In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Mordaunt Hall wrote: "It is an unusual and remarkable film offering, one that is instructive and compelling but in no way a story. ... [T]here is drama interspersed with captivating comedy, and the audience last night applauded some of the wonderful photographic sequences and at other times they were moved to laughter by the antics of the animals." The film was first shown at The Explorers Club annual dinner held at the Hotel McAlpin in New York City on January 24, 1925, along with a lecture by Cooper. The Explorers Journal reported: "[I]t is Mr. Cooper's happy achievement to have portrayed poignantly and comprehensively the drama of a people in their primitive struggle with inexorable forces of nature.... The pictures were a fitting climax to an evening of thrilling entertainment." Grass was later purchased for distribution by Paramount Pictures. Its theatrical debut took place at the Criterion Theatre in New York on March 30, 1925. Planned remake In 1947, Merian C. Cooper sought to remake Grass, which he called a "damned half picture," and he said: "One man and one woman, and their children, will exemplify for the audience the whole of this struggle for survival which breeds a race that is proud and strong, rugged individuals all, meeting bravely the moods of natural forces seemingly bent upon their destruction." Ernest Schoedsack told him to forget the idea because his Persian friends had informed him that a rail line now ran through the country, and much of the Bakhtiaris' trek was now performed using cars and trucks. Reissue Grass was reissued theatrically in the early 1990s. Rights to Grass had been donated to the Museum of Modern Art, and Milestone Film and Video obtained the rights in 1990. Dennis Doros of Milestone said: Out of the one hundred and fifty to two hundred films we've done, Grass and Chang are among the ones I am most proud of distributing. Chang is a national treasure in Thailand. Grass has images of race and culture that don't exist anymore; it's been called the greatest migration in modern history, and I agree. The journey of the Bakhtiari is so astonishing, the power of those images is like a dream, the way they're constantly moving and climbing. Grass has been issued in videocassette and DVD format. It is also available for streaming on the