The Good Earth (1937)

The Good Earth - 1937

Coming up next is 1937's "The Good Earth", which stars Paul Muni and Luise Rainer as a Chinese couple who work their plot of land during times of plenty and times of desolation.

The film's supporting cast includes Walter Connolly, Tilly Losch, Charley Grapewin, Jessie Ralph, Soo Yong, Philip Ahn, and Roland Got.

Our film begins with Chinese farmer Wang Lung.  He goes to the a large house in the village for a wife, sight unseen.  She's a slave who works there, and her name is O-Lan.  She bids her mistress farewell and the two set off for Wang Lung's humble farm.

Along the way, as they are eating peaches, Wang Lung throws his peach pit on the side of the road.  O-Lan bends and picks it up.  "A tree will grow from this seed," she says quietly as she tucks it away.

O-Lan is thrilled to be mistress of her own establishment, however humble.  After her wedding guests have gone, she goes and plants the peach seed in the earth.

Wang Lung is a hard worker who dreams of a better life for himself and his family.  O-Lan works equally hard.  She even helps bring in a harvest on the morning that she gives birth to a child.

Wang Lung is thrilled to have a son.  He tells her that he's going to gather eggs, paint them red, and distribute them to everyone in town so that all will know that he has a son.

Later, he proudly shows off his firstborn son to his family at a gathering on his farm.

O-Lan goes to the Big House where she was a slave and shows off her son to her former mistress, who tells O-Lan that he is a fine child.  On that trip, Wang Lung buys a second field and feels proud that now he owns two fields.

The years pass.  Wang Lung acquires more land, and O-Lan gives birth to two more children.  The family is thankful for their good fortune.

Their good fortune is not to last, though.  A famine and drought quickly dry up all the crops.  Wang Lung is left with nothing but his family and his land.

O-Lan gives birth to a fourth child, who dies soon after birth.  Since there is no food, the family is forced to eat a soup that is mixed with dirt to fill their stomachs.  When Wang Lung says he will sell his land, O-Lan refuses to let him.  "No, not the land.  We’ll not sell the land.  We’ll keep it.  We’ll go south, and when we return, we’ll still have the land," she tells him.

They do indeed go south.  O-Lan and her children beg for change, and Wang Lung is forced to take on work that is normally done by animals.

A change of regime in the city causes rioting and the looting of the homes of the rich.  O-Lan is caught up in a mob that ransacks a huge house looking for anything of value.  The crowd is so great that O-Lan is trampled under their feet.

When she awakes, she's badly injured.  However, she finds a bag of precious gems that has been overlooked by the greedy mob.  She hides it in her coat.

The Chinese republican army arrests and shoots people that are looting.  O-Lan is caught and scheduled to be shot.  However, the army is ordered to move out just as it is her turn to face the guns.  She and the rest are released.

She goes back to Wang Lung, shows him the jewels, and tells him they can go home.  They waste no time in packing up the family and heading back to the land they worked so hard for.

O-Lan asks for two jewels, the small white pearls.  Wang Lung gladly gives them to her.

In the intervening years, Wang Lung acquires more land.  He even acquires the house where O-Lan was a slave.  He does business with a great many merchants, and his sons go into business with him.

One day, Wang Lung goes to a local tea house.  There he sees a beautiful dancer named Lotus.

He's completely captivated by her.  Eventually, he decides to make her his second wife.  He takes away O-Lan's pearls and gives them to Lotus.

Lotus's presence in the house causes great strife between Wang Lung and his youngest son, who has a crush on her.  Wang Lung banishes his youngest son to his old farm to work the land.

When Wang Lung visits the farm, he comes at a time when there is a locust swarm on the way.  His sons lead the workers in combating them.

The locusts arrive and sweep over the crops, devouring everything in sight.  The workers organize a fire break to try and stop them, but the locusts smother the flames.

Eventually, a great wind comes up and sweeps the locusts away.  Wang Lung's relationship with his youngest son is restored after he proves himself at the farm.

A while later, the youngest son is getting married.  O-Lan is deathly ill, but still manages to give her daughter-in-law advice.

Wang Lung goes in to see O-Lan.  He places the two pearls he took from her back into her hands.  She smiles at him and dies.

Wang Lung walks outside to the peach tree that O-Lan planted on the day of their marriage.  He remembers how she loved the land and fought to keep it instead of selling it.  He looks into the sky as he touches the tree, "O-Lan, you are the earth," he says.

Cast rundown:

   Paul Muni.................................Wang Lung

   Luise Rainer..............................O-Lan

   Walter Connolly.........................Uncle

   Tilly Losch................................Lotus

   Charley Grapewin......................Old Father

   Jessie Ralph..............................Cuckoo

   Soo Yong..................................Aunt

   Philip Ahn.................................Army Captain

   Roland Got...............................Younger Son

And that's all for The Good Earth.  Luise Rainer received her second Best Actress Academy Award for her heartrending portrayal of O-Lan.  She had won the same award the previous year for her work as Anna Held in "The Great Ziegfeld".  She became the first person to win back to back Oscars.

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