The Farmer's Wife

Plot synopsis:
Tibby, the wife of Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) dies, and shortly afterwards his daughter marries and leaves home, leaving him on his own with his two servants. His wife had told him that he should remarry after her death, so he pursues some local spinsters who were at his daughter's wedding after he and his housekeeper Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) make out a list of possibilities.
First is Widow Louisa Windeatt, but Sweetland is shocked and mad when she rejects his advances and says she is too independent for him. Next, he attempts to court Thirza Tapper, a nervous wreck who almost collapses when Sweetland proposes to her. She, too, rejects him because she says she has no need for a man, and he is furious yet again. He wanders outside as other guests arrive for her party. His bolshie servant Ash is helping at the party, wearing an ill-fitting coat and trying to keep his trousers up while doing his work at the party.
While the others are outside listening to some singers, Sweetland proposes to Mary Hearn, but she rejects him as too old, and then bursts into hysterical laughter when he angrily tells her that she is "full blown and a bit over."
Later Sweetland tells Minta that he is not going to finish the list of women because he is so dejected. He leaves the room and Ash returns and tells Minta what an embarrassment to men that Sweetland is by going around and practically begging any woman to be his wife. Sweetland overhears this and orders Ash to saddle his horse because he is going to try number four on the list, Mercy Bassett, a barmaid at a local inn. After he leaves, it is revealed that Minta is in love with him. Bassett rejects him too and he comes home dejectedly. Meanwhile postmistress Hearn and Tapper compare notes and Hearn decides she should marry him after all and she goes to his house with Tapper.
Having run through the women who have turned him down, Samuel sees Minta for the first time as more than a housekeeper and decides that she is the woman for him, if she'll have him. He tells her he has got used to being rejected and will not be angry if she rejects him, too. She accepts him and he tells her to put on the dress Tibby gave her. As she goes to the room, Hearn and Tapper arrive. Hearn says she is now willing to be his wife. Samuel says all should drink a toast to his wife to be and Hearn is sure it is her, until Minta comes down the stairs in an attractive dress. Hearn lapses into hysterics as Sweetland reveals that Minta will be his bride.

Tags: romantic

Review:
"The Farmer's Wife" is a charming rustic, semi-romantic comedy from the silent picture era.
Without seeing the credits, you might never guess that it was made by the "Master of Suspense", Alfred Hitchcock - but if you know who the director was, it is easy to see the masterful touches Hitchcock was known for.The story is a simple one.
Farmer Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) has lost his beloved wife some time ago, and comes to decide that he should marry again.
The plot, therefore, revolves around whether he will figure this out before he gets stuck with an unsuitable mate instead.Hitchcock applies the creativity and attention to detail that he would later use in his great suspense films, and makes out of a simple plot a movie that is very funny, and also at times quite touching.
Early in the film, as he hosts a wedding dinner for his daughter, he begins to look longingly at the chairs, and we know what he is thinking even before the dialogue cards tell us.
The suggestion is obvious to everyone but Sweetland.In the lead role, Thomas responds to Hitchcock's direction, sometimes making his character appear somewhat ridiculous in his miscalculated plans, and at other times evoking our complete sympathy and pity for his loneliness.
The rest of the cast works very well too, especially Gordon Harker, whose expert comic timing plays wonderfully in the role of Farmer Sweetland's handyman.There is one long, hilarious comic sequence, at a house party hosted by one of Sweetland's prospective mates, and you have to watch it two or three times to catch all of the detail Hitchcock packed into the sequence.
The rest of the movie is filled with lighter comic touches, and concentrates on giving us a surprisingly tender look at the characters' lives.Hitchcock fans should take delight in seeing how the master used his talents in such a different genre, and any fan of romantic comedies who is willing to try a silent film should also enjoy "The Farmer's Wife"..
My 8-year old daughter was apprehensive about watching a silent film, but once things started to get going in the second half, was hooked.Hitchcock referred to it in later years as one of his "photographed plays", but the action occurs in several locations, so is nowhere near as constrained as many of his films (plays or not).
In fact, even though the location shots are few and far between, they really give this film a non-studio feel.All of Hitchcock's films are notable for their visual storytelling (look at the initial scene-setting in Rear Window that speaks volumes without a single word being uttered), and it is interesting to see the origins of this, and the great influence of German Expressionism..
