The Good Earth was adapted for the stage by Owen Davis and Donald Davis and produced on Broadway in 1932 starring Alla Nazimova as O-lan. The film (1937), which took four years to make and was shot with authentic Chinese backdrops and a Chinese landscape recreated forty miles from Hollywood, starred Paul Muni and Luise Rainer. The movie cost $2.8 million to produce and lost almost a half million dollars despite its huge popularity.

Still considered one of Hollywood's finest films, it won two academy awards: Luise Rainer for Best Actress and Karl Freund for Cinematography.