Daily Dialogue — December 16, 2018

“One hundred and fifty dollars… in gold.”

— Gone With the Wind (1939), screenplay by Sidney Howard, novel by Margaret Mitchell

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Profession of Love suggested by Mark Furney.

Trivia: The initial director, George Cukor, was fired over his problems with the screenplay and the constant alterations to it, which he received almost daily from producer David O. Selznick. When Victor Fleming came on board in February 1939, he also rejected the script and convinced Selznick that it had to be rewritten. Production was shut down for 17 days while the script was rewritten by Ben Hecht. Supposedly, Hecht was not allowed time to read Margaret Mitchell’s original novel; instead, Selznick and Fleming would often play out parts from the book, to which Hecht had to write dialogue. Hecht was reportedly commanded by Selznick to write almost continuously for days without breaks, with Selznick bringing him food. Hecht used Sidney Howard’s original script (which both he and Fleming felt was superb) as the basis for his rewrite, but only got to re-write the first half, which may be one of the reasons why many consider the first half of the movie to be superior to the second half. Ironically, Hecht did not receive official credit for his writing, with Howard listed as the movie’s only screenwriter.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Although Rhett Butler had previously indicated his interest in Scarlett O’Hara a k a Mrs. Charles Hamilton, his outrageous bid at a charity auction is a nifty cinematic way of professing his more amorous intent.