Never having had to apparently suffer through this book in high school, I began this film with decent hopes of a good story. While many believe films can never be a match to the original narrative in novels, there are just some books which were not meant to be made cinematically in the first place. I feel that The Grapes of Wrath is one of those movies. This film is a painfully dull period piece that emits historical appreciation like a slow burn. The sole purpose of this movie is to give modern audiences a look at how easy they have it compared to Americans in this time, but this story is suited much better for ink and paper.
The main elements of a film that make it entertaining for an audience are typically its story and performances, as those are the two most obvious parts. Unfortunately, this movie did not have a good cast or good writing. The story in this film follows Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda, who has just returned home after serving a four-year prison sentence. As he reconnects with his family, he finds out that the family home is going to be demolished and they must move out west to California in hopes of finding work. I am sure that in the original novel that this film is based on, there are plenty of interesting and entertaining stories of this family as they struggle to move out west. This novel is definitely not intended to be translated to the screen, however, as the story is excruciatingly slow and turns itself into more of an environmental period piece. The events of this film take place during the Dust Bowl, which makes for one of the only interesting parts of this movie. While I had learned in history class about what settlers had to do in the 1930s in order to survive, I was not aware of the multitude of other struggles that they had to endure. My respect for this generation of people has definitely increased as I personally would not be able to thrive in the kinds of conditions that they were put through.
I truly thought that Henry Fonda, being a part of one of the biggest acting families in cinematic history, would give a much better performance than what he did. In fact, he was the only aspect of this movie that I was looking forward to, but his portrayal of the newly-returned son was very stale and devoid of life. The entire cast of this film was this same way, never showing any kind of emotion or energy towards their characters. Mama Joad, played by Jane Darwell, was the only performer involved where I actually felt she knew she was in a movie. She seemed to be the only one giving any kind of care to her character and I looked forward to her scenes because I knew she would actually be showing the correct emotions. There were actually multiple shots throughout this film of certain actors in which they were clearly staring at either some kind of teleprompter or lines somewhere off in the distance because their facial expressions did not match the dialogue coming out of their mouths.
While Darwell gave an enjoyable performance, I also adored the set design throughout the various locations. The designers for this film were incredible, making some of the most accurate and detailed backdrops for the story. Despite some shooting locations being seen obviously in a sound stage, I really enjoyed the setting that was built. This was, sadly, not due to either the cinematography or editing, however. Gregg Toland's camera work and Robert L. Simpson's editing were woefully mediocre. In an adaption like this one, one might think that there would be interesting technical pieces that can not be seen in the pages of a book. Since there has never been a visual imagining of said book, these technical elements can often create a story of their own that original readers may find interesting. This is not the case for The Grapes of Wrath, however, as there is absolutely nothing to further that case. In the different locations that they shot in, there was so much potential for something vaguely interesting, but that potential was not utilized at all.
There is a reason why The Grapes of Wrath is never referred to nowadays in terms of anything groundbreaking in film, but rather used in high school English classes. This movie is the epitome of a period piece, except there is nothing cinematically that stands out in the slightest. While my appreciation for the struggles of these people has increased, I will surely forget about anything else this movie attempted to offer.
My Rating: ★½
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