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The Grapes Of Wrath [1940] | ![The Grapes Of Wrath [1940]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QKVRRATEL._SL500_.jpg)
| Director: John Ford
Actors: Henry Fonda, John Carradine, Jane Darwell
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £4.98
You Save: £8.01 (62%)
New (6) from £4.00
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 4072
Format: Black White, Pal
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), German (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Turkish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 129 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5039036020275
ASIN: B0007D5G5O
Theatrical Release Date: 1940
Release Date: April 18, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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JOHN FORD CLASSIC November 22, 2008
JESSICA YVONNE VARMA (Trichur East, Kerala State, India)
The Grapes Of Wrath [1940] br /AFTER THE DUST BOWL DISASTER OF THE THIRTIES, OKLAHOMA FARMERS TREK TO CALIFORNIA IN THE HOPE OF A BETTER LIFE. A SUPERB FILM WHICH COULD SCARELY BE IMPROVED UPON. THOUGH THE ENDING IS SOFTENED FROM THE BOOK, THERE WAS TOO MUCH HERE FOR FILM-GOERS TO CHEW ON. ACTING, CINEMATOGRAPHY AND DIRECTION COMBINE TO MAKE THIS AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE. GREAT QUOTES FROM THE FILM WHICH I CHERISH: br /(1) TOM(HENRY FONDA): THIS HERE'S WILLIAM JAMES JOAD, DIED OF A STOKE, OLD, OLD MAN. HIS FOLKS BURIED HIM BECAUSE THEY GOT NO MONEY TO PAY FOR FUNERALS. NOBODY KILLED HIM. JUST A STROKE, AND HE DIED. br /(2) MA(JANE DARWELL): Rich fellas come up, an' they die, an' thier kids ain't no good, an they die out. But we keep-a-comin'. We're the people that live. Can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, because we're the people. br /MA: Well, Pa, woman can change bettern a man. Man lives - well in jerks. Baby born or somebody dies - that's a jerk. With a woman it's all one flow, like a stream - little eddies, little waterfalls - but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it that way. br /A GENUINELY GREAT MOTION PICTURE. ACOORDING TO DAD, " THE MOST MATURE MOTION PICTURE THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE, IN FEELING, IN PURPOSE AND IN THE USE OF THE MEDIUM." PERSONALLY I FEEL THAT IT IS A SEERING AND SINCERE INDICTMENT OF A MAN'S CRUEL INDIFFERENCE TO HIS FELLOWS. IT RECEIVED ACADEMY NOMINATIONS FOR BEST PICTURE(Nunnally Jhonson) BEST ACTOR(HANK FONDA). IT WON BEST DIRECTOR: JOHN FORD and BEST ACTRESS: JANE DARWELL.
spirit of survival =an ode to humanity August 11, 2008
Dr. U. L. Khawaja (hornchurch ,london)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
suffering defines the human spirit of survival-true-and here br /steinbeck was giving a simple message -survival is for the fittest in any civilization whether democratic or fascist,here the oklahoma dustbowl is the land of dispossessed and their suffering is the message to the fulfillment of their broken dreams ,poverty can be a curse and it is restrictwed not only to africa but white american kids dying of kwashiorkor secondary to malnutrition. br / br /ford gets the steinbeck message across with simplicity and the materialism is not crticised just observed as a reality while the people are evicted from ancestral homes and they die and starve on route 66. br / br /the movie is sentimental ,emotional and intelligent all at the same time as human existence itself . br / br /no body in hollywood today can even conceive much less execute this ode to the survival of the fittest in the land of oppurtunity with an underlying subtle satire but also a gentle tenderness for the dregs of humanity ,who are being persecuted as they are inferior in comparison to their peers . br / br /the journey becomes a nightmare and a dream with a poetic pathos and it becomes art with a pulsating power as it is sincere and heartfelt . br / br /steinbeck would be proud of ford's version and it still touches your soul ,as humanity and it's basic essential desires never get dated . br / br /usman khawaja
 But better read the book too! May 26, 2007
Steinbeck fan (Wales, UK)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
The Grapes of Wrath is fiction based on fact, and tells the story of the Joads, turned off their land by an east coast bank, which has bought up huge tracts of farmland to turn into enormous mechanised cereal factories. Thousands of such families left Oklahoma, Arkansas and other states in the 1930s for that reason, heading west to get work in California. The novel follows the Joads' progress from naivety through hope to desperation, providing also valuable essay-type commentaries on what was going on politically and whose fault is was. The story is compelling particularly because you just can't tell if it is all going to end happily or not. br /The novel is absolutely stonking, and it was after reading it that I wanted to see the film, to get some visual images based on fact rather than my imagination. In that regard I was not disappointed. I think the film captures the atmosphere very well, and I was repeatedly amazed by how what I saw on screen mapped onto what I had imagined: the landscape, the laden car, the hunger.. But what I really wanted to see was how a film maker would handle the absolutely desolate ending to the book. Answer: it was not handled at all. The film ends on an optimistic note about how all good Americans can make it through adversity, and we'll all pull together, blah blah--which is expressly not how the novel ends. I won't spoil the ending by saying too much, only that it's shocking and challenging (and you won't guess it). Read the book and you'll see what I mean. So although I give it 4 stars for what it *does* do, the film was a disappointment in the end and definitely should not be a substitute for the book. (If you don't like reading long books, get it on unabridged audio, and let someone read it to you while you drive to work).
