Review of The Grapes of Wrath (1940) by James B — 03 Feb 2009

The opening twenty minutes are so are incredibly powerful; the symbolism of the souls these hard working people being run over by 'progress', by technology, and the inevitable weight of fate is chiseled in the image of the characters' shadows under the tracks of the tractors.

Ford very intelligently uses similar camera work as Dovzhenko in Earth, creating a beautiful and sad picture that I feel only can be told in black and white. The way that characters blend in with the background so poetically illustrates Muley's words when he calls them all "graveyard ghosts".

I cannot profess to really like Steinbeck at all, but this was a great film, and Ford truly turned made incredible use of the lighting (note when Ma Joad holds up the earrings and her eyes sparkle brighter than the jewels, suggesting that wealth is in her and family, not the physical), the cinematography, and the cast.