Director: John Ford
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Top Billed Actors: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine
Won 2 Oscars:
Best Director - John Ford
Best Supporting Actress - Jane Darwell
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Production -20th Century-Fox
Best Actor - Henry Fonda
Best Screenplay - Nunnally Johnson
Best Sound Recording - E. H. Hansen
Best Film Editing - Robert L. Simpson
Plot: An Okie family is kicked off their land so it's California, here they come but they soon learn that prosperity isn't spread to the migrant workers, no matter how many peaches there are.
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Top Billed Actors: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine
Won 2 Oscars:
Best Director - John Ford
Best Supporting Actress - Jane Darwell
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Production -20th Century-Fox
Best Actor - Henry Fonda
Best Screenplay - Nunnally Johnson
Best Sound Recording - E. H. Hansen
Best Film Editing - Robert L. Simpson
Plot: An Okie family is kicked off their land so it's California, here they come but they soon learn that prosperity isn't spread to the migrant workers, no matter how many peaches there are.
We kick off a new decade the same way we ended the last one, with an adaptation of a John Steinbeck novel. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) was released only a year later than the novel, but its importance was already apparent as Daryl F. Zanuck swooped in to secure the rights. The novel is taught regularly in American schools and it won the Pulitzer Prize as well as contributing to Steinbeck's Nobel Prize. The film isn't too shabby on the accolades either. In addition to the Best Picture nominee and two Oscar wins, it was also one of the first twenty-five film selected into the National Film Registry. It also appears on prestige lists like the AFI Top 100 and the Sight & Sound Top 250. It won a couple of noteworthy Best Picture awards - from the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. This is one of those rare films that has been heaped praise both during the year of its release as well as decades later. Let's dive into a few reasons why the first of two John Ford Best Picture nominees of 1940 has fared so well.
John Ford's direction is the foremost reason why this movie works. He won his second of the record four Best Director Awards for this and it was well deserved. He gets powerful performances from character actors such as John Carradine and Jane Darwell. Going into this film, I only recognized Henry Fonda, who does a decent job, but it's the supporting cast that sells the dire straits and resiliency of this film. I can't help but think Ford played an enormous role in getting these little known actors to emote appropriately and pull off a few show-stopping monologues near the end. One of those monologues comes from Darwell, who plays the strong and warm matriarch of the family. She's a constant force that holds the family together and her Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress seems to make sense (although I will be seeing three other nominated performances by the end of this Awards year). Another enduring aspect of this is the overall theme and narrative of the film. The novel focuses on this Joad family but the film magnifies this even more to just a few members plus the former preacher. This streamlines the story and makes the proceedings a lot more digestible enabling us to hone in on Steinbeck's overall message. We see the willingness of he Joads to work but we don't the reciprocity of employers or the economy as a whole. There's a throwaway line that really stuck with me that sort of sums up my feelings on this matter - "Seems like the government's got more interest in a dead man than a live one." By showing the plight of the specific family in these migrant camps, Ford and Steinbeck took us on a journey that allowed us to empathize and learn what conditions may be for families like the Joads. Other aspects of the film I took to is the authentic music, a few brilliant moments with the cinematography (shadows are used to great effect), and the use of the old jalopy, a car that certainly should be in the cinematic vehicle hall of fame.
There is only one thing I wish the film did differently being the use of the studio sound stages. Of course, this is a cost-cutting measure as filming on location for the entirety of the movie is very cost prohibitive, but there is a stark contrast between the location scenes and the studio scenes. I recall one studio sequence that had an echo, which totally threw me out of the setting. Perhaps Ford could have delved a bit more into the left-wing politics of the novel, but in hindsight I think he pushed it as far as it could go in 1940. Even in 2022, I was shocked to see such blatant support for communistic or socialist methods as we see the only safe haven for the Joads being a government-run camp that operates with a central committee.
Overall, this historic adaptation of the historic John Steinbeck novel stands the test of time by enlightening its audience with realistic anecdotes of economic difficulties finishing with idealistic resiliency. John Ford's fingerprints are all over this and the journey from Oklahoma to California will live in cinematic infamy.
My Score: 8/10
John Ford's direction is the foremost reason why this movie works. He won his second of the record four Best Director Awards for this and it was well deserved. He gets powerful performances from character actors such as John Carradine and Jane Darwell. Going into this film, I only recognized Henry Fonda, who does a decent job, but it's the supporting cast that sells the dire straits and resiliency of this film. I can't help but think Ford played an enormous role in getting these little known actors to emote appropriately and pull off a few show-stopping monologues near the end. One of those monologues comes from Darwell, who plays the strong and warm matriarch of the family. She's a constant force that holds the family together and her Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress seems to make sense (although I will be seeing three other nominated performances by the end of this Awards year). Another enduring aspect of this is the overall theme and narrative of the film. The novel focuses on this Joad family but the film magnifies this even more to just a few members plus the former preacher. This streamlines the story and makes the proceedings a lot more digestible enabling us to hone in on Steinbeck's overall message. We see the willingness of he Joads to work but we don't the reciprocity of employers or the economy as a whole. There's a throwaway line that really stuck with me that sort of sums up my feelings on this matter - "Seems like the government's got more interest in a dead man than a live one." By showing the plight of the specific family in these migrant camps, Ford and Steinbeck took us on a journey that allowed us to empathize and learn what conditions may be for families like the Joads. Other aspects of the film I took to is the authentic music, a few brilliant moments with the cinematography (shadows are used to great effect), and the use of the old jalopy, a car that certainly should be in the cinematic vehicle hall of fame.
There is only one thing I wish the film did differently being the use of the studio sound stages. Of course, this is a cost-cutting measure as filming on location for the entirety of the movie is very cost prohibitive, but there is a stark contrast between the location scenes and the studio scenes. I recall one studio sequence that had an echo, which totally threw me out of the setting. Perhaps Ford could have delved a bit more into the left-wing politics of the novel, but in hindsight I think he pushed it as far as it could go in 1940. Even in 2022, I was shocked to see such blatant support for communistic or socialist methods as we see the only safe haven for the Joads being a government-run camp that operates with a central committee.
Overall, this historic adaptation of the historic John Steinbeck novel stands the test of time by enlightening its audience with realistic anecdotes of economic difficulties finishing with idealistic resiliency. John Ford's fingerprints are all over this and the journey from Oklahoma to California will live in cinematic infamy.
My Score: 8/10