CREDITS GONE WITH THE WIND, 1939 dir: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood Vivien Leigh Clark Gable Leslie Howard Olivia De Havilland Thomas Mitchell

“Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind...”

Although people still arrive in Atlanta expecting to visit Scarlett’s estate, not a single scene was shot in Georgia.

Virtually all the movie was filmed at what was then the Selznick International Studios. This studio, built by DW Griffith’s contemporary and early innovator Tom Ince in 1916, passed into various hands over the years. In 1924 it was Pathe Studios, in 1925 the DeMille Studios (King of Kings was made here in 1927), in 1931 RKO-Pathe(when King Kong was filmed here). Later, in 1957, it became Desilu-Culver (under the ownership of Desi Arnaz Jr and Lucille Ball) and later still just Culver Studios. Most of Steven Spielberg's E.T. was filmed here.

You'll probably recognise it as the mansion seen before the titles of classic David O Selznick productions. It's at 9336 Washington Boulevard between Ince and Van Buren, Culver City. The white, classical Washington Boulevard frontage of the studio was used, with a little matte painting, for the entrance to 'Twelve Oaks'.

One of the earliest shots in the can was the burning of Atlanta, so early, in fact, that Scarlett O’Hara hadn’t yet been cast – legend has it. Vivien Leigh supposedly arrived during filming and instantly secured the part. Well it makes a good story, and this is Hollywood, so why not print the legend?

What went up in flames in the scene was the old Selznick backlot, in a massive space-clearing operation. You can plainly see the giant gates of King Kong’s ‘Skull Island’ – bizarrely out of place in Atlanta – during the conflagration.

The few locations include the barbecue at Twelve Oaks, which used the long-gone Busch Gardens in Pasadena, an estate built by the Busch brewing family. Remnants of the landscaping can still be seen in gardens of the houses around Arroyo Boulevard between Bellefontaine Street and Madeline Drive (the gardens also stood in for the grounds of ‘Xanadu’ in Citizen Kane).

When Scarlett vows never to go hungry again, it’s an early morning sunrise at Lasky Mesa, Calabasas, northwest of LA in the Simi Valley. Loads of movies were shot here, including the 1936 The Charge of the Light Brigade. The area, between Agoura and Woodland Hills, is now known as the Ahmanson Ranch, and is currently scheduled to be redeveloped. Gerald O’Hara’s last ride was also filmed at Calabasas.

The attack in Shantytown is at Big Bear Lake at San Bernardino, east of LA. Gerald’s walk with Scarlett was filmed on the Reuss Ranch, Malibu Lake.

The cotton fields of Tara, and O’Hara’s first horse ride, are around Chico, way up in northern California, some 80 miles north of Sacramento. Filming took place around Bidwell Park, Pentz Road, and Paradise Apple Orchard.

Various estates lay claim to be the inspiration for Tara. The staircase was supposedly based on an original at Cretien Point Plantation, about four miles from Sunset, between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while the avenue of oaks is based on one at Boone Hall Plantation, seven miles north of Charleston, near US17, South Carolina.