1st watch 8/29/2009 positive ( dir sidney franklin ) represent well tell account of farmer in china and their rise to prominence and struggle with what mother nature throw at them . this movie be base on an award win novel and chronicle a family start with the son arrange marriage to a slave girl . the movie do a good job of keep your interest despite a somewhat hammy performance by the lead play by paul muni . it chronicle and wong long ( the character play by muni ) and how he work the land and buy more land and eventually become very rich but then return to the land where he originally start . the relationship between him and his wife and play by luise rainer and be the main thread of the story ( besides the land itself ) and despite the obvious non chinese actor it do a pretty good job of display the country and it people . it obvious that mgm use it money to create a really good epic with this one in an era where they could probably afford it . the scene with the locust be do exceedingly well and the rest of th movie really look good warrant the best cinematography award at the oscar in that year . the definitive definition of an epic be what this story be and it pull off pretty well .