eShop USA > DVD > The Good Earth
The Good Earth
List Price: $19.98Our Price: $17.99 You Save: $1.99 (10%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790793085
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0790793083
Item Dimensions: 100
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 MonoEnglish (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled),
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
MPN: 66926
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Running Time: 138 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: August 06, 1937
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
MGM's status as the "class" studio was fully engaged when production chief Irving Thalberg took on this expensive, serious adaptation of Pearl Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. A smooth entertainment with a stiff portion of this-is-good-for-you seriousness, The Good Earth epitomizes Thalberg's idea of Art, which was also the prevailing idea of the period he dominated in Hollywood. The story follows Wang Lung (Paul Muni), a humble farmer, who makes an arranged marriage to a slave, O-Lan (Luise Rainer). The couple's great struggle is to procure--and then, against withering odds, keep--a piece of land, ownership of which makes the difference between self-determination and near-slavery. The film's physical production is truly eye-filling, with location shooting in China providing exterior shots and backdrops (and blending seamlessly with the footage shot in the U.S.). No wonder the great cinematographer Karl Freund won an Oscar for the photography, which includes an awesomely staged locust plague.
Also copping an Oscar was Luise Rainer for best actress--her second consecutive award, after The Great Ziegfeld. Rainer's underplayed portrait of self-effacing stoicism is a contrast to Muni's broader performance, although in some odd way he's exactly right for his role. Caucasian actors play the main characters (Walter Connolly is the family's bothersome, and tiresome, know-it-all uncle), with Asian actors--including Keye Luke--filling out the supporting parts. The blend of sobriety and hokum is vintage Thalberg, and this is the one MGM movie with an onscreen dedication to the young dynamo; he died during production, age 37. --Robert Horton
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 Rainer repeated here with another Best Actress Oscar. The film also won for Best Cinematography - with camerawork most powerfully on display in the astonishing locust-plague sequence. Producer Irving Thalberg known for combining literary prestige with commercial success died during the production and the film isdedicated to him.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569692626 Manufacturer No: 66926
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating:  - 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.
Rating:  - fun but fiction
don't watch it if you want to watch a movie faithful to the book, but if you like old movies, it's a classic
Rating: - The Good Earth
If 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.
Related Categories:
Recently viewed PC Hardware:
Compaq Presario SR1410NX Desktop PC (Intel Celeron D Processor 335, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)
|
Toshiba Satellite A75-S213 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium 4 Processor (HT), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Dbl Layer Drive)
|
WinBook Centrino W364 (2GHz Pentium M 755, 512MB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive, 15.4" Wide XGA Display, DVD+R/RW Dual Layer, 802.11g Internal Wireless, XP Professional)
|
ViewSonic VA712B 17" LCD Monitor (Black)
|
Acer AL1751B 17" LCD Monitor
|
| |
 |
