The Good Earth (film)

The Good Earth is a 1937 American drama film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the play by Owen Davis and Donald Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prizewinning author Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, with uncredited contributions by Victor Fleming and Gustav Machaty.

In preWorld War I northern China, a young farmer Wang Lung Paul Muni marries OLan Luise Rainer, a lowly servant at the Great House, the residence of the most powerful family in their village. OLan proves to be an excellent wife, hard working and uncomplaining. Wang Lung prospers. He buys more land, and OLan gives birth to two sons and a daughter. Meanwhile, the Great House begins to decline.All is well until a drought and the resulting famine drive the family to the brink. Desperate, Wang Lung considers the advice of his pessimistic, worthless uncle Walter Connolly to sell his land for food, but OLan opposes it. Instead, they travel south to a city in search of work. The family survives by begging and stealing. When a revolutionary gives a speech to try to drum up support for the army approaching despite rain in the north, Wang Lung and OLan realize the drought is over. They long to return to their farm, but they have no money for an ox, seed, and food. ........

Source: Wikipedia