Die gute Erde

I watched this movie with some curiosity. I wanted to see if 1) Paul Muni could play Chinese and 2) Luise Rainer deserved her Oscar. I came away from the film thinking YES! Having seen Muni in only one film where he was quite hammy, I expected the same type of performance here. I was happily proved wrong. Although some might criticize him as being too childlike and stereotypically simple in the Hollywood idea of Asians, I thought he was just right in the role. Keye Luke, if he'd been given the chance to play a lead role, might have played him in much the same manner.

I was particularly impressed by the camera work and the use of crowd scenes, especially during the sacking of the palace where O-Lan was once a slave. The graphic and grim atmosphere of the firing squad and the drought made this an epic quite unlike others of the same time where it was all glitz and glitter. I watched this film from beginning to end enthralled. I can't say the same for the "epics" of today.

What Irving Thalberg did in making this film today would never be attempted again. Making a Chinese story with occidental players even if they are of the caliber of Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Charley Grapewin, and Walter Connolly among others.

Perhaps it's partly because the story was written by a westerner, Pearl Buck who got a Pulitzer Prize for her novel in 1932. Ms. Buck, daughter of Chinese missionaries, probably brought China closer to the consciousness of America than any other person. Not the political struggles of China, but the lives and toil of the every day people we find in The Good Earth. Unfortunately later on, Pearl Buck became an apologist for the Kuomintang China of Chiang Kai-Shek in all its virtues and excesses. The rest of her literary output never matched The Good Earth.

In The Sundowners there is a great description of comparing China to Australia by Peter Ustinov. When asked the difference, Ustinov said China was very big and very full and Australia was very big and very empty. That's what you see in The Good Earth, China very big and very full of people, more than she can deal with at times.

The Good Earth tells the story of Wang Lung (Paul Muni) as a young man who purchases a wife from a large house where she was a slave. The woman O-Lan (Luise Rainer) bears him two sons and sees him through all the good times and bad they have, drought, famine, revolution, and a climatic locust plague.

Luise Rainer won the second of two consecutive Oscars for portraying O-Lan. She may have set some kind of record in that it has to be the leading player Oscar performance with the least amount of dialog. Everything she does practically is done with facial expressions, her performance could have been on a silent film with very minimal subtitles. I think only John Mills in Ryan's Daughter had fewer words and he was playing a mentally retarded man.

Muni is not always appreciative of how supportive she is in that male dominated culture. Rainer helps in the field, bears and raises the kids, does the housework. When Muni becomes a man of property he takes a Chinese second trophy wife who causes him a lot of grief. Still Rainer stoically bears it all. Still Muni is not a bad man and it's a tribute to the film and his acting and Buck's writing that you don't hate him and the culture gap is bridged.

We've got a group of oriental players now who do more than just Kung Fu movies. I'm surprised The Good Earth of all films has not been remade at this point. I'll bet the Chinese government would even let some American company do it on an actual location.

Till then we've got this great classic to appreciate and enjoy.

An epic movie from Old Hollywood about Chinese farmer Wang (Paul Muni), his wife O-Lan (Luise Rainer), and their struggles with famine, locusts, and greed. Muni is terrific. He's a divisive actor for many. I think he's one of the best actors of his era. Others think he's hammy and over-the-top. Luise Rainer won an Oscar for her sensitive, quiet performance as O-Lan. Charley Grapewin brings his grizzled old-timer persona he used in many films to this one. He's great fun to watch whether he's in China or Oklahoma. Also winning an Oscar was the great cinematographer Karl Freund, possibly best known today for his Universal horror films. It's a beautiful-looking film. Obviously, the elephant in the room is the casting of white actors as some of the Chinese characters. That's going to be a deal-breaker for politically correct types. If you're one of them, just spare yourself the faux outrage and watch something else. For everybody else, check this out and enjoy a classic film with a lot to offer.

Let's eliminate any discussion about the use of non-Asian actors playing Asian roles. The movie is 67 years old. In 1937 studio chiefs believed that any actor could/should be able to play any role. Actors were under contracts, and did not always have a choice about what role they played. End of story.

This is a truly great epic story of love, individual rights, class strata, and men/women issues. The centerpiece of the film is two brilliant performances by Luise Rainer and Paul Muni.

Muni plays Wang, a Chinese farmer, who is about to take a wife (Rainer). From the start, he treats her with respect, during a time when women were looked on as little more than hired help. Without giving too much of the movie away, they go through the highs and lows of all relationships, and even though the story may take place in late 19th/early 20th century,the story and much of their feelings, seems credible.

Other than the fact that the movie is about 5-10 minutes longer than it needs to be, and the performances of Charley Grapewin and Walter Connolly are typical 1930's cartoon characters, this is a really wonderful movie that, unfortunately, has become a victim of political correctness.

9 out of 10

...of course, the problem IS everyone has become a movie-critic...

For those people who thought "The Good Earth" was dull and not entertaining, I have nothing to say. They are entitled to their opinion, but they missed one of life's most important lesson's: Humility and loyalty.

I was fortunate to see this film when it was FIRST released - in 1939. It's wonderful story (Pearl S. Buck) written for film (Talbot Jennings) has stayed with me all through my long life. I saw it in a theater then; I found it in the "garbage bin" in Wal-Mart this year (2011) and bought it immediately....I had it in a huge collection I gave to a library in Los Angeles when I moved to Florida. The copy I have now was made from the original cut - there are black screens between big scenes. I don't remember that after all these years, but accept it was the way the early release looked. It doesn't bother me - it gives me more time to think of what I have just viewed and anxious to see what's next. To me, the story is so engrossing the length of the film doesn't even occur to me - I would have liked the ending to be longer, because "Olan, you are the earth" told the entire reason for the story of true love and devotion, to the extreme.....

I'm not even bothered by the question so many people asked of why Paul Muni ("Wang Lung") and Luise Rainer ("Olan") were cast instead-of Asians - I had never seen Ms. Rainer in any film, and have no idea why her Hollywood career faded. She was considered to be a great beauty. Paul Muni I've seen in other films, but he wasn't one of my favorites. Yes, I have always wondered how "Gone with the Wind" - beat it out of an award: actually, I thought "The Good Earth" was filmed in color. Now, I'm not even concerned about that - the STORY, the ultimate entirety of the film's huge scenes and huge cast dismisses any negative comment I could think of, or read.

Walter Connolly ("Uncle") and Charlie Grapewin ("Old Father") were perfectly cast and played their roles with great skill. All of the cast were consummate in their roles; director Sidney Franklin held a strong grip of the totality of the film and got it all right. As time progressed into a more modern era, the characters became more modern: except, "Olan" stayed the wonderful woman she was.

However - Ms. Rainer stole the entire movie. A good actress does not always need words to say. I feel the story of a peasant-farmer and his ex-slave wife, all of the troubles they encountered (and defeated), the entire cast presented an accurate portrayal of the story in those days - China. It is hard for me to visualize any re-make could be better, and feel any CGIs would be completely unnecessary. It is also hard for me to realize China's last emperor was alive when I went to Hawai'i in 1969......living a peasant-life, just as did "Wang Lung" and "Olan".

Anyone who views "The Good Earth" and doesn't readily understand that life is bigger than any of us, haven't really lived. It gets a 20 from me - I recommend it to every living soul.