“The Grapes of Wrath”

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21229, 27 September 1940, Page 10

“The Grapes of Wrath”

No book in a generation has stirred the world more than John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” Its touching story of hunger and sickness and desperation among California’s 200,000 migratory workers, shocked millions of workers just as aid the works of Victor Hugo and Tolstoi in other eras. Even before the novel was on the book-shelves Darryl F. Zanuck read the proof sheets and recognised the gripping, human story that it told, a story packed with more thrilling drama and raw emotions than any work of fiction, because this was real, this was happening to tens of thousands of hard-working American farmers who had lost their lands in the Oklahoma dust-bowl. Besieged by stars in Hollywood, who were anxious for roles in the great novel, Zanuck tested scores as he slowly chose a cast that matched in physical appearance, and moods, those down-to-earth people of Steinbeck's imagination. Henry Fonda, whose portrayals of humble, real people have won him plaudits in the past, stepped into the shoes of Tom Joad. One of the movie capital’s greatest directors, John Ford, Motion Picture Academy Award winner, directed “The Grapes of Wrath.”