Fruits of Wrath (film)

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Movie
German title Grapes of Wrath
Original title The Grapes of Wrath
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 128 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Ford
script Nunnally Johnson
production Darryl F. Zanuck ,
Nunnally Johnson for
Twentieth Century Fox
music Alfred Newman
camera Gregg Toland
cut Robert L. Simpson
occupation
synchronization

Fruits of Wrath (Original title: The Grapes of Wrath ) is an American film by film director John Ford from 1940 and is based on the novel of the same name by the later Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck from 1939, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize the following year Award received. The film premiered on January 24, 1940 in New York City .

The Grapes of Wrath was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress . Like the book, Ford's film adaptation became a classic: It was one of the first 25 films to be included in the National Film Registry in 1989 and in a 1998 election by the American Film Institute, it was voted number 21 of the best American films of all time.

action

In the Great Depression in the United States: Tom Joad, who sat manslaughter four years in prison and was just released on parole, returns to his family, a farm in Oklahoma farmed. He finds the farmhouse uninhabited. He meets the former preacher Casy and the neighbor Muley, who tells him the story of the farmers during his absence: The Dust Bowl ensured that no profitable agriculture could be pursued, so that the farming families gradually moved from the large landowners of were displaced from their land. Tom's family also wants to leave Oklahoma for good. In response to handouts promising well-paid work as farm laborers in California, the family, like hundreds of thousands of others, set off west in a decrepit truck.

In addition to the parents, the grandparents, the uncle, the adult sons Tom, Al and Noah, the pregnant daughter Rose of Sharon (allusion to the biblical Rose of Sharon ) with her young husband Connie, the children Ruthie and Winfield and the traveling preacher Jim Casy travel . The grandparents cannot cope with the loss of their home and die on the arduous journey. Noah leaves the family, Connie runs away from his pregnant wife. The father, resignedly, loses his leadership role more and more to the mother, who tries with all her might and with the support of Tom to prevent the family from breaking up.

In California, instead of the well-paid work they had hoped for, families expect economic exploitation, hunger and hostility from the local population. They move from place to place, but everywhere too many are competing for work that cheap wages are paid. When finally Jim Casy, who has joined a group of strikers, is slain by auxiliary troops of the landowners as a rebel, Tom committed a second manslaughter on a security guard. An autonomously managed state migrant camp provides the Joad family, who are traveling on, with another short rest. Finally, Tom takes over the thoughts of the itinerant preacher, leaves the family, also in order not to endanger them through his act, in order to dedicate himself to the fight for the rights of migrants. The family moves on in their search for new work. The film ends with Ma Joad making a plea for the everlasting existence of the little people: “You know, the rich, they come and go, they die […]. But we can't be killed. [...] We will always be there, Pa, because we are the people. "( ... 'cos we're the people. )

background

John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath became a bestseller immediately after its publication, including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize . Within a month of the book's release, producer Darryl F. Zanuck von Steinbeck secured the film rights for $ 75,000. Nevertheless, a film adaptation in the times of the Hays Code was considered provocative, as Steinbeck's novel suggested, in the opinion of many, that capitalism does not work that way and that socialism could possibly be an alternative. In some cities at that time the book was removed from libraries or even burned in public. In order to defend himself against possible criticism of the film, the politically conservative Zanuck previously commissioned some employees to check on site whether the farmers' situation was as bad as Steinbeck described. The employees affirmed this after their investigation.

Ford found the novel particularly interesting because it addressed the issues of loss of property and the struggle for survival among ordinary people. Ford, who was of Irish origin, compared the family with his Irish ancestors, who could no longer survive in their homeland and who dared to venture to the USA. The shooting did not take place (as is often the case) exclusively in the film studio, but also on location on Route 66 . Since it was feared that the chambers of commerce of the states wanted to prevent the novel from being adapted, Ford filmed Route 66 there under the title that concealed the content .

Gregg Toland's camera work was often rated as remarkable, he deliberately relied on many poorly lit scenes in which there was sometimes only one light source. These scenes, both visually and in terms of content, gave the film the appearance of a “social film noir ”. Ford recalled Toland's work in 1967 in conversations with Peter Bogdanovich : "Gregg Toland did great camera work there - absolutely nothing, really absolutely nothing to be filmed, not a single nice thing in it - just good film images."

