For the first part of the "Movieola" trio of TV movies, the story concentrated on the greatest casting search in movie history before or since. Margaret Mitchell lengthy novel "Gone With the Wind" was a huge best-seller from 1936 on, and it was obvious that movie rights would be highly desirable for the producer lucky enough to grab them. That ended up in the hands of David O. Selznick, married to MGM's head, Louis B. Mayer's daughter, giving reference to the crack "The Son-in-law Also Rises", a spoof of the Ernest Hemingway novel. from day one, Selznick was pressured by the public as to who would be cast in the lead roles, and even the supporting roles would be coveted by those not lucky enough to be cast as either Rhett or Scarlett.
Here, Selznick is perfectly cast with Tony Curtis, and Harold Gould, popular at the time as Rhoda's father on TV, was convincing as Mayer, even though he didn't really look like him. Bill Macy, aka Maude's husband, played David O.'s brother, agent Myron Selznick, while Jane Kean is a hoot as gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Character actor Edward winter was cast as Clark Gable, and I'm not surprised that they did not cast James Brolin as Clark, having appeared as him in the 1976 flop "Gable and Lombard". Winter emulates Gable without making it a parody, but other actors are not so lucky.
Successful in the female star roles are Sharon Gless, pre-"Cagney and Lacey", quite feisty as Carole Lombard, and stage actress Carrie Nye truly becoming Tallulah Bankhead, even if her screen time is really minimal. I wasn't impressed at all with Barrie Youngfellow as Joan Crawford, certainly no rival to the memories created by both Faye Dunaway and Jessica Lange in their completely different portrayals of the MGM superstar. In addition, Marianne Taylor seems to be giving a drag performance as Hepburn, and the less said about Gwen Humble as Paulette Goddard, the better. they assume that the audience will be amused by Cameo appearances by unknown actors playing formality now famous names, especially the sudden close up of someone apparently trying to be Lucille Ball. You can glimpse future stars Melody Thomas of "The Young and the Restless" and Annie Potts of "Designing Women" as others auditioning for the role of Scarlett.
The real trouble however, is the script. It is a recurring game of "drop that name", often getting details wrong. Tallulah Bankhead never worked at RKO, and a reference to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is way ahead of its time. The script is also padded out with references to other films made the same time, including "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Great Dictator". with all the research that was available of the making of the film and other things going on in Hollywood at the time, you'd think the writer would have been a bit more responsible. In spite of the many flaws, it is a curiosity for much of the casting and the historical elements, and certainly wisely chooses to make the entrance of Morgan Brittany, once again playing Vivien Leigh. The physical detail is fine, but unfortunately, when the wash is dried, it does not iron smoothly. It's too much stuff going on for a 90-minute movie, and the results overall end up being misguided and pretentious.
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