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.

'The Good Earth' was another film that appeared in my recommended for you section, and immediately intrigued me with its subject matter, hearing good things about it, loving classic films, because it looked interesting and likewise with the cast (Paul Muni being the most familiar actor to me).

It was certainly well worth the watch and lived up to its "good" name, and actually was close to being great. Much has been mentioned regarding the lack of authenticity and that it was a stretch in some cases, am not going to go into that as it made no difference to me and didn't jar for me too much. What mattered to me much more was 'The Good Earth' being good, rather than being a waste of a great subject, and it thankfully was.

Sure 'The Good Earth' may be slightly too long, would have trimmed it by about 10-15 minutes and tightened the pace of some of the middle act.

Here 'The Good Earth' loses a little bit of its lustre on occasions and parts are a touch melodramatic.

On the other hand, 'The Good Earth' is very well made and holds up very well today. Particularly noteworthy is the cinematography, very beautifully done throughout but it stands out especially in the locust plague sequence. This scene is very cleverly filmed and still hits hard. The effects also look quite good, while the score is sincere and the direction skilful.

While not always spot on, the script is thought-provoking and flows well, with many sincere and poignant moments that still ring true instead of on the most part being histrionic. The story is compelling and explores the subject and its harrowing themes with sensitivity and humility. The characters feel real and the acting throughout is hard to fault.

Luise Rainer's very moving performance is one of 'The Good Earth's' biggest strengths, conveying emotions while saying little and those emotions are telling, easily the most deserving of her two back-to-back Oscar wins. Paul Muni supports her sympathetically in one of his more understated roles.

All in all, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox