First came marriage, an arranged union of peasant farmer Wang Lung (Paul Muni) and kitchen slave O-Lan (Luise Rainer). Then, through poverty and wealth, family and betrayal, and war and pestilence, came love.

From Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth combines Wang and O-Lan's story with a sweeping saga of China in upheaval. Muni and Rainer had both won 1936 Academy Awards®*, and Rainer repeated here with another Best Actress Oscar®*. The film also won for Best Cinematography - with camerawork most powerfully on display in the astonishing locust-plague sequence. Producer Irving Thalberg, known for combining literary prestige with commercial success, died during the production, and the film is dedicated to him.