The Good Earth
by Roy Rowland
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DVD details
Actor: Charley Grapewin, Luise Rainer, Paul Muni, Tilly Losch, Walter ConnollyDirector: Roy Rowland
Brand: RAINER,LUISE
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 138 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-31
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 66926
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- First came marriage, an arranged union of peasant farmer Wang Lung (Paul Muni) and kitchen slave O-Lan (Luise Rainer). Then, through poverty and wealth, family and betrayal, war and pestilence, came love.From Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth combines Wang and O-Lan's story with a sweeping saga of China in upheaval. Muni and Rainer had both won 1936 Academy Awards and Ra
DVD Reviews of The Good Earth
DVD Review: A Flawed Classic But Still A Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
When I was in my early teens I first read the novel by Pearl S. Buck. At around the same time I discovered the movie on TV and was captivated. Just earlier this year I re-read the book and found it to be better than I had remembered. So I decided to watch the movie once again and see what I thought of that as well.
I think one of the most difficult things to keep in mind when viewing a classic from another era is to remember the limitations of that era. I'm sure 70 years from now the movies we consider "classics" will pale in comparison to what movie viewers consider a great movie. And it seems "The Good Earth" suffers from this as well, unfortunately.
One item that does come through the screen is the cinematography. Even though the film has been shot in black and white and is what is described as "postage stamp" (a square rather than wide screen), to get caught up in the landscape is easy. It is not difficult to imagine the squalor of the farmhouse that Wang Lung lives in and to compare that to the opulance of the fine house where O-lan has been a slave. When the Lung family is forced to move to the big city to survive, the viewer can truly feel the press of human bodies and the squalid living conditions. The filming of the locust attacking the farmer's fields is amazing. (A bit of trivia here: there actually was an attack during filming for the movie, so what is seen on the screen is truly real!)
So, what could possibly detract? Unfortunately, the actors themselves. At least for me. Casting Paul Muni and Luise Ranier into the leading roles just doesn't work for me. However, it did when I first saw this movie, so go figure! Both are capable actors, so it isn't that. But both are so overwhelmingly Western that there is no possible way they can pass for Asian. And Luise Ranier's German/Austrian accent is nowhere near anything that remotely sounds like anything from the Asian continent. Perhaps that is why she says very little in the movie? Even more distracting is the actor playing the role of the grandfather, whose voice is immediately recognizable as the grandfather in "The Grapes Of Wrath," and also as Uncle Henry in the "Wizard of Oz." What is distractingly funny is that all the children of the Lung household look very, very Asian. Now, I do understand that Paul Muni and Luise Ranier were established actors at the time. I do recognize that Irving Thalberg did want to cast all Chinese people into the roles, but there were not enough actors for the roles. And I do realize that, due to the Sino-Japanese War, China had stated refusal to allow filming if Japanese actors were used. (If they could do a world-wide search for Scarlett, why not find Asian actors?) But I feel it really does create a barrier in this movie that is otherwise well thought out and painstakingly presented.
What would be ideal is if this movie could somehow be re-made, sensitively, more in line with the book (the book is more about Wang Lung, whereas the movie centers on O-lan), and include a cast that is representative of Chinese people - or at least Asian.
Still, I do think this movie is a classic and has appeal. This movie also has a number of "firsts:" the first time an actress received back to back Oscars for Best Actress and the first (and only) time Irving Thalberg's name appeared onscreen in any movie (he died before this movie was completed). But this classic does have some flaws.
Description of The Good Earth
A Chinese farmer and his wife overcome many obstacles as they tend to the land.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 31-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD
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