The Good Earth (film)

The Good Earth
Original film poster
Directed bySidney Franklin
Victor Fleming (uncredited)
Gustav Machatý (uncredited)
Screenplay byTalbot Jennings
Tess Slesinger
and Claudine West
Based onThe Good Earth
1931 novel
by Pearl S. Buck
adapted for the stage by
Owen Davis
and Donald Davis
Produced byIrving Thalberg
Albert Lewin
(associate producer)
StarringPaul Muni
Luise Rainer
CinematographyKarl Freund, A.S.C.
Edited byBasil Wrangell
Music byHerbert Stothart
Edward Ward (uncredited)
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's, Inc.
Release date
  • January 29, 1937 (1937-01-29) (United States)
[1]
Running time
138 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,816,000[2]
Box office$3,557,000[2]

The Good Earth is a 1937 American drama film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the 1932 play by Owen Davis and Donald Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck.[citation needed] The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, with uncredited contributions by Victor Fleming and Gustav Machaty.

The film stars Paul Muni as Wang Lung. For her role as his wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Karl Freund. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture. Its world premiere was at the elegant Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles.

  1. ^ Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present. New York: Macmillan. p. 134. ISBN 0-02-860429-6. Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles.
  2. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.