"I'll be all aroun' in the dark." February 27, 2005
Themis-Athena (from somewhere between California and Germany)
58 out of 62 found this review helpful
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loos'd the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword, His truth is marching on." - Battle Hymn of the Republic.pIn 1936, John Steinbeck wrote a series of articles about the migrant workers driven to California from the Midwestern states after losing their homes in the throes of the depression: inclement weather, failed crops, land mortgaged to the hilt and finally taken over by banks and large corporations when credit lines ran dry. Lured by promises of work aplenty, the Midwesterners packed their belongings and trekked westward to the Golden State, only to find themselves facing hunger, inhumane conditions, contempt and exploitation instead. "Dignity is all gone, and spirit has turned to sullen anger before it dies," Steinbeck described the result in one of his 1936 articles, collectively published as "The Harvest Gypsies;" and in another piece ("Starvation Under the Orange Trees," 1938) he asked: "Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?"pBy the time he wrote the latter article, Steinbeck had already published one novel addressing the agricultural laborers' struggle against corporate power ("In Dubious Battle," 1936). Shortly thereafter he began to work on "The Grapes of Wrath," which was published roughly a year later. Although the book would win the Pulitzer Prize (1940) and become a cornerstone foundation of Steinbeck's Literature Nobel Prize (1962), it was sharply criticized upon its release - nowhere more so than in the Midwest - and still counts among the 35 books most frequently banned from American school curricula: A raw, brutally direct, yet incredibly poetic masterpiece of fiction, it continues to touch nerves deeply rooted in modern society's fabric; including and particularly in California, where yesterday's Okies are today's undocumented Mexicans - Chicano labor leader Cesar Chavez especially pointed out how well he could empathize with the Joad family, because he and his fellow workers were now living the same life they once had.pHaving fought hard with his publisher to maintain the novel's uncompromising approach throughout, Steinbeck was weary to give the film rights to 20th Century Fox, headed by powerful mogul and, more importantly, known conservative Daryl F. Zanuck. Yet, Zanuck and director John Ford largely stayed true to the novel: There is that sense of desperation in farmer Muley's (John Qualen's) expression as he tells Tom and ex-preacher Casy (Henry Fonda and John Carradine) how the "cats" came and bulldozed down everybody's homes, on behalf of a corporate entity too intangible to truly hold accountable. There is Grandpa Joad (Charley Grapewin), literally clinging to his earth and dying of a stroke (or, more likely, a broken heart) when he is made to leave against his will. There is everybody's brief joy upon first seeing Bakersfield's rich plantations - everybody's except Ma Joad's (Jane Darwell's), that is, who alone knows that Grandma (Zeffie Tilbury) died in her arms before they even started to cross the Californian desert the previous night. There is the privately-run labor camps' utter desolation, complete with violent guards, exploitative wages, lack of food and unsanitary conditions; contrasted with the relative security and more humane conditions of the camps run by the State. And there is Tom's crucial development from a man acting alone to one seeing the benefit of joining efforts in a group, following Casy's example, and his parting promise to Ma that she'll find him everywhere she looks - wherever there is injustice, struggle, and people's joint success. In an overall outstanding cast, which also includes Dorris Bowdon (Rose of Sharon), Eddie Quillan (Rose's boyfriend Connie), Frank Darien (Uncle John) and a brief appearance by Ward Bond as a friendly policeman, Henry Fonda truly shines as Tom; despite his smashing good looks fully metamorphosized into Steinbeck's quick-tempered, lanky, reluctant hero.pYet, in all its starkness the movie has a more optimistic slant than the novel; due to a structural change which has the Joads moving from bad to acceptable living conditions (instead of vice versa), the toning down of Steinbeck's political references - most importantly, the elimination of a monologue using a land owner's description of "reds" as anybody "that wants thirty cents and hour when we're payin' twenty-five" to show that under the prevalent conditions that definition applies to virtually *every* migrant laborer - and a greater emphasis on Ma Joad's pragmatic, forward-looking way of dealing with their fate; culminating in her closing "we's the people" speech (whose direction, interestingly, Ford, who would have preferred to end the movie with the image of Tom walking up a hill alone in the distance, left to Zanuck himself). Jane Darwell won a much-deserved Academy-Award for her portrayal as Ma; besides John Ford's Best Director award the movie's only winner on Oscar night - none of its other five nominations scored, unfortunately including those in the Best Picture and Best Leading Actor categories, which went to Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and James Stewart ("The Philadelphia Story") instead. Still, despite its critical success - also expressed in a "Best Picture" National Board of Review award - and its marginally optimistic outlook, the movie engendered almost as much controversy as did Steinbeck's book. After the witch hunt setting in not even a decade later, today it stands as one of the last, greatest examples of a movie pulling no punches in the portrayal of society's ailments; a type of film regrettably rare in recent years.p"Ev'rybody might be just one big soul - well it looks that-a way to me. ... Wherever men are fightin' for their rights, that's where I'm gonna be, ma. That's where I'm gonna be." - Woody Guthrie, "The Ballad of Tom Joad."p"The highway is alive tonight, but nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes. I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light, with the ghost of old Tom Joad." - Bruce Springsteen, "The Ghost of Tom Joad."
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