The Farmer's Wife

The Farmer's Wife (1928) is the story of a widowered farmer who decides to find a new wife.

Notable cast/crew: Jameson Thomas as Farmer Sweetland.  Lillian Hall-Davis as Araminta Dench, his housekeeper.  She was in Hitchcock's previous film The Ring.  Gordon Harker as Churdles Ash, his handyman, returns as comic relief in his second of three Hitchcock film appearances.  Eliot Stannard returns as writer.  

Running time: 129 minutes

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Plot: Farmer Sweetland looks out over his farm, concern etched on his face.  We find his wife lays dying in the room, and, through his single nod to his handyman who is walking in the yard, we learn she will not recover.  She passes charging her housekeeper to look after her husband.  We then jump ahead to his daughter's wedding.  We see 'Minta running around tending to all the details of the wedding party and the house, and Churdles Ash, the handyman, expresses his view that Farmer Sweetland will be remarrying now that he has married off his daughter.   There is an undercurrent of sadness as he leaves the house with his daughter.  We're given a humorous scene with Ash giving his opinions on marriage, and the bridal party returns for a celebratory dinner.

Our daughter will grow up to be Inger Stevens

Farmer Sweetland decides to honor his deceased wife's wish and marry again before he becomes lonely.  He and 'Minta put together a list of the eligible women in town: Louisa Windeatt, Thirza Tapper, Mary Hearn, and Mercy Bassett.  Farmer Sweetland, having a rather high opinion of himself, puts on his finest suit and heads out to see Widow Windeatt thinking he'll get a quick engagement.

To his consternation, the Widow Windeatt turns him down declaring she is much too independent for him.  Next he turns to Thirza Tapper.  He shows up early for a party at her house and proposes to her.  She gets the vapors and turns him down.  He storms out to cool down, and when he returns, sees Mary Hearn.  Staying on a roll, he decides during the party is the perfect time to propose to her.  She finds him much too old and falls into hysterics when he informs her she's no spring chicken herself.

Sweetland decides to abandon his list but decides to try again to regain his honor after hearing Ash bemoan that his master has made himself a laughingstock.  It is at this point that we first get an explicit indication that 'Minta loves him as she watches him leave then looks at the two chairs by the fire.  Sweetland heads to the pub, and Bassett turns him down, too.  He's struck out all four times, a Golden Sombrero in baseball slang. Meanwhile, Hearn and Tapper have gotten into a quarrel over the party scene, and Hearn decides she should marry Sweetland.  She and Tapper head for his farm.

Sweetland returns home and has a conversation with 'Minta declaring his defeat.  Through her encouragement and subtle signals, he realizes she is the one he should have asked all along.  He writes her name on his list, putting it at the top above the others which have all been crossed out, and shows it to her. She accepts, and we close with a funny scene whereby the women who turned him down show up only to find he no longer is interested in them.  

MacGuffin: None

Hitchcock cameo: None

Hitchcock themes: None

Verdict: This is an unusual Hitchcock film in that it's a romantic comedy and not a suspense flick. Hitchcock's early films are much more diverse in this regard with him taking on drama, comedy, and tragedy. Once he became known for suspense, in a way he became captive to his audiences which always expected taut thrillers.  His direction and staging here shows he could do equally well in other genres.

The movie is perfectly cast.  Jameson Thomas uses his eyes to great effect expressing pain, sorrow, anger, and joy.  He's also a dead ringer for Buddy Ebsen.  'Minta is warm, caring, wholesome: the complete opposite of Hall-Davis' prior role in The Ring, and it's a testament to her acting that she is so endearing in this film, losing any negative association from the previous film.  Jack Harker is again superb in comic relief. All of the women who reject Sweetland are unattractive but physically resemble the stereotype of the kind of woman you would match with their behavior.  There are some uproariously funny lines between 'Minta and Farmer Sweetland when they are discussing eligible women, and Ash has some hilariously direct ideas on marriage.

Hitchcock does a wonderful job in setting up the resolution and foreshadowing the outcome in his use of two chairs in front of the hearth in Sweetland's home.  Early in the movie, he stares at the chairs, and it's obvious he's overwhelmed with grief.  'Minta is seated at a nearby table helping prepare his list, and he imagines each woman seated in his wife's chair as he has 'Minta write down their name.  Each shot is done with double exposure which gives an ethereal feel to it.  It's clearly his imagination of what they would be like, and there is no substance to it.  As the movie progresses, 'Minta sits across from him, helping make his plans, but he doesn't yet realize her devotion to him.  When he ultimately returns home, he again imagines each woman who turned him down, seated in the chair, and the double exposure is of their reaction to him: laughing at him, trembling in fear, screaming in hysterics.  'Minta then sits down in the chair.  She is real; she has substance.  It is her sitting in the chair that both signals her hope that he would ask her and awakens him to the possibility of finding happiness once more.

I love this movie.  Out of five bananas, I give it:

Next review: Easy Virtue