Give Us the Earth! (1947) User Reviews

Good neighbor policy with Mexicans gets a workout...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 13 February 2009]

People must help the land produce crops, according to the agriculturalist at the center of this documentary about helping Mexican farmers make the best use of the land and farming techniques.

"You're poor because the land is poor," he tells the people that he and his wife are helping to plough the land.

The whole idea of the documentary is to demonstrate the "good neighbor policy" that was dramatized many times during the '40s between the United States and Mexico. This is amply demonstrated in the course of the documentary which shows the husband and wife team extending a hand to neighbors who want to learn the new techniques so they can grow beans and other produce to feed their families.

Summing up: Not dumb, as someone else suggested in his review, but an uplifting look at neighbors helping neighbors in rural farm areas that needed assistance to work the land.

You've Got It

[boblipton · 5/10 · 28 February 2022]

Spencer Hatch narrates and plays himself as a YMCA advisor helping some Mexican peons get better crops off their land by rotating crops and using contour plowing.

It's one of the THEATER OF LIFE shorts directed by Gunther von Fritsch, and like most of the, it's shot wild with a narration that tells you what's going on. Carlos Carbajal is in charge of the camera, although von Fritsch seems to have shot a few scenes; it's a handsome effort and well deserves its Oscar nomination.

Who cares if they're "patronized" . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 24 February 2014]

. . . as long as they get more food to eat, and "better" living conditions? Of course, everyone in the world should have their arms gently twisted to become "more like us." If GIVE US THE EARTH! star\narrator Spencer Hatch (no apparent relation to Richard--this 1940s U.N. ambassador to "backward" Mexicans keeps his clothes on) ran across a pocket of actual cave men, this 22-minute black and white short makes it clear he would tell them to stop conking the women over the head with clubs. Court them instead with long-stem roses and chocolates (for which he'd give them lessons in cultivating flowers and cocoa beans). He'd teach them to forsake their ready-made climate-controlled traditional homes for complicated free-standing edifices made of mud, clay, and indigenous vegetation. Since their diets would no longer insure the survival of their fittest teeth, he'd instruct them on 20th Century dental care. He'd point out the importance of NOT hiding their artistic gifts "under the bushel" of their native cave paintings, but instead teach them the value of manufacturing trinkets to sell to wealthy tourists who might come "slumming" around their more accessible new habitations. In short, Hatch--heedless of global warming, cultural heritage, natural population controls, and human diversity--is hell-bent on remaking the entire world in his own image.

Educational

[maleheha · 14 February 2020]

This old documentary was made to help poor farmers with no formal education make a better life for themselves.

A bit woody, but generally positive message

[stryder-10148 · 7/10 · 25 March 2020]

The producers probably meant well, and the American couple involved gave a lot of their resources and time to help the community improve their lot. As someone pointed out, the Mexicans gave North America a lot of our ground fruits as well as Cacao.

Racism at its worst!

[mario-368 · 1/10 · 10 February 2015]

This is a very racist documentary. The original cowboy who was called the vaquero was Mexican. The Mexican is also part Native American who taught the white people how to plant the corn, beans and squash together, also known as the three sisters. Corn, chili peppers, beans, chocolate, vanilla, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, all sorts of nuts, and avocados were all from the Native Americans' culinary, along with so much more. There was no mention heard of any of that in this terrible doc; and instead made it appear as if the white man taught everything to the Mexican. Absolutely absurd! Not only did the Mexicans give up half their land, they also taught the White man many other things that were not addressed on this horrible doc. Too bad.

It's not the people who are backward; it's the condition of their land.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 8 December 2017]

Poor people make a poor world, the narration of this slice of real life documentary states. Focusing on the poor Mexican farmers who know little about refurbishing weakening land, this shows how an American agriculturist provides advice, simple solutions to fix damaged soil, deal with unwanted pests who damage crops and ways of using every resource to move out of the state of poverty and improve their lives. The white agriculturist finds objections from suspicious natives who have good reason not to trust whites based on past experience. This seems so real with true to life situations dramatized and shows that when people open up their minds and hearts to help others and accept help, they will benefit in many ways, not the least of which is making a better world in which everybody has a purpose. Touching and honestly presented, this is a good educational tool in showing not only the reasons to appreciate the land but in bringing brotherhood to all. With excellent non-acting by all the participants, this will have you hooked from the moment Dr. Spencer Hatch starts to make contact with the proud but hard working farmers to have his brilliant ideas take root.

Really Dumb

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Give Us the Earth! (1947)

** (out of 4)

Academy Award winning documentary short deals with how the land can help save us all in the future. A mighty nice white man teaching Mexicans how to make their soil rich so that this will feed their families. He also teaches them to share, how to be nice and how to pee in a straight line. I was joking about the peeing part but I'm shocked that didn't happen in this documentary trying to teach people how to be nice to their neighbors. I don't mind sentimental stuff, hell I love Chaplin but this here was just way too much. I'm sure this thing meant well back in the day but it just doesn't work today and I'm sure some might be upset over the notion of how "dumb" the Mexicans are.