The Good Earth

Overview

The Good Earth, based on Pearl Buck's sprawling novel, is the story of a Chinese farming couple whose lives are torn apart by poverty, greed and nature. For her portrayal of the wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won the second of her back-to-back Best Actress Academy Awards, while cinematographer Karl Freund also took home an Oscar for his exquisite photography. The Good Earth is Irving Thalberg's final film production. Sadly, he died before it was completed.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/02/2016
UPC:	0888574432461
Original Release:	1937
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:18:00
Sales rank:	5,726

Special Features

Closed Caption; Vintage Musical Short Hollywood Party; Supreme Court of Films Picks the Champions Newsreel; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Paul Muni	Wang Lung
Luise Rainer	O-Lan
Walter Connolly	Uncle
Tilly Losch	Lotus
Charley Grapewin	Old Father,Old Father
Jessie Ralph	Cuckoo
Soo Yong	Aunt
Keye Luke	Elder Son
Roland Got	Younger Son
Ching Wah Lee	Ching
Harold Huber	Cousin
Olaf Hytten	Grain Merchant
William Law	Gateman
Mary Wong	Little Bride
Charles Middleton	Banker,Banker
Suzanna Kim	Little Fool
Caroline Chew	Dancer
Chester Gan	Singer in Teahouse
Miki Morita	House Guest of Wang
Philip Ahn	Captain
Sammee Tong	Chinaman
Richard Loo	Farmer/Rabble Rouser/Peach Seller
Maly Wong	Little Bridee
Lotus Liu	Lotus
Peach Seller	Actor
Herbert Stothart	Composer

Technical Credits

Claudine West

Talbot Jennings

Tess Slesinger

Donald Davis

Sidney Franklin	Director
Claudine West	Screenwriter
Talbot Jennings	Screenwriter
Tess Slesinger	Screenwriter
Irving Thalberg	Producer
Albert Lewin	Producer
Donald Davis	Screenwriter
Jewell Jordan Mason	Stunts
Victor Fleming	Director
Douglas Shearer	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Producer Irving Thalberg, the filmmaking genius known as Hollywood's Boy Wonder, died tragically young at the age of 37, just as production was wrapping up on this epic adaptation of Pearl Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about life in China. Consequently, the film was dedicated to Thalberg -- and what a fitting monument it proved to be. Produced for a then-whopping $3 million, The Good Earth spared no expense in creating a believable Chinese countryside out of MGM's Culver City back lot and surrounding environs. It's the story of Wang Lung (Paul Muni), a simple farmer who takes wife O-Lan (Luise Rainer) in an arranged marriage and builds a family and a farm, only to abandon both after becoming showered with wealth. Fate eventually intervenes, and Wang learns what is truly important. Director Sidney Franklin, not known as a master stylist (and with good reason), allows the pace to flag, and at times the film seems ponderous. But it has several elaborate, powerful sequences -- a violent storm, the pillaging of a Chinese village, and, most memorably, the devastation caused by a plague of locusts -- and incredibly skillful performances by a mostly Occidental cast with Asian makeup. Vienna-born Rainer won her second consecutive Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the humble, dignified, and loving O-Lan; Muni, an actor prone to over-emoting, hits every note with perfect pitch here. Long and (by today's standards) occasionally turgid, The Good Earth nonetheless remains an extraordinary achievement, one that belongs in any collection of classic movies from Hollywood's Golden Age.