Earnest and solemn, The Good Erath, based on Pearl Buck's Pulitzer prize-winning best-seller, is a typical MGM "prestige" literary adaptation, honoring Luise Rainer with a second (undeserved) Best Actress Oscar.
The Good Earth (1937)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:12
Fresh:11
Rotten:1
Average Rating:7.3/10
Synopsis: Excellent, painstaking adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's 1931 tome about a Chinese peasant family whose rise to wealth nearly destroys them, save for the saintly O-Lan. The special effects and the... Excellent, painstaking adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's 1931 tome about a Chinese peasant family whose rise to wealth nearly destroys them, save for the saintly O-Lan. The special effects and the cinematography are wonderful and Rainer won the second of her consecutive Oscars for Best Actress. This was Thalberg's last production and is dedicated to his memory. Academy Award Nominations: 5, including Best Picture; Best Director. [More]
Starring: Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly, Keye Luke
Starring: Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly, Keye Luke, Tillie Losch, Charley Grapewin, Jessie Ralph, Harold Huber
Director: Sidney Franklin
Director: Sidney Franklin
Producer: Irving Thalberg
Screenwriter: Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, Frances Marion, Claudine West
Story: Pearl S. Buck
Composer: Herbert Stothart
Reviews for The Good Earth
It's a typically lumbering, cautious, overblown Thalberg project, saved by Rainer's genuinely moving, Oscar-winning portrayal of Chinese peasantry, and by an immensely spectacular storm of locusts.
It somehow worked, and was a remarkable tribute to MGM's dream factory.
Once again Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has enriched the screen with a superb translation of a literary classic.
Critical opinion has not been kind, but studio excavators may find much to admire.
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