Page 14 - CinemaRecord #83

The film opened at the Rivoli
Camberwell in November 1944 in some
strange company. A week later it was at
the Plaza Oakleigh. The insignificant
Plaza Ormond (990 seats) also took it
up, where it enjoyed a two-week season.
Limited suburban releases continued
throughout 1945.
GWTW was back in the St James in
September 1946 for another five weeks.
By 1947 the independent exhibitors must
have been appeased, because the film did
the suburban rounds. It helped too that
Vivien Leigh and Lawrence Olivier were
in Australia touring for the Old Vic
Company.

In June 1950 GWTW enjoyed a
simultaneous city re-release at the Metro
Collins St and the St James. It was
during this season that Metro ads
announced that, on Tuesday 20 June, one
lucky person would buy the one
millionth ticket sold in Victoria, and win
an autographed photo of Clark Gable as
Rhett Butler. The grand entrance to the St James Theatre

And Later
greatest film ever made”. By now, the simple MGM called it MetroScope, and the critics
All through the 1950s, GWTW was an MGM poster of the 1940s had been replaced by Gable called it a mutilation, but the public didn’t
staple, re-presented either at the Metro devouring Vivien Leigh. mind, and it did the rounds in this form.
Bourke Street (the re-badged St James), the
Metro Collins Street or Metro Malvern. In a season at the Metro Collins Street in MGM scored again when Vivien Leigh
Always reliable, it filled a void if a new feature 1955, GWTW was given the widescreen returned to Australia in 1961 for a second stage
failed to reach expectations. For a season at the treatment and stereophonic sound. The image tour. A gala premiere at the Metro Bourke
Palais Pictures in May 1951, it was still “the was cropped to fit widescreen.* Street coincided with Miss Leigh’s stage
performances at Her
Majesty’s. Maurice Scott,
then Manager of the Metro
Collins Street recalls,
“When the curtain came
down following the
screening, Sir Bernard
Freeman, Managing
Director of MGM in
Australia, walked on stage
and said, ‘Ladies and
Gentlemen, I hope you
enjoyed the show, I have a
delightful surprise for you
... here is Scarlett O’Hara’,
whereupon Vivien Leigh
stepped out from the wings
and laid the audience in the
aisles. A marvellous night”.
After MGM folded in
Australia, and the Metro
theatres had passed into
other hands, the film was
still easy to place in city
theatres. It has played in one
form or another – including
a 70 mm version in 1967**
– at the Forum / Rapallo,
the Capitol, the Chelsea (ex
Majestic), the Palladium /
East End and it was
brought back to the Regent
to celebrate its 60 th
Vivien Leigh leaves the Metro Bourke Street after partying there until 1.30am. She is accompanied by Robert Helpmann Anniversary.
(left), Mrs Fifi Buchanan, organising secretary of the premiere, Maurice Scott (back, right) and Tom Percy, Manager of the
Metro Bourke Street. Image: Maurice Scott

14 CINEMARECORD # 83