On retrospect it seems a very long drawn out 96 minute comedy film with a flimsy plot, even so I wonder what a 129 minute version would be like.Jameson Thomas plays thicko widower farmer who can't see beyond the end of his nose when it comes to looking to honour a woman by marrying him.
The farmers' handyman Gordon Harker was even stranger than his master, with make up absolutely caked on his face for some reason.Altogether, a nice little film, totally inconsequential but with some nice touches from Hitch and fluid camera movements, all helping maintain interest..
The shorter version is much funnier and more like Hitchcock, whose films weren't known for their dragginess.Jameson Thomas, who plays Samuel Sweetland, was at the time of filming a huge star in England.
This early Hitchcock silent, his first for British International Pictures, is a simple romantic comedy adapted from a stage play.
After his wife dies, and their daughter marries, lonely widowed farmer Jameson Thomas (as Samuel Sweetland) decides to look for holy matrimony with another woman.
With the help of devoted housekeeper Lillian Hall-Davis (as Minta Dench) and handyman Gordon Harker (as Churdles Ash), Mr. Thomas proposes to three matronly prospects: independent widow Louie Pounds (as Louisa Windeatt), frigid spinster Maud Gill (as Thirza Tapper), and pillowy postmistress Olga Slade (as Mary Hearn).
None of the women prove to be satisfactory, but Thomas' ideal mate is closer than he thinks If "The Farmer's Wife" were filmed a few years earlier, in Hollywood, with Wallace Reid and Norma Shearer, we might have had four decades of romantic Alfred Hitchcock comedies well, maybe not.
The opening sequence, which shows the sad passing of the farmer's wife, is very effective; it's a good change from the original play, considering the silent film medium.
****** The Farmer's Wife (3/2/28) Alfred Hitchcock ~ Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis, Gordon Harker, Maud Gill.
Slight but enjoyable early Alfred Hitchcock movie about a widower (Jameson Thomas) who sets out to find a new wife with help from his loyal housekeeper (Lillian Hall-Davis).
You know you have watched a good movie when at the end of the film you forgot it was silent.
Each character was placed with the utmost care so viewers would be subject to the best from each actor..Hitchcock's master of film was shown many times in this movie.
A charming, sometimes even winsome silent-era trifle from Alfred Hitchcock, "The Farmer's Wife" nevertheless demonstrates why the Master only came to life with the advent of sound.Newly-widowed farmer Sam Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) decides he "must take time by the forelock" and get remarried before he becomes a lonely old man.
His handful of silent films show him trying a bit of everything; "The Farmer's Wife" being his pastoral comedy.It's pastoral, alright.
An opening sequence shows us the Sweetland farm in all its sun-drenched splendor, with ducks, a horse, and a pair of lovely spaniels which Hitchcock tracks in matched shots all the way into the house, whereupon they disappear for the rest of the film.There's even an agreeably disagreeable farmhand, one Churdles Ash (Gordon Harker), to offer rustic commentary on his boss's struggles to find a bride: "To see an old man in love be worse than seeing him with the whooping cough!"Some directors took so naturally to the craft of silent movie-making that they seemed thrown by the transition to sound.
Many shots linger on Sweetland looking at an empty chair, representing the hole in his life left by his wife's death.Two things manage to make this film entertaining on the whole.
You really like the guy, even when he's making an ass of himself trying to pick up the next woman on his list.The other is the way the supporting cast play off each other, and Hitchcock plays off them, with lingering scenes that do drag but also create a real sense of village life.
Watching several characters we have come to know talk to each other at once at a house party, a fox hunt, and a bar, reminded me of a Robert Altman movie, and not at all like later Hitchcock sound films, as zestful as they are.Much of the humor revolves around the Churdles character and gets slapsticky and drawn out, but you do get some winning moments, both physical and verbal.
I love an exchange between Sweetland and his loyal maid 'Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis), who objects when he describes one target of his desire as "pillowy." "A woman that's a pillow at thirty be often a feather bed at forty," she replies.I'm not sorry Hitchcock chose another path, and don't really think he had the chops for making pure comedies (as his later "Mr. And Mrs. Smith" and "The Trouble With Harry" show).
