 The Good Earth (1937)
Luise's third American film, The Good Earth is perhaps the one for which she is most remembered, the film which cemented her place in Oscar history and the film which proved a turning point, not only in her contract with MGM, but her career in Hollywood as a whole.
This epic story of love and loss is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Pearl S. Buck, first published in 1931 and inspired by the author's time living in China during the 1920s. Buck was an American, born to Southern Presbyterian missionaries in Hillsboro, West Virginia in 1892. Her parents were often stationed in China and Buck spent much of her childhood there, speaking both English and Chinese fluently. After graduation in 1914 she returned to China where she married John Lossing Buck, an agricultural economist, with whom she settled in Nanxuzhou, a small rural town. It was here that she was inspired to write and her stories were published throughout the 1920s in such magazines as The Nation, The Chinese Recorder and The Atlantic Monthly. Her first novel, East Wind, West Wind was published in 1930, followed in 1931 by The Good Earth. It was an immediate success; the best-selling novel of 1931/32 it won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal. Further novels (including two sequels to The Good Earth) followed, and in 1938, less than a decade after her first book, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Buck continued to write and died in 1973, leaving a vast collection of stories, poetry, biography, drama and more. The Good Earth has never been out-of-print and has maintained its success for the best part of a century. In 2004 it returned to the bestsellers lists when Oprah Winfrey included it as a selection in her  phenomenally influential Book Club.
The first adaptation of the novel appeared in 1932 as a stage play for the Theatre Guild, written by Owen and Donald Davis. The lead roles of the farmer, 'Wang Lung', an his wife, 'O-lan' were taken by Claude Rains and Alla Nazimova, but the production was not a success and closed after 52 performances. The play and the novel were both the basis for MGM's film version, released in 1937, with Paul Muni as 'Wang Lung' and Luise Rainer as 'O-Lan'. The film owes its existence to the young producer Irving Thalberg who had set his sights on filming some of the most influential novels and plays of the 1930s. It was as early as 1931 that Thalberg first bought the rights to film the novel, but he did not start in earnest until 1934 when he approached Paul Muni to play the lead. At this time Luise was yet to be discovered, and Muni was uncertain if he could achieve all that the part required. He was finally convinced and screen tests were made to find his co-star. Many American and Oriental actresses were seen but it was only as Luise burst onto the scene in Escapade (1935) that she became a contender. Much has been made about the casting of Caucasian actors to play Chinese characters, however, Thalberg originally envisioned an entirely Chinese cast, but it was thought this would alienate an American audience, and, in any case, finding two leads to carry the film was proving difficult enough with hundreds of screen tests made using both American and Chinese actors. One actress who has been regularly cited as a potential alternative to play 'O-lan' is the Chinese-American Anna May Wong, who had already appeared in films and on stage in both the US and Europe, and was a friend of Pearl S. Buck. As early as 1933 Wong had made it known to MGM that she wanted to play the part, but once Muni was cast it was never to happen. The Hays Code which operated censorship in the film industry, had strict anti-miscengenation rules and would not allow a Caucasian and an Oriental to play husband and wife. Instead Wong was offered the part of 'Lotus' (eventually played by another European actress, Tilly Losch) who comes into the fold late  in the picture to lure 'Wang Lung' away, and to marry his son. Anna May Wong, offended that she had been offered the only unsavoury role in the film, turned it down. Other actresses who tested for the role include Lotus Lui, Sidney Fox, Mamo Clark, Jean Parker, Steffi Duna, Dorothy Appleby and Suzanne Kaaren.
