Selznick's Vision: Gone with the Wind and Hollywood Filmmaking

Texas Film and Media Studies

by Alan David Vertrees, Thomas Schatz (Foreword)

Gone with the Wind, arguably the most popular movie ever made, has generated interest in every aspect of its production, from the national talent search to cast the perfect Scarlett O'Hara to the "burning of Atlanta" on the studio backlot, which inaugurated the filming. Yet one crucial aspect of its production has never been fully understood or appreciated - the vital shaping role played by executive producer David O. Selznick. In this book, film scholar Alan David Vertrees challenges the popular image of Selznick as a megalomaniacal meddler whose hiring and firing of directors and screenwriters created a patchwork film that somehow succeeded despite his interference. Drawing on ten years of research in the Selznick archives at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin and building his argument from an examination of the screenplay's successive drafts, dramatic continuity designs and "storyboard" sketches (many of which are reproduced here), and production correspondence and memoranda, Vertrees interprets the producer's actions as manipulation, not indecision, establishing Selznicks's "vision" as the guiding intelligence behind the film's success.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997