I just finished the book today and LOVED IT. I'm wondering how well the movie compares. As you probably know, it's very hard sometimes to find information on these old movies. Seems like no one watches them anymore! I'd appreciate insight from anyone who's seen the movie and read the book. Thanks!
shareThe movies going to be on tv today in an hour! AMC or TMC
shareI liked the book better... maybe because it's more in depth. I just saw the movie on TCM, Turner Classic Movie, and maybe because its a little old fashion, but it seemed a little different from the book. Someone fill me in on this because I read the book like 5 years ago, and forgot a lot of materials. But doesn't Wang Lung die at the end or something?
At the end of the book the two sons are walking Wang Lung out to see the land and they promise him thatthey will always keep the land, then give eachother a look like, "yeah, right." I don't think he dies at the end, it just suggests that he is very old. I don't know why they didn't show that in the film. They left a lot of stuff out of the movie, but what they did show seemed to be accurate to the book.
shareread the book... hated it. granted it was a school assignment which may account for the loathing, but i thought the story was pointless, and sad.
no i am not a hater of sad stories, but i just didnt find any new enlightenment from reading the book.
The wall i beat my head against never hits me back
they wanted a HAPPY ending to say that all is not lost.
shareI thought the book was pretty good, haven't watched the film.
shareThe book and the movie were pretty different. Things happened that were not in the book. It compared pretty good though compared to today's novel based movies. I did not see the end. I heard the foot binding scene was gruesome.
when life stinks, plug your nose!
Um, I think whoever told you there was a foot binding scene was pulling your leg.
shareThis original thread is way old, so you've probably already watched the movie...but if you haven't, DON'T DO IT. I recently read the book and really enjoyed it, and then decided to watch the movie. I was extremely disappointed in the film adaptation, mainly because it was so far off base from the message and intent of the book. The movie was worlds different from the book, in story line and character development. I would love to see a re-make of this film starring Chinese actors and an accurate portrayal of the point of the novel.
share"...mainly because it was so far off base from the message and intent of the book..."
Keep in mind though that there were a lot of difficulties in trying to film this - not the least of which was that Paul Muni (who played Wang Lung) kept wandering off set. As I understand it he wasn't really interested in the role (even if he did a decent job of it) but, as it was filmed during the time when studios still had contracts with actors, his studio said do it so he more or less had to.
I completely feel in love with the book the first time I read it back in junior high. (Yeah, I was one of those super bookworm types who even read the entire book in about a week - frustrating my teacher and classmates alike. *grins*) I haven't yet had a chance to see the movie though, I really do want to just for the sake of seeing it, despite the fact there's a good chance I'll be disappointed in it for many of the reasons everyone's already mentioned.
A remake would be fantastic, with the abilities studios have now to film on location, to cast actors more appropriately, even the digital effects that could be used for things like the locust plague, it has the potential to be phenominal. Sadly I doubt it will happen any time soon, if at all. People today are so hung up on being 'pc' and there are so many people that would scream about it stereotyping Chinese people and misrepresenting their culture that I can't see most studios taking the risk on it. Even though other films, like Anna and the King, have done beautifully with newer versions, even managing to put more of what the original novels were intending to convey into the same amount of time (or, in some cases, less time), I think most filmmakers would shy away from it as being potentially too dry. It's a period piece and the climate for period pieces has to be just right for them to do well. :(
Who knows, with a bit of luck it'll happen sometime in my lifetime so I can enjoy it, until then, if nothing else I can always reread the novel and watch the images forming in my mind - they may not be quite in technicolour, but at least that way I never have to feel like the cast was poorly chosen. *winks*
Obviously everyone here has read the book except me. While I've just fininshed the film but never read the book or heard about the storyline before. I indeed heard about Pearl S. Buck that she didn't really deserve the Nobel Prize. But the film turns out to be surprisingly touching and beautiful(some scenes also quite funny), the story and the film actually remind me great adaption works like "the Wrath of Grape", "How Green was My Valley". So I don't believe the novel is a bad one. I guess, probably, most complainers are from highschool level. I can understand how boring an ancient Chinese farmer's story could be for today's kids.
About the movie itself, its performances are also brilliant, especially Luise Rainer, IMO, she was perfect in this role and got a well-deserved Oscar. The editing and the cinematography of the film also surprised me. The locust scene is really amazing. I don't know how they create that effect, but for a film made 70 years ago, it looks really very good. A similar scene could be found in a German film, "Nowhere in Africa", also a very touching one(It is interesting that the scene also brings the family back together).
Anyway, this is definitely the best film about China I have watched since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Acutally I have watched several old films about china recently, including "China Girl", "Flying Tigers", "30 Seconds Over Tokyo", I aslo watched "the Painted Veil" last month, in my opinion, this definitely is the best one about China made by Hollywood(including American writer). The second best could be "The Sand Pebbles".
"The editing and the cinematography of the film also surprised me. The locust scene is really amazing. I don't know how they create that effect, but for a film made 70 years ago, it looks really very good."
Actually as I understand it the reason that scene worked so well was that the filmmakers found out that a there were locust swarming a few counties over so they rushed over and got footage from that. I've heard that Ms Rainer did do a spectacular job, so now I wanna see it even more! Guess I'll have to try to find a copy locally as soon as I can eh?
Glad to hear you enjoyed the movie that much though, it raises my hopes a bit! :)
Imagination is intelligence with an erection.
O god i hated this book. It was for school and the teacher made us read the chapter and than the next day explain the whole chapter sentence by sentence. And the movie was really boring 2
My heart is a fist drenched in blood
My soul will fight again- My heart is a fist
the car chase was stunning, i loved it when the 2 motorbikes exploded.
shareI read the book and wrote a book report about it in high school. IMO the title of the book expressed the main reason Wang had for living - the land. He could take other wives, go to prostitutes and have sons, but he was living for the land. When the movie didn't show the sly looks between the sons as they promised their father that they would keep the land and care for it it lost the whole point of the movie.
Who is Keyser Soze?