Casting wasn't the only hurdle to breach in the run up to filming; Louis B. Mayer himself expressed reservations about the material, telling Thalberg, "The public won't buy pictures about American farmers, and you want to give them Chinese farmers?". Thalberg persisted and he approached MGM President, and head of their parent company, Loew's Incorporated, Nicholas Schenck to back him. He did so, and on 30th October 1935 it was announced that MGM's next great epic would The Good Earth, starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer, directed by Victor Fleming. Originally the services of director George Hill had been acquired, and his wife, Frances Marion, an MGM contract writer, had submitted a continuity script based on the novel and the play. Some exterior location shots were filmed by Hill in China during 1932 and 1933 (later used in The Good Earth and The Painted Veil (1934)) but the production came to a halt when Hill committed suicide at his beach house on 9th August 1934. The project went on hold while a plethora of other writers were enlisted to work on the screenplay. Over the course of the next two years no less than nine more writers worked on parts of, or the whole of the story; Claudine West, Jules Furthman and DuBose Heyward had already worked on treatments and scripts prior to Marion's departure, and continued to do so with other writers who came onto the project between late 1934 and 1936 including Marc Connolly, Tess Slesinger, Talbot Jennings, Franz Schutz and Marion Ainslee. Felix E. Feist contributed to test scenes. There was some concern about the portrayal of the Chinese in some sections of the novel and MGM asked for rewrites to give a wholly sympathetic view of China. The majority of these were to bring the family closer together and to excise any references to 'Lotus' being a prostitute (she becomes a singer in the film). The affair between 'Lotus', 'Wang' and 'Older Son' was also toned down to avoid upset. In the final feature the story begins with a worthy epigraph: "The soul of a great nation is expressed in the life of its humblest people. In this simple story of a Chinese farmer may be found something of the soul of China - its humility, its courage, its deep heritage from the past and its vast promise for the future."
Filming began in earnest in 1936 with Victor Fleming at the helm, however, due to ill-health he was quickly replaced by Sidney Franklin. 500 acres of countryside outside Los Angeles were converted into Chinese farmland and Chinese farmers were brought in to cultivate crops for the length of the shoot. The area was landscaped to match real locations and was peppered with farmer's huts and out-buildings which doubled as cast and crew quarters. In response to concerns raised about the depiction of China as a miserbale place for it's people, especially peasants, Thalberg suggested that the Chinese government send an ambassador to oversee proceedings and allay any fears. Shortly afterwards General Ting-Hsiu Tu arrived with his family to advise the director on Chinese custom and maintain accuracy; he was also replaced, however, when the Chinese authorities accused him of allowing a politically dangrous film to be made. Only a screening of some scenes from the film to Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (the Chinese leader's wife) and some Chinese scholars saved the film from an interminable delay, with Madame expressing her amazement that Luise was not a Chinese actress (she would remain in touch with Luise for the next 70 years, sending a Christmas gift each year until her death, aged 105, in 2003). All of this international diplomacy slowed down production and created an unpleasant atmosphere in which to work. Luise had already met her future husband Clifford Odets and their courtship was in full swing, but Odets was finishing his work in Hollywood and was under pressure from the Group Theatre to return to them with a new play (The Silent Partner). He left for Connecticut in mid-1936 and the following hiatus became a burden to both of them. They communicated regularly by telegram and letter but it was no way to start a relationship.
Months went by and then, in September 1936, Irving Thalberg died if of pneumonia, aged 37; the film is dedicated to him, "his last great achievement". Although work on The Good Earth was now all but complete and it was too late for Louis B. Mayer to alter the film significantly, it was a turning point in Luise's career. Whilst she has said that they were never friends and that she hardly knew him, he was still an ally when it came to a shared view of what the movies could be and of what parts she could play. Now she feared for what she may be given to fulfil her contractual obligations under Mayer; her isolation and alienation compounded without Clifford.
The Good Earth premiered in Los Angeles on 29th January 1937 (two weeks after Luise and Clifford were married). It was a critical and commercial success and, since Thalberg's untimely death, it marked the last film of it's kind for some time as Mayer concentrated on wholesome family entertainment. Luise insists that the film made a profit, although papers at MGM contradict this claim - she has always said that Mayer would never admit that the film was the huge success that it was, that he would never allow the film to be seen as MGM's greatest achievement. It was released worldwide in June of 1937 and went on wholesale release in the USA shortly afterwards. In March 1938 it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Luise made history by picking up second Oscar in a row for Best Actress.
