The Grapes of Wrath. The Greatest American Historical Novel and Film Ever Made? I think so!

I recommended this film to a local group who give private showings of powerful films to generate conversation about serious topics. I was thrilled to find the trailer of the film on U-tube.

How many members of RS have watched this film? Ordinary people can organise larger groups and get enough power behind them to beat a crime wave. It happened once before. The authour of the book John Steinbeck, is a Nobel laureate for literature and he will never be forgotten. What about the actress who layed Ma Joad? Is she remebered? I will not forget her. I wept buckets for her and her plight even though I knew she was acting and the characters were fictitious.

This book and film should inspire all RS members who wonder if scam busting is bashing ones head against a brick wall. Don't watch the whole film without tons of tissues. What a tear jerker.

Grapes of Wrath Trailer

Amazon.com
Ranking No. 21 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films, this 1940 classic is a bit dated in its noble sentimentality, but it remains a luminous example of Hollywood classicism from the peerless director of mythic Americana, John Ford. Adapted by Nunnally Johnson from John Steinbeck's classic novel, the film tells a simple story about Oklahoma farmers leaving the depression-era dustbowl for the promised land of California, but it's the story's emotional resonance and theme of human perseverance that makes the movie so richly and timelessly rewarding. It's all about the humble Joad family's cross-country trek to escape the economic devastation of their ruined farmland, beginning when Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) returns from a four-year prison term to discover that his family home is empty. He's reunited with his family just as they're setting out for the westbound journey, and thus begins an odyssey of saddening losses and strengthening hopes. As Ma Joad, Oscar-winner Jane Darwell is the embodiment of one of America's greatest social tragedies and the "Okie" spirit of pressing forward against all odds (as she says, "because we're the people"). A documentary-styled production for which Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland demanded painstaking authenticity, The Grapes of Wrath is much more than a classy, old-fashioned history lesson. With dialogue and scenes that rank among the most moving and memorable ever filmed, it's a classic among classics--simply put, one of the finest films ever made. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
This remarkable film version of Steinbeck?s novel was nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including for Best Picture, Actor (Henry Fonda), Film Editing, Sound and Writing. John Ford won the Best Director Oscar® and actress Jane Darwell won Best Actress for her portrayal of Ma Joad, the matriarch of the struggling migrant farmer family. Following a prison term he served for manslaughter, Tom Joad returns to find his family homestead overwhelmed by weather and the greed of the banking industry. With little work potential on the horizon of the Oklahoma dust bowls, the entire family packs up and heads for the promised land ? California. But the arduous trip and harsh living conditions they encounter offer little hope, and family unity proves as daunting a challenge as any other they face.
Amazon.com: The Grapes of Wrath: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin, Dorris Bowdon, Russell Simpson, O.Z. Whitehead, John Qualen, Eddie Quillan, Zeffie Tilbury, Frank Sully, Frank Darien, Gregg Toland, John Ford, Robert L. Si

Date of Birth
15 October 1879, Palmyra, Missouri, USA


Date of Death
13 August 1967, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart attack)


Birth Name
Patti Mary Woodward


Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)


Mini Biography

Missouri-born Jane Darwell was the daughter of a railroad president and grew up on a ranch in Missouri. She nursed ambitions to be an opera singer, but put it off because of her father's disapproval (she eventually changed her name to Darwell from the family name of Woodward so as not to "sully" the family name). Making her stage debut at age 33, she was almost 40 when she made her first film, a silent, in 1913. She easily made the transition from silents to talkies, and specialized in playing kindly, grandmotherly types. Her most famous role was as Ma Joad, the glue that held the Joad family together, in the classic The Grapes of Wrath (1940), for which she won the Academy Award. She was, however, memorably cast against type in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), as the shrewish, cackling Ma Grier, one of the leaders of the lynch mob, and again in Caged (1950), as the prison matron in charge of the isolation ward. She made over 200 films. Her last, Mary Poppins (1964), was made at the express request of Walt Disney; she had retired and was living at the Motion Picture Country Home and Disney came out personally to ask her to appear in the film, after which she went back into retirement. She died in 1967 of a heart attack.

Jane Darwell

I have visited Cannery Row in California (USA), another one he wrote about.

I tried to read the book when I was in my thirties but I gave it up because I was more interested in British history. When I saw the film I tried the book again and I loved it.

I read the Wikopedia write up yesterday and got a bit confused. I thought that the camps where they got treated decently were run by the trade unions, Can somebody please have a look at Wikepedia and make a comment.

I may have got some facts muddled up because Anita Shreve has written about the same period as Steinbeck. Her books are easier to read and very popular in UK. She brings her characters and the era in which they lived to life so it may be easier for people from other countries to read her books. The last one of her books which I read about the people, who gave their lives to form trade unions was "Sea Glass." I can't bear to think the heroism of your American forefathers could of be forgotten.

The point I am trying to make is that ordinary people can pull together and reverse trends when it looks as if theft and greed are completely out of control. I think these ponzi pimps need to be reminded that RS may be a small group but who knows who is following our posts and putting two and two together.

History repeats itself