The Grapes of Wrath, 1940

I can now mark off another movie from the AFI top 100 list, and I can also add another great film to the list of movies I've seen. The Grapes of Wrath was much better than I had expected. I guess I had some sort of predetermined aversion to the movie because the book was required reading in many classes when I was in high school. I never read the book, but I knew many people who did. Of course, no student likes a book they are forced to read, so all I heard were bad things. I shouldn't trust the reviews of a high school student, and I shouldn't judge a movie based on the book, either. The Grapes of Wrath tells the gripping, sorrowful story of the Joad family moving from the Dust Bowl to California in search of work. Rumors and flyers promising an abundance of jobs and high wages get their hopes up, but the Joads are disappointed when they arrive. Local workers are protesting the influx of migrants, and many workers are striking in an attempt to combat plummeting wages. The pain this family endures is real, and it really hits home watching this film. Everything that could go wrong seemed to for these poor folks. Movies like this make me very thankful for what I have. Considering the source material is from 1940, I think the DVD looked and sounded quite good. The audio was presented in stereo and was quite clean. There were no overly distracting pops or clicks, and the dialog was mostly very clear. The video was relatively clean, but could benefit from further restoration. The contrast was, for the most part, very good.

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