GONE WITH THE WIND Ultimate Collector's Edition on DVD & Blu-ray (now available) -- Update: Blu-ray Review by John J. Puccio

—> See Link to our Blu-ray Review (below)

Winner of 10 Academy Awards
For the thousands who remember its unparalleled drama, action and romance! For the new thousands to whom the wonders will be revealed for the first time! Breathtaking spectacle, inspired acting by the greatest cast ever assembled! The screen's most exciting love story! The most-talked about picture ever made!

"A towering landmark of a film."
—Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun Times)

GONE WITH THE WIND
Ultimate Collector's Edition
— on DVD and Blu-ray

New editions now available - released November 17:
2-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-ray ($84.99)
5-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD ($69.92)
2-Disc Special Edition DVD ($24.98)

Also available separately on DVD:
GONE WITH THE WIND: The Making of a Legend ($14.97) — Note: this outstanding documentary is included in both of the UCE's (above) as a bonus feature.

Burbank, CA — Winner of 10 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, and still history's all time domestic box-office champion($1.5 billion), Gone with the Wind has long been considered the most celebrated motion picture of all time. On November 17, Warner Home Video honored the romantic epic with a stunningly restored and remastered version, available for the first time on Blu-ray™. Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collectors Edition is sure to be a "must-have" for collectors of classic films, available both in Blu-ray as well as on DVD.

The highlight of this new Blu-ray version of Gone with the Wind is how it looks and sounds. As they've done with The Wizard of Oz, Warner Home Video continues to maximize what the Blu-ray format can do in terms of picture and sound. With six times higher resolution than standard DVD along with the sonic excellence of Dolby TrueHD, the film is now presented at its absolute pristine best.

"You see, hear and experience so much more with this Blu-ray edition," said Jeff Baker, WHV Executive Vice President and General Manager (Theatrical Catalog). Viewing Gone with the Wind again on Blu-ray is like seeing it for the first time. You're brought into the saga of the war torn Tara so intensely, you feel as if all the characters literally come alive. At times, I felt as if I was on the set standing next to the camera watching Gable and Leigh as the whole scene unfolded."

Brand new to these editions is a bonus disc with three new outstanding documentaries:

* 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year is a fascinating tribute to a year considered to be one of Hollywood's greatest. This documentary, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, had its on-air premiere in July as part of TCM's month-long festival saluting that year's 'bumper-crop' of films.

* Gone with the Wind: The Legend Lives On is an exploration of the legacy of this most beloved film through illuminating interviews, footage and visits to historical sites, events and museums.

* Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara Wars — a 1980 WBTV Special, never before seen on home video.

This historic 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition, limited and numbered, is further enhanced with unique nostalgic premiums — a 40-page hardcover book with photos, production notes and more; a reproduction of the 1939 original program, eight 5"x7" frameable art prints, and a CD soundtrack sampler!

The USA's #1 movie of all time with more than 8 hours of enhanced content (two of which are brand new), includes new documentaries and nostalgic collectibles in limited, numbered velvet keepsake box.

The UCEs is available in Blu-ray for $84.99 and DVD for $69.92 SRP. A Two-Disc DVD Special Edition is also offered with the film and commentary for $24.98 SRP. Also, the brilliant documentary The Making of a Legend is available as a stand alone DVD for $14.97 SRP.

About the Movie
Gone with the Wind is the grandest, most ambitious and spectacular piece of filmmaking in cinematic history. With more than 50 speaking roles and 2400 extras, the film is the quintessential Hollywood epic — considered a "must have" for collectors, and one that can be watched again and again for generations to come.

Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland star in Gone with the Wind, which for more than a half century has thrilled audiences with its eternal love affair, set in the South against the backdrop of the Civil War, between handsome Rhett Butler (Gable) and his sassy, headstrong heroine Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh). With each new generation, Gone with the Wind continues to grow in popularity as new audiences discover and embrace the David O. Selznick production of Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Two-Disc DVD Special Features:
Disc 1 The Movie, Part 1
* Remastered feature with Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
* Commentary by historian Rudy Behlmer

Disc 2 The Movie, Part 2
* Remastered feature (continued)
* Commentary by historian Rudy Behlmer
* Offer for a numbered Limited Edition copy of the Original 1939 Poster

DVD & Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Editions
Includes everything listed above in the Two-Disc SE, as well as the following:

