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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. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Based on Donald Davis and Owen Davis' stage-adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's sprawling novel, Sidney Franklin's The Good Earth is the story of a Chinese farming couple whose lives are torn apart by poverty, greed, and nature. Paul Muni stars as Wang Lung a hardworking, but poor, farmer who weds freed-slave O-Lan (Luise Rainer). They struggle to build a life together, but after finally finding success, a plague of locusts descends upon their land, bringing a true test of the couple's perseverance. For her performance, Luise Rainer won the second of back-to-back Best Actress Oscars, while cinematographer Karl Freund took home an Academy Award for his photography work. The Good Earth was the final film production of Irving Thalberg, who died before the film was completed. Matthew Tobey

Product Details

• UPC: 012569692626
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Full Frame
• Editions: Subtitled
• Time: 2:18:00
• Sales Rank: 7,386

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