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Hard cover, 4to, in natural woven cloth printed in green with pictorial scene of a farmer to the front board, the titles running vertically down the spine. In the original dust jacket, illustrated with a scene from the documentary short film, also written by John Steinbeck, and directed by Herbert Kline and Alexander Hammid. **CONDITION: Very Good Plus, in a Very Good Plus d/j. Book endpapers somewhat browned, with minor soiling to a few pages. Dust jacket with one small closed tear and a few small chips at head and foot of spine. No price to d/j, with uniformly clipped corner shaping. In a mylar protector. **The book, a work of social realism, tells the story of a boy, Juan Diego and his family living in the mountainous village of Santiago, Mexico, at a time when traditional life and culture were coming into conflict with the modern world. He faces a stark choice between acceptance from his father, or leaving to become scientifically educated at a government school. Written in its entirety before shooting began, the book incorporates 136 photographic stills from the film. The challenges of rural healthcare, including death from preventable childhood disease, superstition of modern medical practice, and dangerous births and death, had the film banned in the 1940's for what at the time was considered too graphic content under the censorship guidelines of The Hays Code. However, it was finally released without this certification. A revival of the film in 2011 was produced by UCLA's Film and Television Archive and the Packard Humanities Institute, with showings at film festivals that year. The film was nominated for a Best Documentary award by the National Board of Review in 1941. Also, the Director, Herbert Kline was nominated in 1949 for the Golden Lion Award at The Venice Film Festival. (IMDb.) Tetsumaro Hayashi, A New Steinbeck Bibliography 1929-1971.(Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1973.) No. 73 under "Film Stories and Scripts."
Ref: LITSTN 9503
$195.00