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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Gone with the Wind (1939)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

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Released 6-Nov-2000

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama None
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1939
Running Time 223:40
RSDL / Flipper FLIPPER (103:45) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Victor Fleming
Studio
Distributor
Selznick Intrnationl
Warner Home Video
Starring Clark Gable
Vivien Leigh
Leslie Howard
Olivia De Havilland
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $36.95 Music Max Steiner


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
Italian
Spanish
German
Romanian
Bulgarian
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    It is a little difficult to know where to begin in a review of Gone With The Wind. Some films come with more than just their pure physical presence, and here, after all, is a film that has been described so many times as the greatest of all time. Winner of 10 Academy Awards, including best Film and Best Director, and nominated for 5 more, and this in a year which is generally reckoned as the greatest in Hollywood's history. It was therefore with more than a little anticipation that I reserved last Saturday night for a dedicated viewing session. The initial indications from the disc packaging were not great - a flipper disc with no extras. But it's the film that matters. So...

    The film opens with a 2:25 minute Overture and then launches immediately into the opening credits. I can tell you that the moment the famous name began scrolling across the screen accompanied by one of the great musical film scores of all time I felt truly excited. The next 4 hours or so slipped by as easily as if I was watching any other 90 minute film and the majesty of the story, the characters and the emotions carried me along until the final scene.

    It would seem to be more than a little silly to set out the plot of such a film here. For a start, it is not a simple story line and, given its length, I could be here forever. Moreover, it is a story that should be seen to be properly enjoyed. Suffice it to say that this is the film of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel (in fact the first novel!) of Margaret Mitchell written during the 1920s. The core strand of the story involves the love affairs of the beautiful southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh, selected after the single largest casting assignment in history) before, during and after the Civil War. Of course the climax to those affairs involves Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), a popular scoundrel with more genuine honour than he might care to generally admit. The entire cast is magnificent (I won't single any of them out here), and it is the characters, their complex personalities and their relationships that make the film what it is. This is ably borne by the remarkable plot which never wavers from its path. Perhaps it is all a big soap opera, but if so then it's in a league all of its very own.

    The film really gives us a huge amount to absorb. On one level, it's an image of the glory days of "the Old South" before the American Civil War, and the aftermath of that war. On another it's an analysis of human character, but seemingly without generalization or caricature. The more obvious themes are on the subjects of love - unconditional, selfish, jealous - honour, duty and avarice. But since these are real people their emotions are rarely pure; we are also presented with the real world complications of doubt, temptation and failure. There are even parallels between Scarlett's behaviour and that of Goethe's Faust, to the extent that she virtually sells her soul for the riches she craves.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    It is common to make various excuses for transfers of films that are more than 20 or so years old. For example, colours might not be fully saturated or may lack a degree of realism, contrast might be excessive, or scratches and other marks may add various distractions. Given the age of this film (over 60 years) and its reputation, I could easily have forgiven it a great deal.

    I don't want to wear out the word in this review but, simply put, the transfer is magnificent. Stunning. I literally pushed myself forward in my chair to get closer to the screen because, frankly, I didn't think the picture I was seeing was possible. If only films a tenth of the age of this always looked so good. I understand that the transfer was taken from the recently restored version of the film. We can be thankful that the effort that went into that work can now be preserved forever.

    The transfer essentially maintains the film's original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, being presented in Full Frame. Of course it is not 16x9 enhanced.

    If there is one aspect of the transfer that suggests the film is not modern, it's the occasional slight softness of the imagery, especially some of Scarlett's early scenes. The film never attains the razor sharp clarity of new films but I, for one, have no complaints on this score. I'm sure we are seeing everything exactly as it was created. Shadow detail is superb, again not quite as good as the best of recent films, but still very good and a great deal better than we have any right to expect. There was never any low level noise.

    The colours on show are absolutely superb and are probably the strongest suit of the transfer. This is nigh on a perfect replication of Technicolor films of that vintage, with bright and fully saturated colours. There is never any colour bleeding or other faults discernible. Facial tones radiate real warmth and beauty. External scenes, especially early on before the start of the war, are lush with marvellous contrast between greens and blues, and some of the sunset scenes are just magical. Costuming is a real high point and is almost on a par with the quality on display in My Fair Lady.

    During the entire 4 hours of the film I picked up only a single MPEG artefact, involving some posterization of a dark background at 14:28. There was no aliasing to be seen and no nasty edge enhancement - it simply wasn't necessary. A single, very stark case of a film artefact, comprising a persistent black vertical line through the entire picture lasted several seconds at 3:39, but it was quickly forgotten. I also noted several places where there was a certain "judder" in the picture (e.g. at 2:35), almost as if the odd frame had been omitted. I have no idea what the cause of this was or whether it was an original or modern fault. Otherwise the picture is just pristine.

    The disc is a flipper. However in this case it is almost a welcome re-creation the original cinematic experience, since the break comes at the end of the Intermission at 103:45 and you are therefore forced to get up out of your seat as you would have done 60 years ago. At this point, the sumptuous beauty of the Old South has been destroyed and the War has come to an end. There is a necessity for you to pause to consider what has occurred up to this critical turning point and prepare for the remainder of the film.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio track can't compete against modern films to the extent the picture can, but that is to be expected. There are two soundtracks, in English and Italian, and both are remastered to Dolby Digital 5.1. In spite of the information provided by the packaging there is no original mono soundtrack. I listened to the default English track. Even with the 5.1 channels the soundstage is not very wide, and dialogue is not noticeably placed anywhere other than the centre.

    Dialogue is clear, except for some of Prissy's lines that I find are delivered in an unnaturally squeaky voice and are at times a little indistinct. Audio sync is never a problem.

    I've already made some mention of the wonderful music. I would imagine writing a musical score for a 4 hour long film, especially this film, must have been like writing a small opera. The recording is obviously a reflection of the technology available at the time so we are never given hi-fi quality. I don't find this alters the enjoyment of the music in any way.

    The remastered surround channels were not aggressively used to place any action, but they did enough to create a certain sense of atmosphere and lifted the sound out of a simple 2 dimensional soundstage. At most this assisted in localizing some of the sounds of cannon-fire. The low frequency effects channel was very satisfying in adding some depth to the musical score and was obvious in cannon and other explosive sounds.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    This is the great disappointment of the disc. There is some evidence that the Region 1 disc had been intended to have a range of extras, but they must have been taken off the design board very early on. In the event we get nothing. There would be few films that could boast the volume of material that must exist for this one, and few that would have the numbers of adoring fans who would happily spend hours (or even days) lapping it all up. We must therefore enjoy what we have on offer and look forward to the day when a Very Special Edition is produced.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;     The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

Summary

    This may or may not be the greatest film of all time. That is a meaningless description (and frankly I don't give a damn). It is, however, one of the truly great films and the version presented here will bring tears to your eyes just looking at it. The strength of the story, the degree to which characters are revealed and the way in which they are played by the cast, the inspired direction and the superb production define what filmmaking is about. I'm sorry that the lack of extras prevents me from giving the disc a 5-star rating. However, here is my plea - if you have even a passing belief in yourself as a lover of film, see, and preferably buy, this disc. If a special edition ever comes out, you won't mind buying that as well.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Murray Glase (read my bio)
Wednesday, November 22, 2000
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba SD-K310, using S-Video output
DisplayPioneer SD-T43W1 (125cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-D906S
SpeakersRichter Wizard (front), Jamo SAT150 (rear), Yamaha YST-SW120 (subwoofer)

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