The Good Earth: A relic that feels weirdly huge

Is it worth watching?

If you're the kind of person who enjoys watching old-school Hollywood tackle 'epic' storytelling with massive sets and way too many extras, you'll probably get a kick out of The Good Earth. It’s definitely a time capsule. If you're looking for something authentic or modern, you’re going to hate it. It's incredibly heavy-handed and feels like it's trying to win an Oscar in every single frame.

Watching Paul Muni and Luise Rainer play Chinese farmers is... something. It’s obviously very much a product of 1937, where casting was just whatever the studio felt like doing that Tuesday. You have to get past the heavy makeup pretty quickly, or you’ll just be staring at their eyes the whole time trying to figure out what’s going on.

The locusts, though.

There is this one scene with a swarm of locusts that is genuinely insane. I don't know how they filmed it without someone getting hurt or losing their mind. It feels frantic and desperate in a way the rest of the movie doesn't quite manage. It’s loud, messy, and you can practically feel the insects crawling over your own screen. That moment alone is worth the price of admission if you like practical effects disasters.

Odd bits and pieces:

• The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it crawls, then suddenly we’re years ahead.
• The set design for the farm looks so much like a studio lot that you can almost see the painters' footprints.
• I kept thinking about how this compared to something like The Beggar Prince, mostly because both movies feel like they’re trying to build a whole world out of nothing but cardboard and grit.
• There’s a scene where they eat a meal, and the way they hold their bowls looks like they were coached for five minutes before the cameras rolled. It’s distracting.

The movie really drags whenever they try to be 'dramatic' about the family’s fortune. It gets all soapy, and the music swells until your ears ache. I found myself wishing they’d just go back to filming the crops growing or the dust storms. The quiet parts are actually the best parts, oddly enough.

It’s not a film I’d recommend to everyone, but it’s interesting as a piece of history. Just don’t expect it to feel real. It feels like a stage play that got lost on its way to a bigger soundstage. 🌾