Good idea lost in the noise

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Copyright 24 January 1940 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Rivoli: 24 January 1940. U.S. release: 15 March 1940. Australian release: 23 May 1940. U.S. copyright length: 11,586 feet. 128½ minutes. Australian release length: 12,011 feet. 133½ minutes.NOTES: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award, John Ford, Direct¬ing (defeating George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, Sam Wood's Kitty Foyle, and William Wyler's The Letter). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Annual Award for Supporting Actress: Jane Darwell (defeating Judith Anderson in Rebecca, Ruth Hussey in The Philadelphia Story, Barbara O'Neil in All This And Heaven Too, and Marjorie Rambeau in The Primrose Path). Also nominated for Best Picture (Rebecca), Actor, Henry Fonda (James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story), Screen¬play (The Philadelphia Story), Film Editing (North West Mounted Police), and Sound Recording (Strike Up the Band). Oddly, the film was not nominated for its superb Cinematography. Best Motion Picture of 1940 - New York Film Critics. Best Direction, John Ford (for this and The Long Voyage Home) - New York Film Critics. Best American film of 1940 - National Board of Review. Number two (to Rebecca) in The Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics. Fox's top money-maker of 1940. On a personal note, actress Dorris Bowdon wed Nunnally Johnson in February 1940. Negative cost: $850,000.COMMENT: So much has been written about The Grapes of Wrath and it has such a reputation as one of the greatest movies of all time, that it is in danger of being regarded by today's cinemagoers as a museum piece. This would be a tragedy. Although the political and economic events which shaped the book and the film have receded into history, the power of its story, the vividness with which its human tragedy is unfolded, and the collectively forceful eloquence of its players are undimmed.Ford and Darwell deserved their Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards. Fonda was cheated out of his. (I mean James Stewart's role in The Philadelphia Story is a supporting one, not a lead. Furthermore, Stewart plays the part with all his usual mannerisms - nothing special nor distinctive at all). I could go on for pages about the dramatic impact of The Grapes of Wrath - how it socked me right out of my seat the first time I saw it. And every time since. It's a masterpiece. Brilliantly directed, breathtakingly photographed, atmospherically set and scored, persuasively written and arrestingly played. Fonda regarded it as the high point of his career. So do I.

The amazing director John Ford won Oscar for this movie. All his films are beautifully and carefully made masterpieces.This movie is about a man called Tom Joad. He is back from the prison expecting to rejoin his family. But, as he reaches the village, it was totally washed out. He finds out where his family is. But, they were getting ready to migrate from there too. He joins them. The whole family including pregnant woman, old people and kids are on the movie. Wherever they go, they had to keep moving due to one reason or the other.A heart touching movie. Very well made.A must watch. Highly recommended.#KiduMovie

John Ford won the second of his record four Best Director Academy Awards for this Depression era drama from John Steinbeck's novel about the Joads, and other families of Oklahoma sharecroppers whose decades old farms were destroyed by the Dust Bowl, their migration west (in an overloaded jalopy-truck) to California, a place purported to be "the land of milk and honey", and their disillusionment about the American dream.Jane Darwell won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (on her only nomination) for her role as Ma Joad, the family matriarch whose last words are perhaps the film's most optimistic. Henry Fonda received his first nomination (Best Actor) as Tom Joad (voted AFI's #12 hero, even though his character is an ex-con that struggles to stay out of trouble during much of the story).Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, the film was nominated for Best Picture, so was its Editing (Robert L. Simpson's only Academy recognition), Sound, and associate producer Nunnally Johnson's screenplay. It appears at #21 on AFI's Greatest Movies list, #7 on AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies list, and was added to the National Film Registry in 1989.The cast is chock full of recognizable character actors whose performances – along with Gregg Toland's dark cinematography – help to convey the squalid conditions of the situation and bleak outlook of the time. John Carradine plays the former preacher Casy, who makes the journey with the Joads. Charley Grapewin plays Grandpa, whose depression about his reality contributes to his failing health, while Russell Simpson plays his son and Fonda's Pa Joad.John Qualen gives the best of his prolific career as Muley, whose driven crazy by losing the land he and his family had tended for 70 years. Others in the credited cast are Dorris Bowdon, O.Z. Whitehead, Eddie Quillan, Zeffie Tilbury, Frank Sully, Frank Darien, child actor Darryl Hickman, Grant Mitchell as the caretaker of a most unusual (almost commune-like) Department of Agriculture facility, Ford company regular Ward Bond as a policeman, Selmer Jackson, Charles Middleton, Paul Guilfoyle as an agitator, Cliff Clark, Joe Sawyer, Frank Faylen, and Irving Bacon.

Most things are done right in this adaptation. They took a good book, found a good director, took the time to find good locations and make realistic sets, hired a stellar cast, and tried to find the essence of scenes form the books, and present a shorter yet faithful version of the story. It's hard to blame the producers, writer and director for cutting away parts of the book, just as it is hard to not miss the parts that are not adapted.There are some tweaks to the story that changes the tone a little, especially regarding the ending. I find myself forgiving it, due to the time it was made in. Had a modern day adaptation taken similar shortcuts (in order to achieve a happy ending), I would most likely not have accepted it. The same goes with how certain characters at times are a bit exaggerated. It feels right in a movie from this time, but maybe only if you are used to watching old(er) movies like this.