Disc 3:
About The Movie:
* The Making of a Legend documentary (1989 TV Special narrated by Christopher Plummer)
* Restoring a Legend — Chronicles the film/video restoration process
* Dixie Hails Gone with the Wind — 1939 Premiere newsreel
* 1940 MGM historical short: "The Old South"
* Atlanta Civil War Centennial 1961 premiere newsreel
* International prologue
* Foreign language version sample scenes
* Theatrical Trailers

Disc 4:
About The Cast:
* Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland — exclusive 2004 documentary
* Cast profile — Gable: The King Remembered
* Cast profile — Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond
* The Supporting Players — Cameo portraits of an unforgettable ensemble:
— At Tara:
"The O'Hara Plantationin Georgia"
"Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O'Hara"
"Barbara O'Neill as Ellen, his wife"
— Their Daughters:
"Evelyn Keyes as Suellen"
"Ann Rutherford as Carree"
— The house servants:
"Hattie McDaniel as Mammy"
"Oscar Polk as Pork"
"Butterfly McQueen as Prissy"
— At Twelve Oaks:
"Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes"
"Rand Brooks as Charles Hamilton, her brother"
"Carroll Nye as Frank Kennedy, a guest"
— In Atlanta:
"Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat Hamilton"
"Eddie Anderson as Uncle Peter, her coachman"
"Harry Davenport as Dr. Meade"
"Jane Darwell as Mrs. Merriwether"
"Ona Munson as Belle Watling"
"Cammie King as Bonnie Blue Butler"

Disc 5:
New Bonus Disc:
* Warner Bros. Home Entertainment presents 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year — New documentary about Hollywood's watershed year narrated by Kenneth Branagh
* Gone with the Wind: The Legend Lives On — Exploring the legacy of the most beloved film through illuminating interviews, footage and visits to historical sites, events and museums
* Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara Wars 1980 WBTV Special (never before on home video)
* Trailers

(Note: The Blu-ray Hi-Def edition contains all disc content above combined onto 2 discs)

Also included are unique premiums housed in a beautiful velvet keepsake box, limited and numbered:

EXCLUSIVE to both the DVD and Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition:
* 20-page reproduction of the original and complete 1939 Souvenir Program
* 40-page Production History book with photos and production notes
* Eight Frameable 5"x7" Art Prints
* CD soundtrack sampler featuring eight tracks:
"Main Title"
"Tara"
"The Barbecue"
"Escape From Atlanta"
"I'll Never Be Hungry Again!"
"Paddock Scene" 5:27
"Scarlett In The Mist/Rhett Leaves"
"Flashback/Finale"

EXCLUSIVE to just the Blu-ray Ultimate Collection Edition:
* MGM: When The Lion Roars Documentary

GONE WITH THE WIND — Explore further:
—> Blu-ray Review by John J. Puccio »
EXCERPT: Despite Warner Bros. having restored and remastered this MGM classic just a few years earlier, for the 70th Anniversary Edition the studio went back and rescanned the entire movie at an even higher resolution, remastering it for DVD and the Blu-ray edition reviewed here. Needless to say, it looks better than ever, which for a film that already looked awfully good is saying a lot. Plus, the folks at the studio have put it all together in a package that is positively mouthwatering. Hard to pass by, unless you're a die-hard resister of the film.

"Gone with the Wind," David O. Selznick's 1939 production of Margaret Mitchell's epic story of the Civil War and the Old South, is probably the granddaddy of all blockbusters. "Birth of a Nation" may have preceded it as the first true superspectacular, and "Titanic" may have come after it as the biggest moneymaking film of all time, but I predict that fifty years from now, when most people have forgotten "Nation" and the waters of time have settled down around the big sinking boat, "Gone with the Wind" will still be most people's idea of THE big-scale movie. Understand, I'm not suggesting it's the best film ever made, or even my favorite film, but I have to rank it among the most deservedly popular films ever created. After all, it does continue to hold the record for being the best-attended movie of all time.

Besides, for good or for bad it's probably the film more people have talked about over the years than any other. The American Film Institute voted it the fourth best American movie ever made. "Entertainment Weekly" placed it eighth on their list of "The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time." "Variety" called it "One of the truly great films." Roger Ebert claims "it is still a great film, above all because it tells a great story." The "Daily Mirror" said it was "still pure gold." And Leonard Maltin asserted, "If not the greatest movie ever made, certainly one of the greatest examples of storytelling on film, maintaining interest for nearly four hours." On the other hand, critic Franz Hoellering wrote in "The Nation" that the film was "a major event in the history of the industry but only a minor event in motion picture art." The London "Sunday Times" drama critic James Agate said "Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' seems to have got mixed up with one of the novels of Ethel M. Dell." And "Time Out" magazine called it "perhaps the key plantation movie."

