The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)
John Steinbeck (novel)

Release Date:

15 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The thousands who have read the book will know why WE WILL NOT SELL ANY CHILDREN TICKETS to see this picture!

Plot:

A poor Midwest family is forced off of their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.

Plot Keywords:

Grandfather Grandson Relationship | California History | Boy | Sharecropper | Fruit

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 5 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Tom Joad
Jane Darwell	...	Ma Joad
John Carradine	...	Casy
Charley Grapewin	...	Grandpa
Dorris Bowdon	...	Rosasharn
Russell Simpson	...	Pa Joad
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Al
John Qualen	...	Muley
Eddie Quillan	...	Connie
Zeffie Tilbury	...	Grandma
Frank Sully	...	Noah
Frank Darien	...	Uncle John
Darryl Hickman	...	Winfield
Shirley Mills	...	Ruth Joad
Roger Imhof	...	Thomas
Grant Mitchell	...	Caretaker
Charles D. Brown	...	Wilkie
John Arledge	...	Davis
Ward Bond	...	Policeman
Harry Tyler	...	Bert
William Pawley	...	Bill
Charles Tannen	...	Joe
Selmer Jackson	...	Inspection Officer (as Selmar Jackson)
Charles Middleton	...	Leader
Eddy Waller	...	Proprietor (as Eddie Waller)
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Floyd
David Hughes	...	Frank
Cliff Clark	...	City Man
Joe Sawyer	...	Bookkeeper (as Joseph Sawyer)
Frank Faylen	...	Tim
Adrian Morris	...	Agent
Hollis Jewell	...	Muley's Son
Robert Homans	...	Spencer
Irving Bacon	...	Driver
Kitty McHugh	...	Mae
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wally Albright	...	Boy who ate (uncredited)
Erville Alderson	...	Arkansas storekeeper (uncredited)
Arthur Aylesworth	...	Father (uncredited)
Trevor Bardette	...	Jule, bouncer at dance (uncredited)
George P. Breakston	...	Boy (uncredited)
Shirley Coates	...	(uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Jim Corey	...	Buck Jackson, witness at dance (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Thornton Edwards	...	Motorcycle cop (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Deputy (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Guard (uncredited)
Francis Ford	...	(uncredited)
William Haade	...	Deputy with shotgun (uncredited)
Ben Hall	...	Gas station attendant in Bakersfield (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood	...	Gas station attendant (uncredited)
Rex Lease	...	Cop (uncredited)
Mae Marsh	...	Floyd's wife (uncredited)
Louis Mason	...	Man in camp (uncredited)
Walter McGrail	...	Gang leader (uncredited)
Walter Miller	...	New Mexico border guard (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Deputy #1 (uncredited)
George O'Hara	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Ted Oliver	...	State policeman (uncredited)
Inez Palange	...	Woman in camp (uncredited)
Steve Pendleton	...	Gas station attendant #2 in Needles (uncredited)
Jack Pennick	...	Camp helper (uncredited)
Bob Reeves	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Dick Rich	...	Keene Ranch guard (uncredited)
Gloria Roy	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Peggy Ryan	...	Hungry girl (uncredited)
Robert Shaw	...	Gas station attendant #1 in Needles (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Georgia Simmons	...	Woman (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Fred, trucker #2 at diner (uncredited)
Paul Sutton	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Deputy / Troublemaker (uncredited)
Tom Tyler	...	Deputy handcuffing Casy (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	(uncredited)
Dan White	...	Poor man walking with woman in transient camp (uncredited)
Norman Willis	...	Joe, shot at Floyd (uncredited)
Bill Wolfe	...	Square-dance caller (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Nunnally Johnson		(screenplay)
John Steinbeck		(novel "The Grapes of Wrath")

Produced by
Nunnally Johnson	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer

Cinematography by
Gregg Toland		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert L. Simpson		(as Robert Simpson)

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Mark-Lee Kirk

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Gwen Wakeling

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward O'Fearna	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)
George Leverett	....	sound
Edmund H. Hansen	....	sound (uncredited)
Robert Parrish	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles G. Clarke	....	director of photography: second unit (uncredited)
Lou Kunkel	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Robert Parrish	....	negative cutter (uncredited)

