The Good Earth (film)

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The Good Earth
Image:Good earth (1937).jpg original film poster
Directed by	Sidney Franklin Victor Fleming Gustav Machatý
Written by	Pearl S. Buck (novel) Donald Davis (play) Owen Davis (play) Talbot Jennings Tess Slesinger Claudine West
Starring	Paul Muni Luise Rainer Walter Connolly Tilly Losch Charley Grapewin
Music by	Herbert Stothart Edward Ward
Cinematography	Karl Freund
Editing by	Basil Wrangell
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Release date(s)	January 29, 1937
Running time	138 min.
Language	English
Budget	$2,800,000 (estimated)
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The Good Earth (1937) is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Felix E. Feist (uncredited), Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, Victor Fleming (uncredited) and Gustav Machaty (uncredited).

The film starred Paul Muni as Wang Lung. For her role as his wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Karl Freund. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

[edit] Plot summary

Farmer Wang Lung (Paul Muni) marries O-Lan (Luise Rainer), a servant at the Great House, the residence of the most powerful family in their village. O-Lan proves to be an excellent wife, hard working and uncomplaining. Wang Lung prospers, he buys more land, and O-Lan gives birth to two sons and a daughter. Meanwhile, the Great House begins to decline.

All is well, until a drought and the resulting famine drive the family to the brink. Desperate, Wang Lung considers selling some of his land for food, but O-Lan opposes it. Instead, they travel to a city in search of work. The family survives by begging and stealing. When they receive news of rainfall back home, they return to their farm.

However, there is also revolution. The Great House is looted and O-Lan finds a bag of jewels in the confusion. This windfall allows them to prosper once more. Then, Wang Lung becomes besotted with Lotus (Tilly Losch), a young, pretty dancer at the local tea house, and makes her his second wife. He moves the family into the Great House and begins to find fault with the worn-out O-Lan.

When Wang Lung discovers that Lotus has seduced Younger Son (Roland Lui), he orders his son to leave. Then a swarm of locusts threatens the entire village. After a strategy planned by Elder Son (Keye Luke), everyone unites to try to save the crops. Just when all seems lost, the wind shifts direction, taking the danger away. The near-disaster brings Wang Lung back to his senses. He reconciles with O-Lan before she dies, exhausted by a hard life.

[edit] Cast


Image:Paul Muni in The Good Earth trailer 2.jpg	Paul Muni as Wang Lung, a farmer	Image:Tilly Losch in The Good Earth trailer.jpg	Tilly Losch as Lotus
Image:Luise Rainer in The Good Earth trailer 2.jpg	Luise Rainer as O-Lan, Wang Lung's wife	Image:Charley Grapewin in The Good Earth trailer.jpg	Charley Grapewin as Old Father
Image:Walter Connolly in The Good Earth trailer.jpg	Walter Connolly as Wang Lung's uncle	Image:Jessie Ralph in The Good Earth trailer.jpg	Jessie Ralph as Cuckoo

Soon Yoo	as Aunt
Keye Luke	as Elder Son
Roland Lui	as Younger Son
Suzanna Kim	as Little Fool
Ching Wa Lee	as Ching
Harold Huber	as Cousin
Olaf Hytten	as Liu, the grain merchant
William Law	as the gateman
Mary Wong	as Little Bride

Irving Thalberg envisioned casting only Chinese actors for the movie, but gave up the idea because there were not enough available. As a result, many of the characters were played by Western actors who were made to look Asian with aid of new make-up techniques developed by Jack Dawn that were first used in this movie. Because the Second Sino-Japanese War was in progress, the Chinese government threatened not to approve the movie if any Japanese actors were cast.

When Irving Thalberg died before the movie was completed, it stated in the credits that this was his "last great achievement".