Early working titles for the film includedLucky StrikeandThe Northern Story.The film, inspired in part by the gruesome Donner Party story, was shot (over a period of 15 months from spring 1924-summer 1925) both on a Hollywood studio back lot and in Truckee, California/Nevada, and premiered in New York at the Strand Theatre in mid-August, 1925.During a brutal fist fight, Vince accidentally killed the man with a flurry of punches.The bartender knelt down o determine the condition of the downed man and alerted the other customers: ("Somebody call a doctor, this guy""s hurt bad").The driver swerves to avoid the apparition while applying his screeching brakes.His tires squeal as he pulls sharply off the road into a swirling cloud of dust and barely misses running her down.Producer David O.Selznick had acquired the film rights to Mitchell""s novel in July, 1936 for $50,000 - a record amount at the time to an unknown author for her first novel, causing some to label the film "Selznick""s Folly.