As 'O-lan' Luise gives a performance of sustained integrity and stoicism. When first presented with the script she was shocked to discover that O-lan had so few lines of dialogue and was convinced that she would be, "an hilarious bore!". But Sidney Franklin convinced her that within this woman's quietude was a character with whom the audience could identify and a woman that deserved to be heard. Luise began to observe local Chinese, their movements, their speech and the way they interacted with one another, determined to bring not only life to 'O-lan', but also truth. In Buck's original novel 'O-lan does speak, much more than in the film, but the decision to remove most of her dialogue makes for a very different performance. Luise's magnificent eyes and tiny gestures bring life to this downtrodden slave woman and we see her transformation from meek housewife to mother and provider. After only two previous roles in which Luise played light comedy and romance (Escapade and The Great Ziegfeld) American audiences must have been astonished to see their new star, without glamour, in such an introspective role. Some of the film (and Luise's performance) has dated, but when she is at her peak it still has the power to move an audience. Many modern observers have commented that Luise did not deserve the second Oscar, mainly for the reason that she beat Greta Garbo (in Camille), an actress who never went on to win. But hindsight should not be used to judge her performance; at that time, to that audience, it was a revelatory performance and one which many of her contemporaries, including Garbo, would have struggled to match. The role gave her a whole new audience in the Far East who warmed to her portrayal, despite her ethnicity. Such was her standing with the Chinese-American community in the USA she took part in an event at Madison Square Garden, addressing over 22,000 people, at the time of the Japanese invasion of China.
When it came to Oscar night, Luise herself, didn't expect to win twice in a row and did not intend to be at the ceremony. She had spent the day with her husband in San Francisco and was driving back when she called home to check all was well. Her maid, who was frantic, told her that she must return quickly and get to the Biltmore Hotel as the rumours were rife that she had won again. There followed a blazing row between Luise and Clifford, he of the opinion that it was worthless and she should not attend; Luise did not want him to accompany her, but he did so. They arrived late and Luise insisted that they walk around the block as she was in tears and did not wish to be seen in such a state; many reporters commented on how inapproriate it was that Clifford wore a simple day suit to such an important occasion for his wife. The film lost out to The Awful Truth (1937) as Best Picture, but won another Oscar for Karl Freund's cinematography. Luise's co-star, Paul Muni, won the Best Actor award, but for his work in The Life of Emila Zola (1937) not The Good Earth. It's fair to assume that the Oscar win wrong-footed Louis B. Mayer somewhat. Between the end of filming and the award ceremony two more films had been completed and released (The Emperor's Candlesticks and Big City) and a third was already underway (The Toy Wife). None of these roles are significantly challenging in light of her historic double.
Although there were eventually three novels by Pearl Buck in what was to become known as the House of Earth trilogy, and despite the success of The Good Earth, the remaining two, Sons (1933) and A House Divided (1935), were not filmed. MGM did return to the same territory, however, in 1942 when Jack Conway and Harold S. Bucquet directed a screen version Buck's Dragon Seed. Some reports in the press suggested that Muni and Rainer would be returning to play the two leads (not the same characters) - it is highly unlikely that this was ever close to being a reality, as Luise had been away from MGM for over four years by this point. The roles were played by Katharine Hepburn and Walter Huston.
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Credits |
Cast |
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To the memory of
Irving Grant Thalberg
we dedicate this picture, his last great achievement
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents
The Good Earth
starring
Paul Muni and Luise Rainer¹
with Walter Connolly, Tilly Losch, Charley Grapewin, Jessie Ralph
Associate Producer: Albert Lewin
Directed by Sidney Franklin²
Screen Play by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger and Claudine West
Based upon the novel by Pearl S. Buck
Adapted for the stage by Owen Davis and Donald Davis
Produced by The Theatre Guild Inc.
Musical Score by Herbert Stothart
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Associates: Harry Oliver, Arnold Gillespie, Edwin B. Willis
Wardrobe by Dolly Tree
Phorographed by Karl Freund, A.S.C.¹
Film Editor: Basil Wrangell
Montage by Slavko Vorkapich
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Paul Muni as Wang
Luise Rainer¹ as O-lan
Walter Connolly as Uncle
Tilly Losch as Lotus
Charley Grapewin as Old Father
Jessie Ralph as Cuckoo
Soo Yong as Aunt
Keye Luke as Elder Son
Roland Lui asYounger Son
Suzanna Kim as Little Fool
Ching Wah Lee as Ching
Harold Huber as Cousin
Olaf Hytten as Liu, Grain Merchant
William Law as the Gateman
Mary Wong as the Little Bride
¹ Academy Award winner
² Academy Award nomination |
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