Customer Reviews

Gone with the Wind [Blu-ray] [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(182)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

There are so few books, movies, and products that just really light a fire under my, well, you know where region. The movie COLD MOUNTAIN was one such thing. The novel THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD was another such item. And of course, the ubiquitous and compelling classic that we all know------GONE WITH THE WIND. The first time I've seen this movie, I was fourteen years old. At that age, not many teenagers would even bother watching a classic or even adore it. It is a beautiful love story and not only that, "Gone With The Wind" shows how the civil war affected the people of the South. How the grace and beauty of the south changed dramatically. And what's great, Scarlett is the star. A head-strong woman who made it through the war with very much emotional stars but survived and beat the odds. Scarlett is a take-charge woman and doesn't let anything or anyone stand in her way. Unfortunately with that personality you have few friends and your loved ones sometimes loses their patience. LOVE AND STRUGGLE is the basis of this movie. EXTREMELY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I believe Warner Brothers ought to be commended for the attention they put into the making of their collector's items. Like Ben-Hur and Casablanca, this box turned out to be absolutely phenomenal. If you are buying this item to add it to your collection, definitely go for it. The box itself, the artwork within as well as the bonus DVD are worth it. Just be careful with the corners of the box as they are fragile. And if you have bought Ben-Hur and/or Casablanca, and was satisfied with your purchases, you should know that this box is even better than those two.

Gone with the Wind creates many strong opinions, but I daresay many of them by people who haven't seen the film, or at least not in many years. It is sort of an amalgamation of both Margaret Mitchell's book and a reworking of DW Griffith's even more controversial silent blockbuster Birth of a Nation.

I had written this off as a silly commercialized Hollywood fairly tale but recently decided to give it another look. Basically, I think the claims of racism are far overblown, especially compared to other films of this era. It seems to me that Selznick and company went to great pains to stamp out the more overtly racist themes of Griffith's famous 1915 film. For instance, Scarlett's attempted rapists were all white; real black actors have menial but still important roles; those black actors are treated with dignity and respect; and finally the "n" word probably more frequent in southern parlance of the day was replaced with the more delicate term of "darky", and never used in a scornful fashion. And while establishment opinion in the North still clings to belief that the Civil War was a most noble and unselfish effort, the truth was something much less certain. Surely slaves in the prewar South were not all treated as gingerly as in this film; but just as certainly they were also brutally repressed in the North as well (just watch Gangs of New York for a history lesson on Northern feelings towards African Americans). All wars have a side people would rather forget, and this one was certainly no different. Also on the positive side, the film does a good job of capturing this broad historic period with smart scenes amidst well designed sets. It's really quite a grand production, in color no less, with a marvelous historical and cinematic scope.

On the less positive side, the heralded performances I think are a bit overrated. Clark Gable's presence helps considerably, but he is certainly not nearly as natural or comfortable as he was in It Happened One Night. And Mitchell's sappy, soap operaesque story frequently slips nearly into the preposterous, especially in latter scenes of the film when the historic takes a back seat to the dramatic. But maybe that's what gave the film its broad appeal, as it has a little of something for everyone. I think another factor may have really launched its success: released during the cold winter of 1939, its four-hour sitting time gave depression-weary Americans a warm night on the town for a cheap price that they could all afford.

Regarding the standard edition DVD, its very serviceable but the extras are appallingly poor for a film of this esteemed history. Also, Spanish subtitles would have been nice (only has English and French).

Love the movie, hated the special features. For a great movie and all you would think Warner Brothers could afford to throw in another disk, BUT NO! They had to be ignorant and make one bad package. But then again the DVD is only $14.95. But I would rather throw in $5 or $10 for some half good features.
I will finish my thoughts by saying this: Don't I don't like the movie because frankly I love it. It's the special features that ruin the disc. Still, my final review for the film is 5 stars and my final review for the features is 1 star. But altogether I give it 4 stars because we still buy movies for the film and not the features anyway.

This edition of the movie is very disappointing to me. I received it as a Christmas present and have I been aware of its poor contents, I would have never wanted it. I have nothing against the movie itself, because it is a classic film which I like very much. My dissatisfaction deals with this edition.