Not one of Hitchcock's best - however it is still an interesting film to watch.
You could see Hitchcock's visual craft developing in this silly tale of a widowed farmer who is determined to find a wife, while not seeing what is right under his nose.
The Farmer's Wife is an old-fashioned silent comedy, but it's much too long.
May not be among Hitchcock's best but is still one of his better silent films.
The Farmer's Wife is neither among the best or worst of Hitchcock, but it is still well worth watching and among the better of his silent films.
However, it is well shot and has lovely scenery, one of the better looking films of Hitchcock's silent era.
Gordon Harker is the standout and is immensely fun to watch, though Lillian Hall-Davies is suitably sympathetic and Jameson Thomas carries the film competently(his character is not easy to warm to straight away this said).
Overall, interesting and providing that you don't expect masterpiece status- this is early Hitchcock where he was still finding his feet/style in a way- is also a good film.
Watching the mostly-unimpressive early films of Alfred Hitchcock is a price that we director completists must pay for our enthusiasm.
Still unsure of his strengths, the future Master of Suspense trialled both melodramas, such as 'Easy Virtue (1928),' and comedies, such as 'The Farmer's Wife (1928).' Viewing these early efforts is often worthwhile, since, even though their quality may not be ideal, it's usually easy to pick out the unique and original film-making techniques that  with the aid of hindsight  broadcast the arrival of a genius.
Stylistically, 'The Farmer's Wife' shows nothing that could be described as classically "Hitchcockian." Apart from the neat (but not unique) trick of cross-fading each potential bride into the opposite chair, there's nothing to suggest that this is the craft of a keen new innovator in the cinematic language; any play adaptation from that period to sure to look much the same.Fortunately, the film's saving grace comes from the fact that Hitchcock was among the authors of the screenplay, adapted from a play by Eden Phillpotts.
There's really little else to say about 'The Farmer's Wife.' Some Hitchcockians will undoubtedly cherish the director's wicked sense of humour {which later found its most pure form in 'The Trouble with Harry (1955)}, while others will find themselves losing concentration as the entirely predictable romantic plot unfolds.
(In fact, I find this movie very useful for non-British Tolkien scholars like me to get a glimpse of what kind of English rural life he had in mind when he created his hobbits).The story is a very simple and charming one.
The acting is very good, too.If you are interested in film-making history, and you enjoy watching the last pictures of a vanishing rural England, (and you don't get anxious because of the slow tempo), this is a movie worth viewing while smoking a pipe in the quiet of your home, like a true hobbit..
There is NOTHING wrong with this movie - it's cute and all - but as I have stated I'm not into most romantic comedies.I'm sorry I do not like this film - I want to because it's Hitchcock but I don't.
I like my Alfred Hitchcock thrilling, mysterious and horrifying and this film is definitely totally opposite of my favorite side of Hitchcock.This film is worth while if you enjoy silent movies and/or romantic comedies.
I don't know why I didn't like it but I can sure speculate,, there's no action what so ever,, no suspense,, basically in a nutshell the story is about a man who sees his young daughter get married,, and him being a widow he figures it's about time to get his life together and find someone,, he goes through a couple of different woman, and just cant' seem to find the right one..
The DVD version I have of 'The Farmer's Wife' is part of five disc 'The Hitchcock Collection', that range from this 1928 silent onward.It is also the poorest DVD of the bunch, both in terms of technical quality - and I'm talking mostly of the poor transfer than the actual film-making and the story itself.
With very few written notice boards telling us what's happening it's mostly guesswork and we just end up watching lots of people moving about quickly.I do enjoy a good Silent film but the genre can get tedious when they're not top-notch - and this very early Hitchcock just isn't.
As for the direction, it's proficient but simply workmanlike and does all it should for this type of period comedy drama, so anyone looking for clever camera-work, or even a hint at copying what the leading German directors of the time were doing, will be disappointed.I'm also very aware that I'm only watching it because it is a Hitchcock and because I'm reviewing it, which isn't necessarily a good thing....
I don't know if other reviewers are cutting this film a little more slack than usual because it's directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock, but I had a tough time making it to the end of this dull romantic farce.
