Showing posts with label 1940. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1940. Show all posts

Thursday, 21 May 2009

The Grapes Of Wrath (1940)

Sure don't look none too prosperous.
At a glance:
Decidedly didactic socialist film starrin Henry Ford (pic), based on a book that won a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize for Literature. Of course I'm too young to know but I guess it really was the most talked about movie and novel in the day. Within 15mins into the show, you'd soon understand why - it has some very unambiguous things to say about poverty (and even feminism), presented in the most politically dangerous way. This means it's easy to believe the shit. No wonder it's a historically important film.
I can't remember if I cried:
When I read that the book had this bit (not included in the movie) where Rosasharn gives birth to a stillborn and then offers her milk-filled breasts to a starvin man who was dyin in a barn. Wouldda made quite a heartbreakin scene.
Watch out for:
The bit where the old man refused to go. All to familiar to me. Also, John Carradine as the creepy ex-priest Casy is particularly hauntin.
Most memorable line:
Tom Joad: Sure don't look none too prosperous.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Thoroughly entertainin movie that really has somethin to say. Wish non-American kids could have this as part of their curriculum too, so that they could grow up knowin Depression is an economic term and not just an emotional one.★★★★