The famous ‘Burning of Atlanta’ scene in ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939) featured many horses – as did the film in general. Image GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive.
Many film historians regard Gone with the Wind as the greatest movie ever. After all, it won 10 Oscars and is preserved in the US National Film Registry. Others dismiss it as four hours of Southern sentimentality perpetuating painful stereotypes. The most appealing and natural aspect of the film are the horses.
‘GONE WITH THE WIND’ (1939)
Directed by Victor Fleming, starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel.
“The movie had the very best talents in Hollywood at that time working together to sentimentalise a history that never was,” as John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave, would say many years later.
Advertised as “a sweeping Civil War-era romantic drama”, it starred a bunch of posturing actors playing annoying white characters, such as Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara) and Clark Gable (Rhett Butler). Stirring sickly music is often heard accompanying footage of slaves happily picking cotton in the boiling sun.
The film poster for ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939). Image supplied.
“The most appealing
and natural aspect of
the film are the horses.”
TRIVIA: Hattie McDaniel became the first black actress to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award for her role as domestic servant Mammy. But even at the Oscars she faced discrimination, including being seated at a segregated table at the back of the room.
The most appealing and natural aspect of the film are the horses – they can be seen right at the start in long shots of fields and paddocks. And throughout the picture there are carriage and battle horses, working mules and pleasure ponies.
Early in the piece we’re introduced to Scarlett’s father, Gerald, played by Thomas Mitchell. The director wanted him for the role but had to agree to a special clause in the actor’s contract stating that he wouldn’t have to ride – he was terrified of horses. Mitchell first appears on the screen jumping a grey; the rider is actually a stuntman named Carey Harrison. The jumper is Silver Chief selected from the Hudkins Brothers movie horse stables. A stallion who’d appeared in a few westerns, he had a black spot in front of his left eye and some dots around the other one. Fleming did manage to get the actor to sit on him for some “stationary close-ups”.
Scarlett’s father, Gerald, played by Thomas Mitchell, atop Silver Chief. Image supplied.
In a fit of madness Mitchell’s character dies in a riding accident after witnessing someone trying to buy Tara, the family property, from his daughter.
Scarlett and husband Rhett lose their only child in a similar tragedy. Bonnie Blue Butler (Cammie King) has Admiral, a black Shetland she adores. In a sequence where she is seen to be riding in front of her parents, the pony refuses at a jump. Bonnie falls and dies.
All this was, of course, skilfully choreographed. The pony, real name Bobby, was trained by a Californian animal trainer, Mark Smith, who taught him to baulk and hurl the rider over his head. Smith cast his six-year-old son, Richard, to be the young actress’ stunt double. Dressed as Bonnie Blue he learned to ride sidesaddle, take a header into a breakaway jumping rail and rolling on impact.
Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) with his daughter’s Shetland pony. Image supplied.
Clark Gable did his own riding astride a Thoroughbred named Black Chief. The gelding was originally named Alexander Twigg and had been a show horse before being cast in Gone With The Wind. The actor was capable in the saddle and it was reported that prior to shooting a calm, quiet sequence Black Chief was fidgety and wasn’t going to stand still. Gable galloped around the location and gave it such a workout the Thoroughbred was happy to rest and was almost motionless during the scene’s filming. Later the horse worked on several other motion pictures as, of course, did Gable.
TRIVIA: Gable disliked participating in the film which he considered “a woman’s picture”. He had almost quit over the fact that the script called for Rhett to cry on film. After wrapping he made ‘Strange Cargo’ with Joan Crawford. It received a “Condemned” rating from the Catholic Legion of Decency, which probably made him happy.
Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, riding Black Chief. Image supplied.
“Clark Gable did his
own riding astride a TB
named Black Chief.”
Vivien Leigh had a stunt double, Hazel Warp, who did all Scarlett’s riding scenes, plus the fall down the stairs at Tara. Warp had been a rodeo rider, bred and trained horses and given lessons to the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper. She worked with horses on other pictures such as Ben Hur and National Velvet and lived to the grand age of 93.
Leslie Howard was a polo-playing English actor who was cast as Ashley Wilkes, “an honourable educated gentleman” who the irritating Scarlett wanted to marry. Wilkes’ horse was a good-looking Saddlebred named Anacacho Revel who he rides when he leaves to fight in the Civil War. Selected from a Californian stable, the gelding had been successful competing in three-gaited classes statewide and was chosen because he was a flashy chestnut with four white stockings, was well broken and dependable. He’d been trained by a Saddlebred expert, Robert Lewis, who some say did much of Wilkes’ riding. We’ll never know and, to paraphrase the film’s most famous line, “Frankly my dear, we don’t give a damn”.
Leslie Howard, a polo-playing English actor who was cast as Ashley Wilkes, and the Saddlebred Anacacho Revel. Image supplied.
Howard detested the film and resented his role, referring to Wilkes as “abominable”. “A dreadful milksop who was totally spineless and negative.” He told David O. Selznick, “I don’t think I can do much with him.” “Don’t do anything,” the producer had replied, “just be yourself.”
TRIVIA: Clark Gable almost quit early in production after discovering the set was segregated. He told the director that unless the “white” and “coloured” signs were removed, there would be no Rhett Butler. They were immediately taken down.
During the dramatic burning of Atlanta, a horsedrawn vehicle is galloped through the flames. No equine casualties occurred then nor at any other time during the making of the picture. Stuntman Yakima Canutt, who drove the vehicle, was always very mindful of safety.
Behind the scenes with Vivien Leigh (as Scarlett O’Hara), Thomas Mitchell (as her father, Gerald) and Silver Chief. Image supplied.
“No equine casualties
occurred then nor at
any other time.”
When Scarlett is escaping the fire she is in a cart pulled by Woebegone. The studio had bought the horse in poor condition to play the role but by the time the sequence was to be filmed the horse had put on weight due to the care of the handlers. The make-up department was called in to paint on some ribs so he still looked thin.
Vivien Leigh didn’t put on any weight during the production – possibly helped by the fact she smoked four packs of cigarettes every day! (She died of TB aged 53).
The film can be viewed on DVD/Blu Ray and on various streaming services.
Next time in ‘Horses and Movies’, Hammers Over the Anvil (1993) featuring thrilling scenes of a youthful Russell Crowe riding a horse with his kit off! EQ
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