Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", which MGM did on June 3, 1938, from Sam Goldwyn for $75,000. Hits in 1939 included "The Wizard of Oz", "Boys Town" and "Gone with the Wind", starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. Although "Gone With the Wind" was produced by Selznick International Pictures, it was distributed by MGM as part of a deal for producer David O. Selznick, Mayer's son-in-law, to obtain the services of Gable as well as financial assistance to complete the film. While "The Wizard of Oz" was a critical hit, the film took 20
Gone with the Wind (film) the South during the era of segregation, in which white Southerners are portrayed as defending traditional values and the issue of slavery is largely ignored. The film has been described as a "regression" that promotes the myth of the black rapist and the honourable and defensive role of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction, and as a "social propaganda" film offering a "white supremacist" view of the past. From 1972 to 1996, the Atlanta Historical Society held a number of "Gone with the Wind" exhibits, among them a 1994 exhibit titled, "Disputed Territories: "Gone with the Wind" and Southern Myths".