"THE GOOD EARTH"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 58, 6 September 1937, Page 7

"THE GOOD EARTH"

it - ■ «—^^3.or - •A SUPERB DRAMA OF CHINA Glimpses of that great picture, '!The Good Earth" are now being flashed on the screen at the Majestic Theatre, and are. whetting the public appetite; for one of the notable film events of the year. The high lights thus glimpsed on the screen reveal a picture of action—revolution in South China accompanying famine in the North, mad (orgies of looting followed by mass execution of looters in the streets by firpng squads; also, by way of contrast, ithe peaceful life of the Chinese farm, and of its beasts and poultry, when not lin the grip of drought or locusts' or banditry. The locust-fighting, with the aid of fire, is action at its highest. But behind all this: are a human plot :and a storyas old as Adam, yet ever new. The Earth, the universal mother, the Good Earth, from which all people have sprung, cannotbe wooed and won without fighting wind, sun, and drought, all of which are brilliantly dramatised in .this Nature-picture. Yet that is 'not enough, for'to, the im- ■• partial forces'of Nature mankind has fdded far foes—the greed of andlordry. the. slavery of the family on the soil, and the martrydom qi woman. Symbolic of the latter Is Q-lan, the first wife of Wang Lang, a mute heroic figure who assumes classical status in.Pearl Buck's novel, and who, in this picturi^atioh of it, has found an. almost perfect exponent in Luise Rainer. Those who saw a recent pre-view of . the .whole picture agree that Luise Rainer, Paul MUni, and Director Sidney Franklin have.placed it in. the highest rank—a deep philopophy, an epic of woman's heroism, and i a superb drama. It is a picture worthy (of one of the most remarkable novels [of the time.