On Friday, May 15 at 7:00 pm, the public is invited to the Marion Music Hall for the month’s Classic Film Friday Presentation, the 1940 drama, The Grapes of Wrath. Directed by John Ford, it explores a share-cropping family’s trials and misfortunes during the Great Depression. Having served four years in prison for killing a man, Tom Joad (played by Henry Fonda) heads back to the family farm in Oklahoma. Along the way, he meets a former preacher (John Carradine) who has lost his faith. The pair finds Joad’s family farm deserted. Though Tom is reunited with his family at his uncle’s farm, he discovers that they must also leave that farm the next day. The extended family of eight – plus the preacher – packs up and heads to California to look for work. Once they arrive, the Joads soon realize that the ‘promised land’ isn’t quite what they hoped.
The Grapes of Wrath is based on John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards (including Best Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role) and won two (Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Jane Darwell). In 1989, the film was one of the first 25 films to be selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Running time for The Grapes of Wrath is 129 minutes. A brief talk-back session by David Pierce will follow. The Marion Music Hall is located at 164 Front Street, and ample parking is available across the street at Island Wharf. For more information, contact the SHS at 508-748-1116.