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Rating:  - cheap is not better
Poor quality disc's. These cheap classic's are made on cheap DVD disc's and have defects from the manufactures process. I have returned two of them so far and and am hoping this is a fluke and not the 'norm'.
Rating:  - Eye-Opening...
This movie is fantastic, especially if you start to feel a little bit cocky or troubled. To see what our grandparents and great-grandparents lived through, the struggles they faced, puts our complaints into perspective.
Rating: - A heart rendering film...
Lin Bentolila, a dear friend, gave me the book for my birthday and after reading it, I decided to acquire the DVD movie version. Both gave me a rare view into a time in America that I knew little about. Published in 1939, the Grapes of Wrath is about the brutal and sad time people had to live... shall we say struggle through... and for the lucky some... survive during those days.
The DVD version starts with Tom Joad played by Henry Fonda returning home from a seven year prison sentence, reduced to four for good behavior. He is on parole but tries to get back to his family and the first scenes where he gets bothered by the questions of the truck driver that gives him a lift is simply an excellent way to set the stage for the hardship about to unfold.
When he gets home, he finds that no one is there, they have all abandoned the farm and he begins to understand what has happened because of a conversation with a man who refuses to leave his home.
I learned that back then people entered into agricultural agreements where they did not own the land but were allowed by the owners to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced, and as times got really bad because of the lack of water, the "dust" storms and the inability to produce, they could no longer afford to pay the agreed share and were therefore, run from their land... even though they had worked it for over 70 years seeing many family generations come and go on the land which they called home...
How incredibly sad... simply horrible... The story centers on a family with the last name of Joads and it is so hopeless at times that I felt the pain and sorrow of these characters daring to hope for a better life.
Desperate times, children left without food and without care because parents earned miserable wages and had to go to find whatever work was available. Labor contracts were not respected, conditions were oppressive, and the spark of an attempt to correct the situation was seen as a crime and punished as such.
The emotions are deep and while the family undergoes many trials and desperate moments, they continue to have pride, human dignity, and the willingness to share whatever little they had. The road trip that takes them from their home in Oklahoma to California is at times exasperating because we suffer right along with these characters. The scenes at a road side diner where they buy bread... only able to pay for a 10 cent loaf is heart rendering and it is with a certain sense of trepidation that we realize that times in America today are again desperate for many. Never learning the great lessons from the past, we seem to repeat history over and over again, and between the housing market fiasco, the home foreclosures and the price of gas, let's hope we do not see Americans brought to another period of depression.
This is a must read and must see, while it is depressive, at times shocking, it poses fundamental questions of humanity. How can we live our lives in peace witnessing those who have so much and yet others not being able to eat? How do we ensure that our social systems protect our people from ever having to endure such harsh living conditions? At what point do we stop being human if we stand by and do nothing to change and bring opportunity and the right to work and earn a living to every person willing to work to make a living?
Rating: - Depression Tale Still Packs Punch
I've seen "The Grapes of Wrath" any number of times over the last thirty years. I was always blinded by the film's top-notch artistry but I think I was missing the forest for the trees. What dawned on me was that writer John Steinbeck and director John Ford were mad. Not just regular mad but mean and mad. The outrage stems from how a democracy such as ours could mistreat it's citizens at a time when they needed help the most. Adding insult to injury the disenfranchised were subjected to any number of psychological and physical injuries to their person. No wonder the New Deal was such a godsend. And I'm a Republican! Despite the presence of a top-of-the line star in Henry Fonda, Ford and lensman Gregg Toland give the film a cinema-verite style that makes you believe you are watching a documentary instead of a filmed novel. The forlorn faces on display don't appear to come from Central Casting. You can actually taste the dust that's the remnants of the sharecroppers prior trade. Fonda, in probably the best performance of his career, gives an understated account of Tom Joad, parolee turned activist that's both convincing and sincere. Jane Darwell, as Ma Joad, gives one of the all-time great performances by an actress, supporting or otherwise. The worldweariness on Ma's face tells it all. A defining scene in the film is one where Ma tries to feed the family while a group of malnutrioned children look on. You can sense the agony as Ma, with meager food supplies, tries to figure out how to provide for her kin without turning the children away. "The Grapes of Wrath" is not just essential viewing it's mandatory.
Rating:  - One of the Best Movies I've Ever Seen! Too Bad the DVD is Poor!
This is a very moving, touching movie that ages very well. The issues covered here like perseverence against great odds, family values, corrupt police and government officials and social divide are still so relevant today. I've not read the book but this movie has made me want to go to the library and borrow it. The movie is more than 2 hours long and yet it's so good that you don't feel it as the Joad family makes its long journey cross country from Oklahoma to California looking for a way to survive from day to day. The acting was superb and so was the directing but the only thing I didn't like was this DVD version. The sound quality was average and despite the visual restoration, there were still many imperfections. Perhaps a Blu-Ray version with better sound and visual quality will be soon released. I enjoyed the special features on the flip side of the disc which had reel-life (pun intended) news clips from the actual reports of the great drought of the 1930s and especially the Biography of Darryl F. Zannuck which was very good.
Contentwise, this is an excellent movie but this DVD version can be improved soundwise and picturewise.
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