Steinbeck was initially concerned that the film would not stay true to the message of his novel. Although the end of the film is more optimistic compared to the book, Steinbeck was very satisfied and said that the film had an almost documentary style and a "hard, honest tone". Since the descriptive narrative voice of the book would be missing, the effect of the film is even harsher than in the original. Steinbeck also praised Fonda's portrayal of having "believed in his own words" through it.

Publication and audience success

The Fruits of Wrath premiered in Los Angeles on January 24, 1940, and finally hit US cinemas on March 15 of the same year. With a budget of around $ 800,000, he was able to bring in $ 2.5 million, making it a financial success. In the FRG the film was shown in cinemas for the first time in 1953, albeit in cut form. In complete form was The Grapes of Wrath seen in Germany for the first time on 2 May 1982 at the television.

synchronization

The second German dubbed version, which is shown today on television broadcasts and publications, was made in 1980 by Beta-Technik in Munich. The dialogue book was written by Werner Uschkurat , who also did the dubbing.

role actor German Dubbing voice (1980)
Tom Joad Henry Fonda Randolf Kronberg
Ma Joad Jane Darwell Maria Landrock
Pa Joad Russell Simpson Horst Sommer
Jim Casy, preacher John Carradine Fred Maire
Grandpa Joad Charley Grapewin Leo Bardischewski
Grandma Joad Zeffie Tilbury Gusti Kreißl
Rosasharn Joad Rivers Dorris Bowdon Marina Koehler
Al Joad OZ Whitehead Pierre Franckh
Muley Graves John torments Fred Klaus
Uncle John Joad Frank Darien Alois-Maria Giani
Noah Joad Frank Sully Willi Roebke
Head of the State Camp Grant Mitchell Niels Clausnitzer
Mr. Thomas, local employer Roger Imhof Walter Reichelt
Davis, tractor driver John Arledge Leon Rainer
Truck driver (opening scene) Irving Bacon Jochen Striebeck
Police officer at gas station Ward Bond Kurt E. Ludwig
Floyd, fleeing "agitator" Paul Guilfoyle Michael Brennicke
Tim Wallace Frank Faylen Klaus Guth
Bert, fast food cook Harry Tyler Kunibert Gensichen
Camp overseer Selmer Jackson Werner Uschkurat

Reviews

Lexicon of international films : " Film adaptation of the socially critical novel by John Steinbeck by John Ford. A sharp criticism of excesses of American capitalism and a documentation of the indomitable will to live of the people."

Filmzentrale.com: “Despite the sobriety of the portrayal, The Fruits of Anger is also a sentimental film, a strip whose content is touching, which is not least due to the grandiose portrayal by Fonda and Jane Darwell, who rightly won an Oscar for their role. It is precisely in the relationship between Tom and his mother that people express their unbroken courage to face life and their will not to let anything get them down and to stick together - like a Sisyphus job. Even if this mentality is portrayed as typically American in a typical American way and established Fonda's later role as an impeccable American, this does not detract from the positive impression the film leaves behind - because the representation can still be generalized insofar as it is based on similar situations in other countries seems quite transferable. "

Awards

Oscars 1941 :

The film was one of the first to be included in the National Film Registry in 1989 .

Awards from the renowned American Film Institute :

  • 1998: 21st place of the 100 best films of all time (2007: 23rd place)
  • The role of Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda , made it to 12th place of the top 50 movie heroes of all time
  • # 7 of the 100 most inspiring films of all time

Others

The expression Grapes of Wrath comes from the second line of the Battle Hymn of the Republic .

literature

Web links

Commons : Fruits of Wrath (film)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The film-makers must have known that the film was political dynamite. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  2. ↑ MoMA | John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  3. ↑ The film-makers must have known that the film was political dynamite. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  4. ↑ https://repozytorium.uwb.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/11320/1285/3/Peter_Foulds.pdf
  5. ↑ The film-makers must have known that the film was political dynamite. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  6. ↑ The film-makers must have known that the film was political dynamite. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  7. ^ The Grapes of Wrath | Grapes of Wrath. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  8. ↑ The film-makers must have known that the film was political dynamite. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  9. ^ The Grapes of Wrath: 10 surprising facts about John Steinbeck's novel . In: The Telegraph . ( telegraph.co.uk [accessed September 9, 2018]).
  10. ^ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History . Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 240, ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1
  11. ^ The Grapes of Wrath (1940), IMDb Release Dates. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  12. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Grapes of Wrath. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Fruits of Wrath. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used