First of all, it shows on the box everything that it contains, but when you open it, the material is not the quality that you expected it to be. The eight limited edition lobby card prints are in strange colours including dark pink and blue and do not in any way resemble the naturally colourful prints of the lobby cards shown on the box itself. For example, a lobby card entitled ''Scarlett O'Hara enlists the aid of Hattie McDaniel as she prepares to meet Rhett Butler.'' On this card Hattie McDaniel has a dark pink turban on her head, and all the colors are off and most of all, this lobby card was not even supposed to be in this box at all, because it is not one of the eight shown on the box flyer. This applies to all the lobby cards in this set on which all colours are very weird, and the cards do not resemble in any way the ones shown on the box flyer. This false advertising, also applies to the DVD itself, because on the paper flyer displaying the contents, the DVD cover appears to be plastic not paper like it is in reality, once you open the box. There are also six b&w photos of which three are not as sharp as the other three. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they could have used original film negatives to reproduce the last three pictures, but why enhance the quality of the first three and not the rest?

The DVD, aside from the fact that you have to flip it over to see the rest of the movie, has no sticker on the CD, which would make it nicer if there was and it is somewhat difficult to tell which side is A and which B, because the letters that label the sides are small. Furthermore, the DVD comes in a paper cover, which means that you can this exact DVD separately, without any extra things, and is available in this paper edition in most stores. I admit that the lack of special features was surprising as well, the only thing included is a movie trailer, wow, why bother listing any special features then?

The movie poster is good, except, for those of us who were hoping to hang it on a wall. There is a problem, because it is folded, and there is no way of getting rid of those folding lines, even if you tried straightening it out. Finally, the only piece of this package that is relatively satisfactory is the senitype image from the movie.

In conclusion, if this edition cost less money and you received what is in this box, knowingly, meaning the lobby cards would appear on the cover of the box, in its weird colours, exactly what they look like once you open the box, there would be no need to complain, because you would get what you are shown and hopefully for the right amount of money too. Of course for the price that they want for it, if the contents were as they should be in proper colors and some additional changes were made, it would be a good buy. You can buy all those things for the same price separately and probably get a better selection of photos too, so this edition is not worth it. Trust me, wait until the studio re-releases this movie again in a better edition and one worthy of this classic film.

un film culte, mais avec des images à couper le souffle, un must !
depuis 1939 cette histoire a fait rêver des générations,
Amazone donne un excellent service, livraison rapide et les paquets sont toujours en parfait état lors de la réception.

This movie is great if you dont have time to read the book, but if you have the time definately pick up the novel and forget the movie. The acting is great and the story flows at a decent rate but i just find that they cut too much of the book out. the main thing would be her children, in the book she has 3 and in the movie she has only one. Scarlet is not a good person, she isnt ment to be, the way she treats Wade (her son) is what really brings her character to light and i just think it would have made a much better movie is he had been part of it.

It's an outstanding epic and true filmic classic. I have seen in twice on the large screen and many times on video. The story, characters and acting is beyond. No wonder it won so many Academy Awards. It's a treasure ad infinitum.

While not always a devoted fan, I could appreciate the film-making achievement and historical significance of Gone With the Wind. But now I have a whole new admiration for the classic epic given the astounding blu-ray picture quality. This 70th anniversary blu-ray package is highly recommended for fans and collectors, as it contains in the numbered red velvet box, reproductions of correspondence, art prints and the program, along with a commemorative hardcover picture book (52pg.), and soundtrack cd sampler (approx. 34 min.). The highlight of course is the 3 disc box set which contains a mammoth amount of programming, including the blu-ray feature (disc 1 - with commentary by Rudy Behlmer), the 6-hr MGM: When the Lion Roars documentary (disc 3 - dble sided dvd), and the related bonus features on disc 2 (which is a blu-ray for storage purposes only - the approx. 8 hrs. of extras have not been re-mastered to hi-def quality). Though some doc's and making-of's are on previous releases (i.e. Gable and Leigh bios, Havilland reminisces etc.), the "new" programming to this set include the Legend Lives On (featurette), The Scarlet O'Hara War (telefilm), and 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (a 1 hr. doc that I'd hoped would have spanned 3). This package is highly recommended for fans and film-buffs, and the film itself to those who think they've already seen it. (Reminder - the film is presented in its original frame size (ratio aspect), meaning there will be black bars on the sides of wide screens - and as a note, the audio is fine). Gone With the Wind is well worth experiencing on blu-ray.

GWTW is my absolute, all-time favorite movie. I've seen it so many times I've lost count (and many of those were at movie theaters.) I've wanted to own this DVD since the first day I got a DVD player. I absolutely refuse, however, to buy this stripped down edition. One of the most celebrated movies of all-time and there are no "special features" or "extras" on the DVD? Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way.