In recent years, with the advances we have made in how we address social and cultural problems such as racism, slavery, and misogyny, it becomes increasingly complex to keep Gone with the Wind on Hollywood’s list of favorites. On the other hand, in its 85th anniversary completed in 2024, the production is still one of the most significant in Hollywood, the biggest success of what is still considered the golden year of cinema. A work, despite its problems, is still relevant.

I confess to having problems dealing with my passion for Gone With the Wind, a film that impacted me as a girl because I heard so many legends about it, the film in which I discovered the beauty and talent of Vivien Leigh and many other “typical” subjects of construction. I’ve visited Margaret Mitchell‘s home in Atlanta and interviewed historians about the film and the various scripts leading up to the final version. It is still one of the most profitable, award-winning, and important films of all time. In the year of your 85th birthday, let’s remember some numbers?

It took 9 years for the book to be ready.

It was the first and only book by Margaret Mitchell, who received an astronomical sum for the 1930s of five thousand dollars in advance in 1936.

It was the best-selling book in America in 1937 and 1938.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.

Gone with the Wind has been translated into 27 languages and published in 37 countries.

The first printing sold an impressive volume of 10 thousand copies. The number has already exceeded 30 million copies currently.

The book has 1,037 pages.

Producer David O. Selznick paid $50,000 for the film rights.

Scarlett’s waist was famously 17 inches (of course, with the help of corsets).

The box office estimate – adjusted – was 1.6 billion dollars in tickets sold in the USA alone and more than 3 billion dollars worldwide. Therefore one of the biggest box office films of all time.

Production was around 3.9 million dollars which was one of the highest ever in 1939. Today it would be around 350 million dollars. And that doesn’t include marketing costs.

The film’s running time is 3h58 (that is, 4h!) and is the longest of all time.

The Margaret Mitchell House, with memorabilia from the film, receives around 33,000 visitors a year.

When NBC broadcast the film on TV for the first time in 1976 (splitting it into two days due to its 4-hour duration), it still broke a record 47% audience rating.

Winner of eight Oscars in 1939, including Best Film, Director, Actress, and Supporting Actress, among others.

It was nominated for an unprecedented 13 Oscars in 1939, including a double nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Hattie McDaniel was the first black actress to win an Oscar for Actress with Gone With Wind.

And it is, even today, one of the most cited, praised, and studied Hollywood films of all time. Something that not even time changes or the wind takes away. Incredible, right?

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