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| FARMER'S WIFE, THE
(director/writer: Alfred Hitchcock; screenwriter: based
on the play by Eden Philpotts/Eliot Stannard;
cinematographer: Jack Cox; editor: Alfred Booth; cast:
Jameson Thomas (Sam Sweetland), Lilian
Hall-Davis (Araminta Dench), Gordon Harker
(Mr. Ash), Louise Pounds (Louisa Windeatt), Gibb
McLaughlin (Henry Coaker), Maud Gill (Thirza
Tapper), Olga Slade (Mary Hearn), Ruth
Maitland (Mary Bassett), Antonia Brough (Susan);
Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: John Maxwell;
Republic Pictures Home Video; 1928-silent-UK) "Enjoyable pastoral silent comedy of manners, that's more interesting as a curio than as one of the Master's better films." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Alfred
Hitchcock ("The Lodger"/"Easy Virtue"/"The
Ring") directs this enjoyable pastoral silent
comedy of manners, that's more interesting as a curio
than as one of the Master's better films. It's
based on the Victorian-era play by Eden Philpotts. Melancholy
rich middle-aged widowed estate farmer in Devonshire,
Sam Sweetland (Jameson Thomas), is
lonely after his beloved wife passes away and his
daughter moves out when she marries. Sam thereby sets
out to find a new wife and sits down with loyal
housekeeper Minta (Lilian Hall-Davis) to make a
list of the eligible women in town and then goes
courting them in order. The widower Louisa
Windeatt (Louise Pounds) rejects him,
saying she's too independent for him. Thirza
Tapper (Maud Gill) is too frightened of
men to accept. The obese postmistress, Mary Hearn (Olga
Slade), wildly laughs at his proposal claiming
he's too old, and saloon bartender Mary Bassett (Ruth
Maitland) isn't the marrying kind. Losing his
temper and self-respect with each rejection, it
finally dawns on Sam that the best prospect is Minta
and she gladly accepts since she was secretly in love
with him. Comic
relief is supplied by the always grumpy handyman, Ash
(Gordon Harker), who describes marriage as
"the proper steamroller for flattening the hope out of
man and the joy out of a woman." Which I take to be
Hitchcock's cynical cinema view of marriage and also
the playwright's. REVIEWED ON 8/14/2012 GRADE: B- Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |