Grapes of Wrath

John Ford (director)
Nunnally Johnson (screenwriter)
John Steinbeck (novel)
John Carradine, Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell (starring)

Hollywood: Technicolor Motion Picture, 1939. Vintage, oversize, double weight publicity photograph of the Joad family from the 1940 film, with the ironic Christmas message etched onto the negative along bottom "The Joad Family wish you a Merry Christmas and hope to see you soon." "Donn G Wescott Technicolor Motion Picture Corp" stamp and "E.S. Blake Dec 15 1939" stamp with the annotation "ESB" to right of stamp and "From Sallisaw, Okla. 13/11/39" at bottom in manuscript pencil, all on verso.

Based on the 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by John Steinbeck.

The now-famed story of a suffering sharecropper family forced to relocate, John Ford's film adaptation stays true to the tone of Steinbeck's original, which was published only three months before producer Darryl F. Zanuck acquired the rights. Though Steinbeck purportedly threatened to sue the studio using the money he made from the sale if they changed the story's intent to bring attention to the conditions of migrant workers, he was quite pleased with both Nunnally Johnson's screenplay and the film itself. The ending to the film varies significantly from that of the book, with Steinbeck's acknowledgment of the need for such a change.

Winner of two Academy Awards and nominated for five others, including Best Picture. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1989.

Set in Oklahoma and en route to California, shot on location in California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arizona.

14 x 11 inches. Very Good, with creasing at top and corners, four small closed tears and chip to top right corner.

National Film Registry. Ebert II. Rosenbaum 1000. Scorsese, A Personal Journey Through American Movies.


[Book #148582]