Customer Reviews

The Good Earth (Import - NTSC All Regions)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have not seen the available DVD. This would be essential to my collection, but I won't pay the ridiculous going rate. Luise Rainer gave one of the best performances captured on film, the second of her 2 Oscars. This is one of the great Hollywood films, directed by the underrated Sidney Franklin, and featuring a brilliant cast, stunning Oscar-winning photography, and some terrific special effects, all while telling a relatively simple and sweet story. Most of the great Hollywood films have been available on DVD at a good price. There's simply no excuse for MGM/UA (or whomever owns the rights) to deny a waiting public this outstanding film. Anyone else agree...? NOTE: The DVD is coming out in January, 2006, and I'm hoping it will have extras & stuff.

If you want to introduce a young person to one of the best black and white films produced - this is it. Simple and compelling story with outstanding petformances. My children cried and felt every emotion when viewing this film, which was prefaced by "No one wants to watch an old black and white" but were completely pulled in and riveted. However, I agree with another reviewer. No way will I pay $40 for this film. I'll stick with my grainy VHS copy until the price comes down!!

Every penny is worth buying this movie or book.

This is the most hilarious film I've seen in a long time. However, it's not deliberately funny. It's a "drama" set in "China" before and after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. White folks pretending to be yellow! Every stereotype about China that I'm aware of, scrunched into a single movie. William Muni, as Wang Long, looked like Frank Sinatra with a queue and pajamas. (I knew the Qing fell when his queue wig vanished.) Luise Rainer won an Oscar and I can't explain why.

The Oscar for cinematography was probably deserved. They did a lot of filming in Chinatown, which gives it an authentic look, and they spared no expense in the scene with the plague of locusts. They tried their best to keep out any Chinese actors, but a few slipped through. Some wore Shaoxing felt hats, even though the setting wasn't Shaoxing. I could point out petty stuff like that all day, but why? If you see this one listed in your TV Guide, or you find a copy cheap, buy it. You'll giggle more than William Muni, a.k.a. Wang Long.