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This book chapter gives a description of the major films from each year as well as a bit of the events happening during that year. It provides a background from which to view "Gone with the Wind." The competition for the year is given along with the history surrounding the year of its release.
War was on the horizon for Europe and America was feeling some of the effects. Many films were made that expressed some sort of patriotism. Most were films on what it was to be an American and Americanism.
The Army was using Hollywood in their making of training films. It was also the year of the New York World’s Fair. Hollywood was helping to make educational films with the creation of Teaching Film Custodians, by Will H. Hayes. The chapter lists stars of that year such as Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Bette Davis, and James Cagney.
Some of the films that year included “Stagecoach,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” and “Babes in Arms.” There is a description of each of the films and a few others. It gives a little bit of the plot and some background behind it. It also gives certain facts like the stars of the film, the running time, the director, the producer and the scriptwriter. “Gone with the Wind” was expected to flop due to many factors such as cost of production and the length of the film. However, it ended up being a very serious threat to other films that year. This chapter gives a glimpse of that.
This book looks at the movie from the perspective of David O. Selznick, the producer. It goes through every part of the filming process.
It starts with Selznick trying to decide whether or not he should do the movie. He was asked to do it by Kay Brown, a New York Editor. The book was amazingly popular but Selznick was reluctant to do the film.
He did decide to do it though and it ended up being a major success. He had many difficulties while producing it though. This book goes through and details the process of producing the film and it does it entirely from Selznick’s side. It relates it to events in his life and what was going on around him. It details all of the decisions he had to make while producing the film as well.
This book gives a look at the actual production of the film. It looks at the troubles surrounding it and at the people involved in it. It shows what Selznick wanted from the film and what he did with it. It displays the difficulties surrounding the film as well. Selznick was the major force behind everything within the film. He had his hand in every part of the film and made most of the major decisions concerning the future of the film and how it looked. It is necessary when looking at the film, to understand what went on to make it and the major influences of it. This book provides that information.