8 November 2026

Review: Gone With the Wind 4K UHD

Based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone with the Wind (1939) is one of those films that almost everyone has heard of, even if they’ve never actually sat through its nearly four-hour running time.

Before I go any further, I want to acknowledge the film’s ‘romanticised’ portrayal of slavery and the American South. I’m not Black, I’m not American, and I don’t feel it’s my place to speak on behalf of Black people about slavery or that period of history. It, of course, deserves proper discussion, but I am not going to do it, for that is a whole book of writing with multiple views.

For this review I’m going to concentrate on something I’ve always found truly fascinating: Vivien Leigh’s performance as heroine/villan Scarlett O’Hara.

Even now, I can’t quite believe the character of Scarlett O’Hara was allowed onscreen 90 years ago. Is she an evil bitch? Is she a woman for the ages? She appears throughout to be a self-serving, selfish, vain, manipulative, spoilt horror, all wrapped up as a porcelain doll (Vivian Leigh’s beauty is truly breathtaking in this film). Scarlett ‘fiddle de dees’ herself from one disastrous marriage to the next, all for power and money, yet she’s brave, resourceful, fiercely determined and, above all, a survivor.

And I LOVE that about her. She is a beautiful pain in the arse. And although she hasn’t killed any aliens, the character of Scarlett sits alongside Ripley for her fearlessness.

What makes Scarlett so interesting is that she isn’t your typical Hollywood heroine, especially for a film made in 1939. She’s not interested in being good, or kind, or doing what people expect of her. She wants what she wants, and she’ll do just about anything to get it.

Vivien Leigh is quite extraordinary in the role. She can go from fluttering her eyelashes and looking utterly innocent to being a scheming little madam in the space of a few seconds. And somehow, despite Scarlett’s many faults, you can’t help rooting for her, you can’t help… as a woman, understanding her.

As the film progresses, we see Scarlett change from a silly, spoilt young girl into a woman who ravaged by the civil war, who will do whatever it takes to survive. Her determination never to be hungry again is one of the most powerful moments in the film, and Leigh makes you believe every word. In fact, it’s hard to separate Vivian from Scarlett. She’s a ninny who pines after wet weak Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard, who was far too old to play this part), a man who, quite frankly (my dear), I find about as exciting as a damp dishcloth, when she has Clark Gable as rogue Rhett Butler salivating over her.

Gable is the prefect Rhett, he spends much of the film being utterly handsome and charming and seeing straight through Scarlett’s nonsense. He loves her, he WANTS her, and he lets her know it. Yes, it’s pretty steamy this film, another thing you probably don’t know.

I do think one of the most interesting things about Scarlett is that she’s allowed to be unlikeable, which seems pretty unbelievable for the time it was made. She’s not perfect, she’s not always sympathetic, and she makes some terrible decisions. She is a wonderfully complex female character, neither good nor evil, and Leigh gives her a depth that could so easily have been lost beneath all those enormous dresses.

And speaking of dresses…

Visually, Gone with the Wind is magnificent. The costumes, the sets, the glorious Technicolour, those extraordinary painted skies.
Warner Bros.’ new 4K UHD restoration really lets the film’s colours and detail shine. The costumes are particularly wonderful to look at, and the production’s scale is still impressive all these years later. The millions of extras…. Then if you’re a film buff, you might know some of the film’s backstory: the arguing, the money and the hunt for Scarlett O’Hara and how it was a chance encounter that led to Vivien Leigh getting the part.

For me, though, it’s Vivien Leigh who makes Gone with the Wind worth watching. Considering this was filmed in 1939, a year before WW2 started, having a female character like Scarlett is to me still quite shocking. She is infuriating, funny, cruel, passionate and determined, and would probably make the best friend ever, as long as you didn’t mind her sleeping with your husband. She isn’t a woman I’d necessarily want as a friend, but she’s certainly a woman I’d want to watch on screen.

And nearly 90 years later, that’s quite something.

This new Warner Bros. 4K UHD release is an essential purchase for any cinema fan.

Gone with the Wind 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc contain the following new special features:

●Gone with the Wind: The Influence that Endures(NEW)

Film critics and scholars discuss the continued cinematic influence of GONE WITH THE WIND and the film’s enduring place within popular culture.

●Gone with the Wind: Restoring and Preserving an Epic(NEW)

Get a glimpse inside the detailed processes used to restore the vibrant colors, picture quality, and audio fidelity of a classic with the artists who handled the restoration work.