Stage actor Jameson Thomas – looking much older than his 40 years – plays the gentleman farmer whose thoughts turn to marriage once he recovers from the premature death of his wife.
Much responsibility for the humour is placed upon the shoulders of Gordon Harker, who manfully turns down the corners of his mouth and juts his lower lip out; he's sort of funny, but he can't sustain a movie that goes on for more than an hour and a half, but which seems much longer.I suppose there's a certain fascination with watching the young Hitchcock learning his craft, and this film isn't any worse than many others from the late silent era (when audiences were accustomed to a more leisurely style of storytelling), but there's little evidence of the undisputed master of the screen that Hitchcock would eventually become..
The film is about a farmer named Samuel Sweetland whose wife dies so he starts looking for another wife to take her place.
Throughout the film he ends up asking five different women to marry him which really makes the viewer feel like Samuel is simply looking for a wife just to have a wife rather than him actually having any genuine feelings for the women.
For the movie being around one and a half hours it really feels like it drags on with a lot of unnecessary parts.The acting is another flawed part of the film.
Lillian Hall-Davis plays Araminta Dench (a housekeeper) and she does the best acting job in the movie but not as good of a job as she did in The Ring (1927, Hitchcock).
The story is predictable and boring, the film feels far to long, the acting is really bad, and the music makes me want to mute the television.
Although his name will forever be linked with 'suspense' films, this 1928 silent feature from Alfred Hitchcock shows the man had considerable comic sensibilities, too.
The story concerns a widowed farmer (Jameson Thomas) who decides he needs a wife...129 minutes later, he finds that the perfect woman he was after was under his nose the entire time.
Thomas is great as the desperate for love farmer -- watch how he makes a list of desirable women and goes to each one individually to propose, crossing each off the list when they turn him down.
He tried comedy later with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and did not succeed but The Farmer's Wife shows that he was a genius and a true artist.
The Farmer's Wife (1928)Like many of Alfred Hitchcock's more famous films, The Farmer's Wife begins with pure innocence (a beautiful day in the country, followed by two adorable puppies, maybe the cutest things in any of his movies).
Even the fact that a woman (the main character's wife, we learn) is dying in the first scenes is no impediment to the joy of life in the beautiful countryside--her last words are a reminder to the maid to "air out the master's pants." Can't you hear Hitchcock laughing?This is no diabolical thriller.
You know what Hitchcock's early movies make me think?
Or, when sound was introduced, his toying with the word "KNIFE" in "Murder." If the films and the plots were a little banal, they were often juiced up by one or another director's trick.This one, "The Farmer's Wife," is a genteel romantic comedy with some touches of genuine warmth.
This silent comedy was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock (the director's screenplay was based on a play from Eden Philpotts), this silent comedy (!) begins with the death of the farmer's wife, though the titled character actually refers to said farmer's 'replacement' spouse; the film's story is about his pursuit of several eligible ladies in the community.
Apparently there are two versions of this movie; I watched and reviewed the 2+ hour DVD.Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) is an older man with a housekeeper he calls Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) and a handyman named Ash (Gordon Harker).
After Sweetland's daughter (Antonia Borough to Haward Watts, his only film) is married, there is speculation within the small farming community about whether Samuel will seek another wife.
Had I not known I would have suspected this silent film came from the hand of early Carl Dreyer or Ernst Lubitsch.It is a lovely story of a widowed farmer, whose daughter is being married, and who decides to look for a second wife, all the while not seeing the devoted housekeeper who loves him as his obvious choice.
This early silent from Alfred Hitchcock doesn't follow the director's familiar templates.
It wasn't unusual that he would have been angry for being rejected by some of his prospective marriage candidates, but he compounded things by acting like a bit of a jerk, which I thought would have given his housekeeper Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) second thoughts.But in true romantic fashion, Sweetland eventually comes to recognize the woman who pined for him throughout the picture as being his best choice for a wife.
(Flash Review)Far from his world-famous films, this is an early silent Hitchcock directorial effort.
"The Farmer's Wife" features nice sharp photography by Jack Cox, plus several really ingratiating performances (particularly by the really charming Lillian Hall-Davis).The St. Clair DVD is augmented by an adroit music score which makes light work of of the movie's comparatively long running time of 129 minutes.