Product Details

• Actors: Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield, Frank Morgan, Akim Tamiroff
• Directors: Victor Fleming
• Writers: Benjamin Glazer, John Lee Mahin, John Steinbeck
• Producers: Sam Zimbalist
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302308542
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,934 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Translation from Book Form, October 29, 2000

By 

mark861 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tortilla Flat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's true that it's nearly impossible to make John Steinbeck's stories into movies. I had the advantage of having read Tortilla Flat before seeing this movie version. In cinema you have the visual facet of storytelling. You cannot go verbatim into film. Some things get mis-translated. Those who had a hand in making this film knew exactly where to take it. That or it was plain old blind luck. I could tell they knew the story well. They knew how to retell it in movie form. That was their strength. Black and white is like alchemy for many nowadays, but back then it was already a refined art. For the whole movie i hadn't noticed that it was in black and white. You don't yearn for color when all the elements of lighting, composition, tonal range, everything, tricks your mind into perceiving color. All of the characters were engaging and alive. The story took me in, into Monterey. It's a story of people who have very little, but in their friendships are more well off than the very wealthy. If you watch this movie before you read the book, it is just as well. You won't miss much by not reading the book. The movie is that good.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I read the book, too-- this is a movie! MGM's masterpiece, September 25, 1999

By 

Joseph L Kremer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tortilla Flat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I read the book also like the critic below me but this is a film and one of MGM's finest. It is a wonder to behold. Spencer Tracy's performance as the hapless Pilon is a highlite and John Garfield as Danny is a performance to treasure. Buying this movie off of Amazon was a refreshment. It has always been one of my favorite films and will always be. The comments below mine is from an old book-crone from a person who spends time looking at the negative points of the film and cannot sit back and enjoy a real classic.

Victor Fleming's direction ("Gone With the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz") is truly fashioned in its true existential film about the life of the "paisanos" and Hedy Lammar's performance as "Sweets" Ramirez is her best. See this movie.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars MGM + Steinbeck = Disaster, March 15, 2008

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tortilla Flat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Time has not been kind to "Tortilla Flat" (1942). Spencer Tracy, John Garfield and Hedy Lamarr are regrettably miscast in this disappointing adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1935 novel. However, Frank Morgan earned an Oscar nomination for his standout performance as the dog-loving hermit - the best aspect of director Victor Fleming's misguided comedy-drama. The Steinbeck realism is hopelessly lost amid the MGM gloss.