imagery and feel to the musical
numbers. The dialogue comes predominantly through
the center channel and does not use the front
channels to place voices with screen
positions.
The range of
the AC-3 mix is not very good. There is no true
bass to be heard, and the louder explosions barely
waken the subwoofer. The range of the source
material is the culprit to this, but the AC-3 is
much clearer and does sound very good for a film of
this age. The high ranges are pretty good, but not
as sharp as today's soundtracks. The music and the
clarity of the dialogue receives the most benefit
from the new soundtrack.
The audio mix
is very good and sounds very refined as well. The
dialogue is not nearly as clear in the mono
version, and the music poor compared to the AC-3
mix. MGM should be given points for including the
original soundtrack, if not for comparison reasons,
but for those of preservation. When watching the
movie, the AC-3 track is the recommended track to
listen to, and is also the default audio track for
the disc.
The Dolby Pro
Logic downmix is pretty good for this movie and
does not seem too terribly different from the Dolby
Digital 5.1 track. Most of this reason is the lack
of activity in the Dolby Digital track. However,
the musical scenes do possess a little more life to
them than their Dolby Pro Logic counterparts. But
for those without the ability to play the 5.1
sound, the Pro Logic sound is good and superior to
the original mono track.
The stereo
downmix sounded as if it had the most sound to it,
but this was because of all the dialogue being sent
to two speakers instead of one. The mix sounded
very much "stereo" and made the dialogue less
enjoyable than the surround or mono tracks. The
music and explosions fared well with the stereo
track, but it was noticeably inferior to the
surround soundtracks. Not a recommendation on a
stereo system, but very livable for television only
sound.
Supplements
At one time,
Gone with the Wind was to contain some very nice
supplements, but now they are nowhere to be found.
The disc possesses a theatrical trailer and the
usual interactive menu features. The disc is even
spread across two sides and not RSDL. The decision
for a DS-SL (Dual Side, Single Layer) disc may have
been for cost or manufacturing times (RSDL
facilities are operating at max capacity these
days). None the less, the supplements are very
thin. The only language options are the two English
mixes (Mono, AC-3) and only English and French
subtitles are given. Being an MGM disc, the almost
standard 8-page booklet is included, but this is
just as common with many other disc manufacturers
(except perhaps Buena Vista). The supplements are
very thin indeed. Judging from the
"should-have-been-removed" screen shot in the
booklet, there were to be many nice features.
Perhaps MGM should have held off until they could
have included these features. Maybe a second,
single sided disc could have been included to house
the features. The features is the only major black
mark on an otherwise wonderful DVD
release.
Summary
The story is
very well done and, time permitting, a movie that
can be watched over and over. This DVD release of
Gone with the Wind is mastered from the recently
restored version of the 1939 classic. The picture
quality is wonderful for a sixty-year-old movie and
contains very little artifacts and other digital
problems. Two soundtracks are included on the disc,
the original mono mix, and a new Dolby Digital 5.1
channel AC-3 soundtrack. These tracks, especially
the AC-3 track, sound wonderful as well. The only
knocks on the movie is the lack of supplements and
special features and the fact that the disc is a
"flipper" and must be turned over half way through
the movie.
The film is
truly a Hollywood classic and a must own for DVD.
Enthusiasts, collectors or the average disc
purchaser should buy their own copy of this video.
Until this release, Gone with the Wind was only
available on LaserDisc. Now, it has emerged as a
sell-through VHS (not that we care) and a decently
priced DVD. The quality of the story and the
quality of the restoration of this film help it
succeed against the shortcomings of extra features.
Perhaps MGM will release a Special Edition disc in
the future, after DVD-18 discs become common. For
now, this engaging story about the South and two
people coping with changes and their love will do
just fine in its present DVD configuration. Once
again, a must have video and at an average street
price of $20, a great value.
Ratings
(out of five stars and in relationship to original
age of the picture/sound elements):
Picture:
****1/2
Sound: ****1/2
Supplements: **
Price/Value: ****1/2
*
= not worthy of a DIVX disc; ** = below par; *** =
good; **** = excellent; ***** = kill your mother to
get a copy
Equipment
List: Pioneer VSX-D3S Dolby Digital Reciever / Sony
DVP-3000 Digital Versatile Disc Player / Sony 32" V
Chassis Trinitron TV w/ Digital Comb Filter and
S-Video / Pioneer CLD-704 LaserDisc Player /
Pioneer DVL-700 LD / DVD Player
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