This is a fabulous movie.
So are so many of the Warner Brothers films of the 30s and 40s.
There was a Warner Brothers style, a vitality about their movies that even make their lesser
films entertaining like their B pictures.
I hope you enjoyed that today.
Naturally, I'm always interested to read any comments you care to make about the films
that I do present on Channel 10.
You know, some remarkable things are published and shown on the screen and come out to be
bought and so forth.
I have just come across what truly must be the most remarkable movie book published in
a long time, if not ever.
It is the most incredible thing.
It's a spectacle in itself.
And I'm going to tell you a little bit about this book immediately following this break.
I think the name David O. Selznick must mean something to every movie buff, everybody who
loves movies because David O. Selznick produced some of my favorite films and I'm sure some
of yours.
Rebecca, The Lord Fauntleroy, The Vengeance of Tom Sawyer, The Paradigm Case, Spellbound,
Farewell to Arms, Indiscretion of an American Wife.
So many great pictures and of course the greatest of them all, Gone with the Wind.
Well, it's just been published in Australia or being published right now, the most fabulous
book about David O. Selznick and his films.
It's packed with information, packed with all sorts of stories about how they made this,
how they made that.
Here is the cover of it.
And that is a spectacle in its own right.
I think you can tell from this here right now.
David O. Selznick's Hollywood is not just another movie book.
This one is one for connoisseurs, for movie lovers, it's for everybody.
Mind you, it's very expensive but it's one of those books I think that captures brilliantly
in its pictures and in its text the feeling of the film so that to look at the book is
a reminder and conjures up those feelings that you've had before of what the film is
really like.
Well, Gone with the Wind for example.
I want to show you, just want to show you how spectacular this book really is.
This is the book without its dust jacket by the way.
That's our first page there and I'm sure many of you must be familiar with the Selznick
Studio logo that began all of his pictures.
And they always knew when that came on the screen that what you're about to see was a
film of rather rare and remarkable quality.
But now we're going to take a full view of this book and you just watch as I open it
up and show you what the inside pages are really like.
That's how it opens up at that point and then it opens up again with the most remarkable
title I think that I've ever seen in any book.
Book about art or whatever.
Is that not tremendous?
With lettering just as in the style of Gone with the Wind and using that beautiful background
for the opening credit title of Gone with the Wind.
Is that not a remarkable piece of work?
Well, I've seen some pretty classy books in my time but I think this one really takes
the cake.
The sequence on Gone with the Wind is unbelievable with original sketches in colour for the film,
frames out of the film itself, costume designs, pictures of Tara as it was before it was demolished.
It is absolutely remarkable.
Now I'm going to show you a couple of other pages from David Selznick's Hollywood because
I think you'll find them interesting.
But as I'm sure you can gather from this, the colour is absolutely stunning.
Well now, let's find a couple of pages to show you how interesting the text, well not
the text is because we can't have the text being read aloud to you.
Now, there's a bit of publicity for the film Dinner at Eight which was one of Selznick's
greatest productions at MGM.
That's David O. Selznick standing up there under the word camera.
That's David O. Selznick himself.
Now you can see some of the cast.
There's Billy Burke and Jean Harlow, John Barrymore, Murray Dressler, several others
all on the set drinking Coca-Cola.
So it was a promotion tied in with Coca-Cola and Dinner at Eight.
That was around about 1932-33.
Most incredible picture.
Now, we'll close it up and I'll find another one for you because I think you might find
this poster absolutely beautiful.
This is a poster for the Selznick film Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Is that not beautiful?
That's Dolores Costello with Freddie Bartholomew there.
The colour work is absolutely amazing.
Some of the pages in this book would really dazzle you if I could show them to you now
but we haven't got that much time to do so.
Now I've got one more to show you before we close the book up for the time being because
it's the kind of thing you'd probably want to examine for yourself and I don't want to
spoil the surprises.
I said that in the case of say Gone with the Wind there were frames actually taken from
the film.
Now that means in many instances there are pictures in this book that have never been
printed before.
Well now just take a look at a double page spread on Duel in the Sun.
Now is that not something remarkable?
Capturing some of the excitement of that one of the greatest westerns of all time.
There's Jennifer Jones, Lillian Gish, Butterfly McQueen there who plays Vashti.
Shows you some of the process shots in the film and you'll catch a glimpse here also
of Gregory Peck in playing one of his few villains on the screen.
Quite a remarkable piece of work is it not?
A remarkable piece of work.
I think this truly must be one of the most spectacular books that's ever been published
on the movie business.
But as I say it captures so remarkably the feel of the film so that looking at the book
it gives one really the most incredible kick.
I wonder if we have time just for one more picture.
There's one that I'm sure you'd like to see and I'm just going to hand it to Jim to put
on a graphic stand because it's a picture of Tara.
You know a lot of people have wondered about Tara.
I heard a story once that's supposedly true that Tara was actually disassembled and put
in crates and taken to Atlanta.
Now I have no corroboration for that story but I was amazed when I saw this picture towards
the end of the book.
That is Tara as it looked some a few years ago.
Absolutely in ruins really but that is Tara.
I'm sorry perhaps I'm upsetting some people by showing them that because I know how dear
Gone with the Wind is to so many.
I would say that 90% of people that I meet, young, old, in between all regard Gone with
the Wind as their favourite film but I think that's an interesting shot of Tara itself.
Well now from David Ersosnik's Hollywood which is published by Secca and Warburg and it should
be available through the major book shops now.
It's very expensive but I thought I had to bring it to the attention of all movie buffs
because I knew you'd like it.
It's time to go.
I've got some exciting things to tell you very soon about a competition involving Ming
Wah Cruises which I know is going to arouse the interest of many, many viewers.
A tremendous tour early next year for the two winners of our competition and also we've
got coming up to some regular prizes involving vouchers for McDonald's.
There's a lot to look forward to I can tell you with our midday movies in the weeks to
come and I look forward to your company tomorrow for Limbo which I know you'll enjoy.
Have a good afternoon, happy Easter.