Wind that blew in change
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
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Today marks the 67th year of the release of the first ever colour film, Gone With the Wind. While everyone agrees it is a classic, how well does it hold up in today's frenetic age?
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ETERNAL LOVE Clark Gable was an instant choice for Rhett Butler while Vivien Leigh was cast after a nationwide search
There are movies and there are movies and then there is Gone With the Wind. When the film, produced by David O. Selznick premiered on December 15, 1939, cinema history was rewritten. The film, the first ever colour movie, was a sensation at the box office, went on to win ten Academy Awards and has been ranked fourth in the top 100 American films by the American Film Institute.
The film, a tumultuous love story, set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, was a worldwide phenomenon with people from Bristol to Brisbane caught up with the lives of Scarlett, Rhett, Melanie and Ashley. The same was the case in India as well. In Bangalore, the film was released in 1941 in Plaza and was a huge success.
Just like in the West where there were theatrical re-releases in 1947, 1954, 1961, 1967, 1971, 1989 and 1998, there were re-releases here too that did extremely well. However, one wonders if the film would be current with the now generation.
"The film might not appeal to the present generation," says Sanjay Gadhvi, director of the bikes and babes Dhoom movies. "I have watched it on the big screen when I was in school and I loved it. I feel we need to do something like that - a period film, which is not a historical. You know catch a period of history and set a story to it. Utsav, Kamasutra and Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi are successful examples of this."
About whether Gone with the Wind would work today, Gadhvi comments: "The present generation might find the values old fashioned. The re-release of Mughal-E-Azam worked because of the publicity, the marketing, and there was the whole thing of converting the film into colour. The film is a classic, Dilip Kumar is an icon and above everything else, it is an Indian film. Rather than watch a re-release of Gone with the Wind, youngsters would either watch a Pirates of the Caribbean or Dhoom, which is anyway halfway to Hollywood!"
"It will not be successful," concurs Premchand of Paramount Pictures. "The length and subject will not interest the younger generation. Even the stars (Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh!) are hardly known now. To make it a viable proposition, studios will have to spend a lot on marketing and promotion. It makes more sense to pour money into promoting Casino Royale than Gone With the Wind. I have been pressing for the screening of classics like Lawrence of Arabia at least for a couple of shows in the multiplexes but I don't think it is a viable proposition for them."
"I don't think it will work," says an official from the multiplex chain, PVR Cinemas. "Business is driven by youngsters in the 18 to 30 age group. And they are not interested in these classics. One of the reasons why the new Don worked is because the new generation has not seen the earlier film and they liked the twists and turns in the new version. Those who saw the earlier film did not like this one because they compared Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan and found it wanting. The whole thing has to make business sense. I am a film buff but in the final count a film should be a winning proposition otherwise we would not screen it. Those who have a fondness for classics could always rent the DVD and watch it."
Santhosh, a cinematographer, who has assisted Mani Ratnam in Guru, and owns the high-end DVD library Cinema Paradiso however, begs to differ. "The re-mastered four-disc special edition is quite popular and one of our top 25 titles. But to say the film will not do well on re-release is to underestimate the audience. When I was in Los Angeles, there was a 30-day festival of Oscar winners organised by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Every single show was sold out. There are so many movies that we have seen only on DVD and the chance to watch these classics on the big screen is not to be missed. I got to watch Apocalypse Now, Citizen Kane and Goodfellas on the big screen."
To watch Gone With the Wind on the big screen with Max Steiner's luscious score and cinematographer Ray Rennahan light up the luminescent Vivien Leigh and the rakish Clark Gable would be like scaling Olympian heights of cinema viewing. One cannot be Rhett Butler and say: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Rather we should be Scarlett O' Hara with "Tomorrow is another day" and hope cinemas and help us lose ourselves in the magic of the movies.
Fun facts
Many actors were screen tested for Scarlett's role including Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
Clark Gable was the favourite for Rhett Butler and Selznick borrowed him from Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Gary Cooper was offered the role but he turned it down and is supposed to have said: "Gone With The Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
The film is 222 minutes long.
Gable did not want to cry on film and almost quit before Olivia De Havilland convinced him to stay.
The Governor of Georgia declared December 15, the day of the premiere, which was the climax of three days of festivities hosted by the Mayor, a state holiday.
Hattie McDaniel, the first black actors to be nominated and win an Academy Award, for her role as Mammy, could not attend the premiere as she would have to sit in the coloured section - Georgia was segregated then. To spare Selznick the embarrassment, she did not attend the premiere.
For the costume ball, promoters recruited blacks to dress as slaves and sing in a choir. Many black leaders refused to participate but prominent Atlanta preacher Martin Luther King Sr participated and he brought his 10-year-old son, Martin Luther King Jr. along.
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