I hardly need recount the story, based on novelist Mitchell's sprawling Civil War concoction, the on-again off-again love story of Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Suffice it to say that the movie is melodrama at its best, with enough romance and adventure to have satisfied audiences for over seventy years. But it was not an easy production, and it's a wonder it came off as coherently as it did considering the number of directors called upon to complete it, among them George Cukor, Sam Wood, and production designer William Cameron Menzies. However, the director most credited for the film's success is Victor Fleming, whose name appears in the credits. He and the others managed to fashion a piece of timeless storytelling, aided by a fine supporting cast headed up by Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Hattie McDaniel, and Butterfly McQueen. Together, they tell a story of huge proportions, one that spans many years and encompasses spectacles like the siege and burning of Atlanta that continue to impress today.

Why has it remained so popular? I suspect that in addition to the film's spectacle--the picnic at Twelve Oaks, the lavish balls, the great crane shot of War victims sprawled for miles, the burning of Atlanta, the ravishing matte paintings--it's all about the cast and the casting. Clark Gable's Rhett Butler is among the screen's most enduring heroes, right up there with Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine, Sean Connery's James Bond, Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones, and the AFI's Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

"You should be kissed often, and by someone who knows how."

It amazes me that the film continues to maintain my attention for nearly four hours, despite my having seen it a dozen times since childhood. Yes, I have to admit I always start to tire in the second half, but, thankfully, modern disc playback makes it easier than ever to come and go in the story. Has it dated at all? Not a bit. It's as fresh today as the night it premiered, thanks in part to its new restoration and remastering. The film won eight Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, Writing, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Film Editing. It was producer David O. Selznick's crowning achievement and a film that stands up as one of the screen's finest classics.

Certainly, I welcome the appearance of "Gone with the Wind" in all the splendor of its newly restored, remastered edition. The high-definition Blu-ray transfer of the film probably helps it look as good as it ever did in a first-run movie house. Warner Bros. have digitally restored and remastered the film, and it continues to be nothing short of astonishing for a movie of its age. This time out, the image is better than ever and transferred to a dual-layer BD50 in 1080p high-definition using a VC-1 codec. The color-aligned Technicolor is vivid and lifelike, now more than ever producing natural, realistic facial tones; rich, textured colors; and deep black contrasts, with delineation that at its worst is a little soft and at its best is near perfect.

OK, I sense that some of you out there still want to convince me that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet make better romantic leads than Gable and Leigh. Well...

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

(Click thru the Link above for the full review, including details about the numerous bonus features)

—> Visit the film's Official Film Website »

—> Visit the Margaret Mitchell house »
(Operated by the Atlanta History Center, the Margaret Mitchell House features guided tours of the apartment where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind, a GWTW movie exhibition, an exhibition showcasing the life and times of one of America's most famous authors, and the Margaret Mitchell gift shop.)

Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary release is supported with a national marketing campaign spanning TV, Online, Print, Promotions, and Publicity.

Both WHV and TCM are supporting partners in a 70th Anniversary celebratory weekend to take place in Marietta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta and home of the "Marietta Gone with the Wind" Museum, Scarlett on the Square. The weekend — November 13-14 — drew fans far and wide, and consisted of a gala re-premiere screening at the historic, newly refurbished Strand theatre, hosted by TCM's Robert Osborne and complete with red carpet, replica of the original theatre facade, vintage cars from the '30s, and more. In addition, there was "Belles and Beaus" costume ball and "Gone with the Wind" authors forum.

TCM is also supporting the release with Print, TV, and online.

Film Synopsis:
Winner of 10 Academy Awards
For the thousands who remember its unparalleled drama, action and romance! For the new thousands to whom the wonders will be revealed for the first time! Breathtaking spectacle, inspired acting by the greatest cast ever assembled! The screen's most exciting love story! The most-talked about picture ever made!

This sweeping Civil War-era romance won an impressive 10 Academy Awards® (including Best Picture), and its immortal characters Scarlett (Vivien Leigh), Rhett (Clark Gable), Ashley (Leslie Howard), Melanie (Olivia de Havilland), Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) and Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) populate an epic story of enduring appeal across generations.

David O. Selznick's production of Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize winning book GONE WITH THE WIND is "the pinnacle of Hollywood moviemaking," Leonard Maltin of Entertainment Tonight said. And in Maltin's view, "it looks better than it has in years and remains one of the greatest examples of storytelling on film." Judged by many to be the greatest movie of all time, Gone with the Wind now comes home in its best video edition ever!