David Selznick And Since You Went Away :: essays research papers fc

David Selznick and Since You Went Away"I have a different imagination of producing thanother allegers. Some producers are money men,and others are just lieutenants. For me toproduce is to make a picture. As a producer,I can maintain an tower perspective thatI wouldnt have as a director. I considermyself first a creative producer, then a show globeand then a businessman. You need all three thingsto succeed in the business today."-David O. SelznickThe word picture Since You Went Away was released in 1944. This epic scud attempted torelate to the American earreach that was dealing with the state of war foreclosing andthe flux of soldiers coming home at the time. The Hollywood studios wereconstantly trying to do their part for the war buy making films about(predicate) the war ina fairy tale "Hollywood" style. Since You Went Away crossed these boundaries,and the movie audience at the time, positively responded for this reason. Theproducer and screenwriter of the fi lm knew America craved this portrayal.Critics of the film from this period, applauded its "realism", but in hindsightstudies of the film in the seventies and eighties were a little more critical ofthe film. David O. Selznick was the man behind the vision of this film andSelznick is best known for film classics like Gone With the Wind, (from whichthe formula of this movie draws heavily from) Rebecca, and King Kong. Thisfilm was a peculiar(a) project for Selznick at the time, and it was seen as hiscontribution to the war effort. The academy awards recognized Selznicks effortand nominated his film for best picture of 1944.David Selznick was known as a one of the great creative producers- along sideWalt Disney. A creative producer is usually "a powerful mogul who supervisesthe production of a film in such exacting detail that he was virtually itsartistic creator." (Eyman p. 121) In this period, Selznicks style wasremembered best by his epic length movies in which he pai d special attention todetail. His films catered to the female market but also had potential to crossover to the male segment. Selznick was "increasingly becoming aware of thecommercial value of his name." (Fenster p.36) He decided to repeat the formulathat worked well in Gone With the Wind and made a decision to purchase a warnovel/diary from Margaret Wilder. Since You Went Away spawned from Wildersnovel, after Selznick spent many hours on developing the screenplay and hiringthe right cast. The war film was a popular genre to produce during the war