The Good Earth – 1937
This movie was pretty much everything I expected. I have never read the source material, written by Pearl S. Buck. I know the book is considered a classic, so I expected the story to be good. Also, the two lead actors were Paul Muni and Luise Rainer. I have seen both of them in other films, so I expected the acting to be good. And it was.
But if I had any complaints about the movie, it would be that Paul Muni was completely wrong for the part. The story took place in China, in a village in the north. Muni plays the poor farmer Wang Lung. The reason I say he was wrong for the part is two-fold. First, his face was too American. In a movie full of Chinese people with their Asian eyes, his wide, round eyes stood out like sore thumbs. Sure, he got the Chinese peasant haircut, but he still looked like an American.
Second, I was a little disappointed in his overall performance. He seemed to be trying to use a Chinese accent and adopt their cultural mannerisms. For example, when a Chinese native learns English, the speech patterns are sometimes jerky and the vocal inflections are a little off. Muni tried to emulate these traits, but he went a little overboard and his resulting accent sounded unnatural. And there were times when even that fell away and his natural speech patterns were revealed.
That being said, he still turned in a good performance, though I think a Chinese actor could have done the part more justice. Now, Luise Rainer was another matter. She was incredible as Wang Lung’s wife O-Lan. She not only looked the part, but her accent was not over-exaggerated. I would never have known the actress was not Chinese if I didn’t know the actress. And I wasn’t the only one who thought her performance was remarkable. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress that year for her portrayal of O-Lan.
The story is the tale of Wang Lung and O-Lan as they struggle through the twists and turns of fortune, both good and bad. They work hard and enjoy the benefits of good harvests, and they suffer together through famine and extreme poverty. But through it all, they have the land. The earth. At times it is bountiful and at times it is barren, but in the end it sustains them and lifts them up out of their lowly stations. It makes them rich and powerful in their village.
But as often happens with great success, Wang Lung changes and becomes a different man. He tends to forget that his success and wealth did not come only from himself but also from the hard work and devotion of his wife. And the gods, in his culture. He changed into a man who was unkind and hard. He turned into the kind of lord who he once despised.
But fortunately, he was redeemed. The gods sent him something that would ruin him, something that was the bane of every farmer. Locusts. I have to say that the scene depicting the locust swarm was incredibly well done. I was impressed with the cinematography and the realism of the spectacle. I’ve personally never seen a locust storm before, but I hear it can be pretty horrific. In that respect, I imagine that the film did such an event justice.
In the end, much of Wang Lung’s crops were defended and his fortune was saved. And as an extra added bonus, his time in the fields fighting the deadly swarm reminded him of where he came from. He remembered that he was a simple farmer at heart. It also put into perspective what was truly important in life. And what he found was that it was not material possessions, wealth, property, status or even fortune. It was family, honor and love.
The story told was a good one and the actors did a good job. Despite what I said about Paul Muni, he still turned in a competent performance. But for me, it was Rainer that really stole the show. She was mesmerizing to watch. The inner strength of her character was wonderfully portrayed. The only other actor of note was another American actor. Walter Connolly played Wang Lung’s good-for-nothing uncle. He did a good enough job, though the character was an annoying one. I must also give a special nod to the director Sidney Franklin for a job well done.