 |  | Classic , epic movie-making worthy of MGM. Yet I find it |  |
slightly offensive. It's not entirely fair to hold a movie made in 1937 to our standards, but MGM could have showed some courage had they employed Chinese actors for Chinese parts. It's the same type of subtle racism of the day when native Americans in movies were played by whites. It is disrespectful at least. That said the photgraphy is awesome. There's just something about a locust plague in black & white. An excellant but definite fictional Hollywood movie. The life of a peasant farmer Wang Lang. Paul Muni did as well as anyone could have. Nothing special there.
His marriage to slave O-Lan is the best argument for arranged marriage I ever seen. Luise Rainer was a bit underwhelming. Their life is followed from poverty, sucess, starvation, wealth, moral weakness (his) & plague with war thrown in. That revolution/civil war was very generic & not well defined. Probably because at the time of this movie Japan was at war with China. They were an ally, but Hollywood certainly didn't have a clue what was happening. Neither did anybody so no real political message was made within the film itself. It was from a great novel by Pearl Buck but great literature never stopped MGM from making changes. This movie was Irving Thalberg's crowning acheivement. It really is a movie to see on several different levels.
June 17, 2008| | | Good, indeed! ... but is this trip necessary? | |
Viewers with an affinity for Irving Thalberg's blockbusters should enjoy this prolonged sojourn in Thalberg's China. It boasts masterful cinematography by Karl Freund, the best of Paul Muni's "big" roles of the later 30s, and an earnest script that countered the sinophobic productions of the same studio. It established common, agrarian ground between Americans and East Asians. All very praiseworthy in the America of 1937, and still commendable today. However, works of art transcend their date of origin by doing something incomparably well, and in the seven decades since its creation, "The Good Earth" has been surpassed on every front. China has its own cinematic tradition, with Asian actors at least as accomplished as the Caucasians starred in "The Good Earth." Why suffer through Luise Rainer's one-note dirge when you can savor the profound nuance brought by, e.g., Gong Li to similar roles? Even in the thirties, Shanghai boasted Ruan Lingyu, a film actress every bit as great as Ms. Rainer was fancied by Hollywood to be (for confirmation, you need only view "The Goddess" of 1934, now available on an archival DVD). As for the most durable virtue of "The Good Earth," its splendid photography, this film alone confirms Karl Freund as a master. Well, so was Kazuo Miyagawa, to name just one of the Asian cinematographers whose careers commenced in the thirties. Why rest content with a Thomas Hart Benton-style canvas of East Asia when you can penetrate analogous scenes through the genius of a Mizoguchi or a Kurosawa or a Yimou Zhang? Finally, in comparison to the work of such Asian filmmakers, "The Good Earth" is unpersuasive in its moral perspective, which ends up being self-righteously ethical. The Hollywood of Louis Mayer and Harry Cohn would slobber sympathetically over "rustics" (of the West no less than the East) confronting famine and flood, only to cluck piously when the same rubes aspired to cultivate an agribusiness and emulate the hedonism of studio moguls. Casting Charlie Grapewin, a supposed emblem of rural simplicity, as a Chinese patriarch reinforces this association with Sunset Boulevard agrarianism.
June 14, 2008 | | Classic film from the 40's | |
A great, epic film from the novel by Pearl Buck. Wonderful acting by Louise Rainer, who won a best actress Oscar for her performance. Paul Muni as simple Chinese farmer also gives a great performance. And listen for the exceptional score by MGM's star composer, Herbert Stothart. One highlight is an amazing, full scale locust invasion, shot with great skill by cinematographer Karl Freund, who also got an Oscar for his work in this film.
April 7, 2008don't watch it if you want to watch a movie faithful to the book, but if you like old movies, it's a classic
October 1, 2007If you're looking for some kind of analysis on the plot and that kind of stuff, you're in the wrong place. Let's begin...
It's weird to watch a black & white movie with all the HDTV and special effects going on right now but sometimes it can be relaxing in a way too. I had just finished reading the book and loved it so much I had to have the movie as well. I was not disappointed. It is a great movie and I'm glad I purchased it.
July 23, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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