The Good Earth (1937) | |
| Director(s) | Sidney Franklin, Victor Fleming (uncredited), Gustav Machat? (uncredited), Sam Wood (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | Albert Lewin (associate), Irving Thalberg (executive uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Drama, Film Adaptation, Romance |
| Top Topics | Based on Play, Book-Based, Romance (Drama) |
Featured Cast:
The Good Earth Overview:
The Good Earth (1937) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by Sidney Franklin and Gustav Machat? and produced by Irving Thalberg and Albert Lewin.
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 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.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
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Academy Awards 1937 --- Ceremony Number 10 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actress | Luise Rainer | Won |
| Best Cinematography | Karl Freund | Won |
| Best Director | Sidney Franklin | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Basil Wrangell | Nominated |
| Best Picture | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
The Good Earth (1937, Sidney Franklin)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 1, 2019 From The Stop ButtonFor maybe the first ninety minutes of The Good Earth, it seems like the most interesting thing to talk about is going to be how the filmmakers were able to make the lead characters in the film appear sympathetic while they were being, frankly, un-American. It makes sense, since the main characters a... Read full article
The Good Earth (1937, Sidney Franklin)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 1, 2019 From The Stop ButtonFor maybe the first ninety minutes of The Good Earth, it seems like the most interesting thing to talk about is going to be how the filmmakers were able to make the lead characters in the film appear sympathetic while they were being, frankly, un-American. It makes sense, since the main characters a... Read full article
The Good Earth (1937, Sidney Franklin)
on Apr 1, 2019 From The Stop ButtonFor maybe the first ninety minutes of The Good Earth, it seems like the most interesting thing to talk about is going to be how the filmmakers were able to make the lead characters in the film appear sympathetic while they were being, frankly, un-American. It makes sense, since the main characters a... Read full article
The Good Earth (1937, Sidney Franklin)
on Apr 1, 2019 From The Stop ButtonFor maybe the first ninety minutes of The Good Earth, it seems like the most interesting thing to talk about is going to be how the filmmakers were able to make the lead characters in the film appear sympathetic while they were being, frankly, un-American. It makes sense, since the main characters a... Read full article
The Good Earth (1937) (2)
By Beatrice on Sep 23, 2013 From Flickers in TimeThe Good Earth Directed by Sidney Franklin Written by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West based upon the novel by Pearl S. Buck 1937/USA Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Repeat viewing Unidentified laborer: I don’t know but it has something to do with food. Something about MGM’s worthy... Read full article
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Quotes from
Facts about
Irving Thalberg envisioned casting only Chinese actors for the movie, but gave up the idea because there were not enough suitable Chinese actors.
Chinese-born Anna May Wong desperately wanted the role of O-Lan. Being a close friend of author Pearl S. Buck helped. She tested for the role, but producer Irving Thalberg was unsatisfied. Also, since Paul Muni, a Caucasian actor, had already been cast in the lead, Thalberg knew he couldn't cast Wong as Muni's wife. The Hays Code prohibited actors of different races from playing husband/wife couples on film. (This was to avoid offending white audiences in the segregated American South, where there were laws against mixed-race marriages.) Thalberg offered her the "vamp" role of Lotus, but a distraught Anna May turned it down.
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