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director
Danny Borzage	....	musician: accordion (uncredited)

Other crew
Tom Collins	....	technical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Centfox (1953) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Fox Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Key Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Highway 66 (USA) (fake working title)

Runtime:

128 min | West Germany:108 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #5789) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | West Germany:12 (f) | South Korea:12 | Soviet Union:(Banned) | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Brazil:12 | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:G (original rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 (re-release) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Banned in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin in 1940 because of its showing that even the poorest Americans could afford a car.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Pa Joad and Tom are talking about how they got some money to go on the trip, poor Uncle John carries the bed spring out the door three times.

Quotes:

Tom Joad: That Casy. He might have been a preacher but he seen things clear. He was like a lantern. He helped me to see things clear.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Creeping Terror (#7.6)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Going Down the Road Feeling Bad

Economic Dislocation

John Ford's film of John Steinbeck's novel has deservedly a classic film mirroring the views of both men and the times the book was written and filmed. Ford won his second Oscar for Best Director and Jane Darwell was the Best Supporting Actress of 1940.

For most of America the Depression started with the stock market crash of 1929. But for the farmers it really began at the end of World War I. Those were good years for agriculture, the war in Europe was a boom for agriculture. But when farm prices dropped after the Armistice, a whole lot of family farms went belly up. Lots of people left the farms for the big city and industry jobs. The Depression years unhappily coincided with some of the worst drought ever seen in America.

This is what many families like the Joads were facing in 1939 when the book was written. The banks had foreclosed on land that had withered to dust in any event. Folks like the Joads picked up and moved elsewhere, like California on a rumor of prosperity and jobs.

America was still changing from an agricultural to an industrial society back then. That causes a lot of trouble for people unskilled in any industrial job training. As a country we're going through something similar today in many areas. We're moving from an industrial to an information based economy. Industry jobs are being lost to other nations and older and poorer workers are suffering for it. It's progress I guess, but it takes its toll.

Some factory worker who has lost his job for any number of reasons can identify to some degree with the Joads, especially if they've lost a home they owned. For the Joads it was worse because they made their living off the land for many generations, identifying with it in a way that industrial workers could not.

Henry Fonda got his first Oscar nomination for Tom Joad. To get the part which he knew he was so right for, he signed a studio contract with 20th Century Fox. That caused him many problems later on, but those are stories for another film review.

Tom Joad is a midwest country kid, a whole lot like Fonda himself. Part of the story of The Grapes of Wrath is Tom himself trying to figure out why these economic forces are crushing him and his family and the way of life he's known. In the end when he leaves the Joad family and hits the open road, he's not got all the answers, but he's asking the questions. Tom hasn't figured it out, but a lot of people with many letters after their names haven't either. He only knows that he's got to get in the fight for economic justice.

Jane Darwell was in films from the earliest silent films to Mary Poppins in 1965. This became her career part and the mother role of all time. She's what holds the Joad family together in good times and bad. That's what moms do and get little recognition for it. Except in this case by the Motion Picture Academy.

John Carradine has his career part in this also. Another John Ford favorite, Carradine plays Casy the defrocked preacher who as he tells it disgraced himself with a female parishioner. After that preaching the gospel didn't seem quite right. When Fonda meets Carradine after Fonda's been released from prison, Carradine is asking a lot of questions about what is man's place in the metaphysical scheme of things. He's developing what we would now call situational ethics. Carradine's questions are on a higher plane, but he certainly inspires Fonda to ask for some answers himself.

The Grapes of Wrath illustrates that at least government can give first aid in a crisis. After being in privately run agricultural camps where they're treated like less than dirt, the Joads happen upon a camp run by the Department of Agriculture where at least they're treated like humans. As it turns out, the Secretary of Agriculture was one Henry A. Wallace who was running for Vice President that year with Franklin D. Roosevelt. I'll bet any number of people saw The Grapes of Wrath and saw a message of support for FDR and the New Deal.

Given some of the problems of the American economy today, The Grapes of Wrath though it appears dated isn't really all that much a relic of our past. It's both a timeless book and a timeless classic film.