(I saw the all silent version.)
The simple ending was in sharp contrast to the melodramas prevalent then so that makes it seem more modern and keeps the focus at the end on the all-important hail storm, which would be the overriding concern for any farm family. The father was shocked by what he had almost done, but it was unlikely he would have been able to hit a moving target in the dark in a high wind when overwrought with anger, so smashing the light was closer to reality. This was similar to when the crisis occurs in a dire illness. A person still isn't healthy but the worst is over. And then they still had to save the wheat. (Must have been a very slow-moving storm to read about it in the newspaper! These people seriously needed to get a radio.)
Using the inflation calculator it is stunning how much money they were going to get for that wheat! $29,440 in 1930 would be about $423,000 in 2015 money! That's about 16.52 a bushel. Check out how much wheat is going for today and you'll see they were making out like bandits in this movie. Even at the lower price they were still getting over $400,000 in modern terms. It's what happens when much of the wheat belt is doing badly because of a deepening drought and you are well to the east of that disaster. The father said they would be in desperate trouble if they got less for the wheat but the inflation calculator shows us that wasn't true unless they had a fantastic debt load and looking at how spartan the farm was, that is hard to believe. It seems like an early sign of his mental problems. (Did most farmers in MN sell their unharvested wheat by going in person to the Chicago Board of Trade? In Kansas many brought harvested wheat to the co-op silos in town and sold it from there.) They should be able to, at the very least, build a little house for the young couple, and save some land for a nice vegetable garden, fruit trees, a milk cow, some pigs, chickens, and some flowers. They certainly planted every inch of wheat possible! I have to say I've never seen anything like it. :)
The father's obsession with wheat indicated greed and mental imbalance. Pressing the wheat in the family Bible was really something, too. That verged on idolatry. I was surprised he didn't fire the man chewing on the stalk of wheat! He objected to his son's wife because he thought she wanted some of his riches. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He even had his little daughter cringing away from him in fear. He seemed to be going mad. Potentially shooting his son snapped him out of it and enabled everyone to get what he or she wanted but had almost lost. And they banded together to get in the wheat because they were working toward a common goal, which in farming terms is living happily ever after.
I don't think many reviewers came from family who farmed in the Dirty Thirties. I see this movie differently because of that. :) This was a screamingly, poorly run farm. It was a sign that the father was unable to cope with real life anymore. Changes WILL be made, at the end of this movie. :) He needs to modernize and diversify. A farm where the entire crop, an entire year's work, can be wiped out in a storm is a terrible idea, as is living on land where you cannot survive if that storm occurs because you have nothing to butcher and can. I imagine there were a lot of people in the audience in 1930 who saw that clearly. The more the father was losing his grip mentally, the tighter he held onto his power, and the worse the farm was run.
If I were going to point to anything as rushed and unbelievable it would be the two people falling in love that fast and getting married immediately. People, please, at least have one or two in depth conversations first! Pre-code movie couples always seemed to marry in haste and repent at leisure. Divorce was getting easier to obtain and if you made a hideous mistake you could fix it.
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