The Good Earth

(Sidney Franklin, Victor Fleming, Gustav Machatý, Sam Wood, US 1937, 138 min., 35mm)

National Endowment for the Arts. Based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning 1931 novel by Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth was a high-profile production for MGM. The studio spent nearly three million dollars over a period of three years to bring the story to life in the grandest way possible. Luise Rainer and Paul Muni star as Chinese farmers struggling to provide for their family. Rainer would win her second consecutive Oscar for her role, before leaving the limelight the following year.