The Grapes of Wrath

John Ford’s acclaimed film of Steinbeck’s novel about Oklahoma farmers travelling to California during the Depression boasts a fine cast and magnificent imagery.

  • Director

    John Ford

  • With

    Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin

  • USA 1940. 129min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    PG

Though its ending is lighter than that of Steinbeck’s novel, and the politics softened, Ford’s classic remains a remarkably powerful account of Oklahoma tenant farmers – the Joads, forced from their land during the Depression – embarking on a harsh odyssey in search of a better life in California. The performances are superb, but it’s Ford’s lyrical deployment of Gregg Toland’s magnificent cinematography that sticks in the mind.