Because we still give a damn: Long considered among the greatest films ever made, Gone With the Wind starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland celebrates its 75th anniversary this month.
TCM will present screenings of Gone With the Wind on Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 in movie theaters across the nation. The film gets a new boxed set Blu-ray anniversary edition on Sept. 30.
Here are the details from Fathom Events, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and TCM:
Scarlett O’Hara won and then lost Rhett Butler, Atlanta burned and the antebellum South was shown in all its splendor and decimation in one of cinema’s most treasured and most successful films, “Gone With the Wind.” And now, as part of the festivities to mark the 10-time Oscar©-winning film’s 75th anniversary, Fathom Events is joining with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Turner Classic Movies to bring “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” back to its original home in select theatres nationwide and presented in its original aspect ratio so audiences can experience it as it was originally shown 75 years ago. The film will be exhibited on Sunday, September 28 and Wednesday, October 1 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time.
Tickets for “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. The event will be presented in more than 650 select movie theaters around the country. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
In addition to the classic film, which starred Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Olivia De Havilland as Melanie Hamilton and Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” will include a specially produced introduction by TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne.
“Gone With the Wind” was released in 1939 and won the best picture Oscar© for that year. It has been re-released nine times since, but “TCM Presents: Gone With the Wind” will offer audiences their first opportunity to see the masterpiece in its original 1:37 aspect ratio since its initial re-release in 1947. It will also be shown in that format when shown on TV and distributed on Blu-Ray format as part of the all-encompassing celebration of the classic’s 75th anniversary.
“Fathom Events is honored to be part of the multi-faceted commemoration of the 75th anniversary of ‘Gone With the Wind,’ and especially to give fans the chance to see it in the format and venue it was made for,” Fathom Events CEO John Rubey said. “There’s no better way to appreciate the grandeur or beauty of this film than in cinemas, with top-of-the-line projection and sound quality.”
“ ‘Gone With the Wind’ is one of the most celebrated and iconic films in the WB Library,” noted Jeff Baker, WBHE’s Executive VP and General Manager, Theatrical Catalog. “We are very selective about re-releasing classic films from our library, theatrically and this is certainly one that warrants the limited re-release. Deservedly, 75 years later, it remains the domestic box-office king at nearly $1.7 billion (adjusted for inflation).”
On September 30, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s “Gone with the Wind 75th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition” arrives on Blu-ray™ and Digital HD with UltraViolet. It will be fittingly presented in limited and numbered sets, with new premium packaging, new special features and new collectible memorabilia. For more information, please click here.
"We're thrilled to be teaming up with Fathom Events and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as we bring ‘Gone With the Wind’ back into the spotlight for its 75th anniversary," said Dennis Adamovich, senior vice president of digital, affiliate, lifestyle and enterprise commerce for TCM, TBS and TNT. "This is a great chance for fans to experience this monumental classic on the big screen."
As any fan of classic films or American literature surely knows, “Gone With the Wind” is the Epic Civil War drama about spoiled southern belle Scarlett O'Hara. Starting with her idyllic life on the plantation Tara, it traces her unrequited love for Ashley Wilkes, her tempestuous relationship with roguish Rhett Butler and her struggles as Atlanta burns, her family home is decimated and she vows to never go hungry again. As has been evident from the enduring devotion that fans have for the story – on film, on the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s original novel, on TV and home entertainment formats – frankly, they DO give a damn about Scarlett’s triumphs, travails and ultimate will to survive.
RHETT BUTLER WAS REAL: When I announced my discovery that Rhett Butler was real, it made international news, but that was in 1989 well before the Internet had taken off. Margaret Mitchell was a star reporter, not a novelist. Almost everything in GWTW was based on actual people and events. Rhett was based on George Trenholm, a tall, handsome, shipping magnate from Charleston, who was noted for his money, intellect and bravery. His fleet of steamers earned today's equivalent of billions of dollars running everything from weapons to fine wines through the blockade. http://shipwrecks.com/discovery_of_the_real_rhett_butler
Posted by: Dr. E. Lee Spence | September 28, 2014 at 12:00 PM