...one of the most powerful films Hollywood ever made, and it's just as moving today as it was all those years ago.
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So what if the movie only gives us a portion of John Steinbeck's classic novel, leaving out his controversial ending. So what if the story line sometimes meanders. So what if some of the acting by current standards seems a tad stilted or overly theatrical. So what if parts of it are sentimental. So what if it's in black-and-white and monaural. John Ford's 1940 production of "The Grapes of Wrath" is one of the most powerful films Hollywood ever made, and it's just as moving today as it was all those years ago.
Steinbeck was an unflagging champion of the common man. "Tortilla Flat," "In Dubious Battle," "Of Mice and Men," "Cannery Row," "The Pearl," "The Red Pony," "East of Eden," you name it; they were naturalistic stories about the working class and the poor, with "The Grapes of Wrath" (1939) his greatest achievement, helping to earn him a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
But it wasn't all that easy to bring the book to the screen. The novel--about the plight of Oklahoma farmers forced off their homesteads during the Great Depression and coming to California's San Joaquin Valley, only to find added hardships in the "land of milk and honey"--had been the subject of much debate and concern. It was branded "leftest" by conservative business interests of the day and sometimes even "communist" propaganda, infuriating many of the country's banks and corporate farm interests who claimed Steinbeck was exaggerating a problem that didn't exist. The proposed screen adaptation so annoyed the Associated Farmers of California that they called for a boycott of all Fox studio films. Steinbeck's own safety was threatened.
The movie company took pains to assure the public that the film was not political or taking sides, but, of course, the film does side plainly with the downtrodden "Okie" farmers. Steinbeck himself loved Ford's realization of the work, saying that it had "a hard, truthful ring. No punches are pulled. In fact, it is a harsher thing than the book by far."
The story concerns one particular Oklahoma family pushed off their land, the Joads. A combination of harsh droughts and harsher bankers forced sharecroppers to abandon the homes they had been living on for generations. Many of their places were literally bulldozed away. The Joads, faced with no prospect of government assistance and the serious possibility of starvation, answer the call of handbills claiming the need for 800 pickers in California. Like thousands of other despairing folks, they pack up the family and head West, discovering in the "Golden State" a jarring reality: too many migrant farmers and not enough jobs. What's more, without tough minimum wage laws or strong farm labor unions, they find themselves at the mercy of the big farming interests, who can afford to pay workers a wage well below what they promise, take it or leave it. Living conditions were ragged for these migratory workers, sanitary issues and housing were abysmal, and strike busters and armed guards were stationed at most transient camps.
Before the studio made the film of Steinbeck's novel, the studio boss, Darryl F. Zanuk, insisted upon sending private detectives to check up on the shape of things in actual California migrant camps and see if Steinbeck wasn't exaggerating the situation. The detectives found conditions were actually worse than Steinbeck had described them in his book.
Ford had originally wanted either Tyrone Power or Don Ameche to play the pivotal role of Tom Joad, the young man just released from prison who returns to his family after serving four years for homicide, but the part went to Henry Fonda, a role that made him a star. Fonda exemplified the common man and brought to the character a greater intensity than probably anyone expected. Fonda's Tom Joad is a man who says at the beginning of the movie wants only "to get along without shoving anybody, that's all," but who ends up a willing martyr to the cause of human rights. Through the course of the story, Tom develops an interest outside himself, a readiness to stand up to the giants of oppression and fight for the rights of the little man. He becomes, in other words, a hero in every sense of the word.
Equally stirring in their roles are Jane Darwell as Ma Joad, the strength of the family, winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress; John Carradine as the former preacher who has "lost the Spirit" but who gains a new vitality in his fight for justice; Charley Grapewin as Grandpa Joad, effecting one of the most poignant scenes in the film as the old man who refuses to leave the farm he was born and raised on; and John Qualen as Muley, a neighboring farmer driven mad by the indifference of the world around him.
The production was given top priority by Twentieth Century Fox, with studio chief Zanuck overseeing the project himself. The script was written by Nunnally Johnson, who co-produced the picture, and the cinematography was handled by Gregg Toland. Johnson would go on to write "The Keys of the Kingdom," "Tobacco Road," "The Gunfighter," "The Desert Fox," "The Three Faces of Eve," and "The Dirty Dozen," among many others, while Toland would photograph "Citizen Kane" the next year.
The script omits the final chapters of Steinbeck's novel and rearranges a final scene (ironically directed by Zanuck, not Ford), but the film manages an affecting nobility of heart and nerve that seems perfect for the occasion. Toland's camera work captures all of the dust and dirt of the roads and land, while elevating the art of black-and-white photography to its some of its greatest heights. And Ford uses Toland's cinematography, with its emotionally framed long shots and frugality of close-ups, to evoke a keen sense of isolation, desperation, and eventual community. It's only when the story absolutely needs close-ups that Ford moves in for them, and then they are all the more effective for their emphasis. The film results in conveying an almost documentary-like atmosphere, yet at the same time a most personal tone; a strong political statement and warm human drama. It's a splendid accomplishment.
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