Steinbeck's most prolific saga of human suffrage brought vividly to the screen

Rating: 9/10 (11 August 2005)

"The Grapes of Wrath" is an inspired, harsh and critical retake on the Great Depression and its human fall out. While other studios were producing ultra high glamor and star driven vehicles, Darryl F. Zanuck chose to turn his spotlight on the crisis of the country and came up with an all time box office winner. It stars Henry Fonda as the forgotten man of conscience who is forced to leave his homestead in search of a hopefully better life that, sadly, is not to be. Jane Darwell is brilliant as Ma Joad, the defiant, resilient and compelling matriarch who keeps the family together through these tough times. Dark was the world of the 1930s in reality, but never was it more magically brought to life than in this inspirational film of hope, courage and the dream of prosperity that must have seemed so far out of reach at the time of the film's general release.
TRANSFER: Previous versions of this film have looked as though they were caught in their own dust bowl. This DVD managed to recapture much of the lost visual style absent in earlier versions. Greg Tolland's evocative camera work is magnificently captured. Black levels are deep. The gray scale, for the most part is well balanced and captures the stark harshness of the original presentation. There are a host of age related artifacts present throughout but these have at least been tempered and do not terribly distract. There is some shimmering of fine details and more than a hint of pixelization in this transfer. Nevertheless, the image quality is an improvement over previous incarnations. Somehow it almost seems to add to the vintage of subject matter of this film. The audio is remixed to 5.1 but really  this is a mono film with very little spread or reason for it across your other channels.
BOTTOM LINE: "The Grapes of Wrath" is an enduring tale of enduring souls caught in the uncertainty of their times. But there's no uncertainty about my recommendation of this disc. An absolute must!