THE LAND IS LARGE

A Russian-Jewish immigrant saga, sincere, authentic, but undeniably a bit heavy going and dull. David leaves Russia for the promised land, and spends six years peddling fruit in New York, and gradually working his way to the middle west and his fulfillment of hope as a farmer. He sends for his family. They rise to the top as prosperous cotton farmers and merchants. And then -- in the second generation, David faces disillusionment when his son, an opportunist, backs the Klan against the Negro, ignoring his father's realization that the baiting will redound on the Jew. Real enough -- and a sincere study of an existing problem. But how it plods to get there.