Gone With The Wind title variation.

[Frank Angel]

Digging back in the ole memory cells, I seem to recall that there were two versions of the GWTW opening title sequence, with one were the title text is seen as just the full text, no animation; the other version has the letters of the title animated to move from the right of the screen across to the left (the more common one) left with what I can only assume, is meant to look like "wind" streaming off the letters (always thought that was pretty silly). Can anyone recall what was the origin of those two different openings? Were they both part of the original 1939 release for some reason, or are they from different releases (one of the umpteenth times this title was rereleased) at different times? Perhaps the animation version was generated for that abominable 70mm "wide screen" release. I did run it in both 35mm and 16mm and I am thinking it was the 16,, print that had the non-animated title card, although I can't be sure of that.

[Mark Ogden]

Gone With The Wind was reframed several times for re-release; from Academy to Widescreen in the 1950s, and to 2.20 70mm at some point in the late 1960s. Viewed in Academy, the original 1939 scrolling title tales up a lot of the frame, and I imagine that it would have looked overwhelming in a cropped image. I'm not sure if the static card was cut in for the Widescreen release, but I know the 70mm prints had it.

[Jim Cassedy]

Every version of GWTW I've ever seen or shown had the sideways-scrolling title
text at the beginning, but that doesn't rule out that there may have been another
version. U-Tube has several versions of the opening credits of GWTW, which
mostly differ in cropping, but all have the sideways scroll main title. I vaguely
remember when GWTW was first shown on TV in the late 70's, I couldn't tell
how the title looked. (There's a lot of stuff I don't remember from the 1970's!)

[Frank Angel]

Found this on the all-knowing internet:

The static "Gone With the Wind" title card (where the title is still in the frame) came first. The non-scrolling, right-to-left version was not a primary version of the title card.

The static title card was used for the original release of the film in 1939, according to Britannica and other film sources. The scrolling, right-to-left version, while a version of the title card, was a later adaptation or a version used for specific contexts, such as in later re-releases or on certain media like DVDs.

The static title card was the standard title card for the film's original theatrical release. The right-to-left non-scrolling version is a variation that emerged later, not an original title card.

So, according to this, the static title was what people saw in the initial release in 1939; the scrolling was in used in the MANY subsequent releases where MGM couldn't resist messing with that overly long soap opera. I guess when your publicity department can't stop saying it was the "greatest film ever made," they had to do stuff to justify that ridiculous claim.

I also ran a 16mm print in college and that was where I saw that static title card -- no animation crawl.

[Mark Ogden]

So, according to this, the static title was what people saw in the initial release in 1939; the scrolling was in used in the MANY subsequent releases where MGM couldn't resist messing with that overly long soap opera. I guess when your publicity department can't stop saying it was the "greatest film ever made," they had to do stuff to justify that ridiculous claim.

According to film researcher Aljean Harmetz, this is what audiences saw on the night of 9/10/1939 at the film's premiere at the Fox Riverside (as reported to her by the film's editor, Hal Kern):

Screenshot 2025-05-29 at 7.36.12 PM.png




Moved separately and majestically . . . This is from her book On The Road To Tara: The Making of Gone With The Wind. She further states that Selznick and Kern approached Pacific Title for an elaborate title sequence before the release, and it was they who conceived of the right to left sweep.

I dunno Frank. Maybe there was a workprint circulating that had the static card. The film was cut down from the premiere print for general release, maybe some prints had a static title. But the sweep title was defiantly there for the premiere.

[Rich Haddard]

Well FWIW, the running time mentioned in her book is inflated by an hour. Unless this was not the final edit (being a preview, not a premiere) the rest of her narrative may suffer from inaccuracies as well. That said, I always thought the right to left sweep was the original and the static came about because of cropping in later releases. I had an IB 16mm once but don't remember it's main title. It developed such bad VS that it wouldn't run due to shrinkage. It had been "treated". Sold it to a guy for $20 who planned to rehab it.

[Rich Haddard]

From Wikipedia, this would explain the preview length, but muddies the main title question:

"On September 9, 1939, Selznick, his wife, Irene, investor John "Jock" Whitney, and film editor Hal Kern drove out to Riverside, California to preview the film at the Fox Theatre. The film was still a rough cut at this stage, missing completed titles and needing special optical effects. It ran for four hours and twenty-five minutes; it was later cut to under four hours for its proper release.