Farmer's Daughter, The (1947)
Director: H.C. Potter
Honors:
It is an unsuspecting motion picture that delivers moments
of poignancy for contemporary audiences. To critics of the time it would be the
proud recipient of an Academy Award considered one of the great upsets in its
category and in the coming decades a motion picture that would fade quietly in
the background of cinema. Starring Loretta Young and Joseph Cotten, this comedy
entered production with promise, but ended as only a small footnote in American
movie history.
The Farmer’s Daughter
is dramatic comedy of the grown daughter of immigrant farmers who through her
good nature and common sense rises to become a political champion of the common
man. Katie Holstrom (Loretta Young), a daughter of Swedish American immigrant
farmers, moves to the Capital City to pursue nursing school, taking employment
as a maid at the residence of political leader Agatha Morley (Ethel Barrymore)
and her Congressman son Glenn (Joseph Cotten) to raise the money to put her
into schooling. Her down to earth common sense and forward thinking attracts
the romantic attention of Glenn, despite disagreeing on certain politics.
Katie’s brash outspokenness during a political rally organized
by Glenn gains her the respect from the opposing party, who select to nominate
her for a recently opened seat in Congress. Despite their fondness for each
other Glenn and Katie are forced to separate due to her opposing political
affiliation in her race. However, when Glenn witnesses the rise a smear
campaign constructed from false information to deface Katie’s name Glenn
abandons his party for love and what is right. With Glenn’s aid Katie’s
campaign is saved as she wins her seat in Congress and in a romantic
celebratory gesture he carries her over the threshold of the US Capital
Building.
The movie is rather simple in nature, borrowing many similar
notes one may see in another Hollywood political classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Most of the picture is rather
forgettable, but under the right light it is wonderfully progressive and
refreshing. Despite the romantic fantasy of the overarching plot, it shares glimpses
of the political process and government without making any ties to any actual
politics. To see a Hollywood movie revolve around the idea of a female
politician, and second generation immigrant at that, is highly reformist for
its age and, unfortunately to say, even today.
In focusing on the fairer sex, the film brings attention to
the mistreatment of women as Katie’s tale of being taken advantage of by a
family friend named Adolf (Rhys Williams) who suggests driving her to her
metropolitan destination only to attempt to manipulate her into spending an
evening with him in a hotel room. Her refusal leaves her stranded and swindled
out of all her money, which leads her to her employment under Glenn out of need
to raise back the money to put her through school someday. Adolf reappears later
on as the key witness in the scandal to smear Katie’s name with his claims that
she, a young single woman, did spend that night with him painter her as a floosy
and near prostitute. For a motion picture to focus on such issues was very ahead
of its time. However, political plot and romantic story looms much larger in
the whole aspect of the film, but it remains quite important to point out how
this film stands for women’s views.
The production of The
Farmer’s Daughter began with David O. Selznick as one of his many prestige
pictures under his Vanguard Films banner. Casting Joseph Cotten as a the male
lead Selznick was unable to land star actress Ingrid Bergman for the lead, and
decided to sell the film while in pre-production to RKO who cast Loretta Young
as Katie. Cotten’s performance as the strong yet compassionate young
Congressman helped to strengthen the performance of Loretta Young who would go
on to win an Academy Award for her role as the Swedish-American farm girl that
becomes a political figure. The Oscar would be a bit of shock for Young who saw
her performance in a later 1947 picture, The
Bishop’s Wife, as a superior performance, but she would accept the honor
all the same as her motion picture career was reaching critical peak in the
late 1940s.
The film features the performance of Ethel Barrymore as
Glenn’s politically influential mother Agatha. From the famed Barrymore family,
her name carried great prestige mostly on the American stage, with a brief
stint on the silver screen during the days of silent pictures, and the more recent
post-World War II return to motion pictures, beginning with an Academy Award performance
in 1944’s None but the Lonely Heart. Here
Barrymore plays a character whose respect in the political community equaled
that of hers in the universe of acting. Merely a supporting player, Barrymore
carries with her the stature that this film initially was to display,
performing a delicate line of a person with great power, as well as kindness in
her role.
One of the finest performances of the feature is provided by
Charles Bickford as the stern yet overall likable butler to Agatha and Glenn,
Joseph Clancey, the character that allows Katie into the fold. A distinctly
tall figure, the once leading man turned character actor is one of the most
imposing characters in the feature, but quickly wins your heart with a little
softening from the help of Katie’s influence. A minor performance in a minor
role, Bickford’s character represents the perception of how Katie changes the
hearts of those that surround her, turning his stoic demeanor into one that can
be more lighthearted and caring, becoming one of her greatest fans throughout
her story.
Despite the Academy Award attachment and the refreshingly
progressive nature the film takes towards social issues, The Farmer’s Daughter would fade in presence. With its simplified
mature tale, the picture pokes fun at modern politics. Perhaps its best example
of political humor comes in the form a rally crowd cheering for anything, mocking
these empty gestures by randomly spouting out “fish for sale” and listening to the
crowd’s hugely positive reaction, oblivious to the words even spouted. The film
is clever and witty, but is a fantasy for a comedy/drama, perhaps this is why
it fade into the cinematic background. In time it would receive television
airings and a home release on VHS, but would fail to find any further
distribution, making it a particularly difficult picture to come by.
Despite being difficult to find and being a rather
simplified political/romantic tale, the film is beautifully shot and well made.
It’s does little in terms of standing out from the pictures of its day, but
contains the rare nuances from Young’s performance and shares with today’s
audience with how American society in some respects, sadly, have not changed
too much. I was happy to discover and view the feature and would recommend it,
but it is not picture that stands out artistically, but rather can serve as an
interesting social study of America coming into the mid-20th
century.
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