The Farmer's Wife [G]

A widowed farmer becomes even lonelier when his daughter gets married. He decides to take another wife and gets his housemaid, ‘Minta, to help him make a list of all the possible women he could marry. He then attempts to woo each lady on the list, completely oblivious to the fact that ‘Minta herself is secretly in love with him and would make the perfect wife. 

As a modern movie-watcher, the idea of the proper black and white silent movies from the 20s, like this one, complete with the grainy picture and muffled scratching sounds just doesn’t appeal and doesn’t seem like something that even someone as in love with cinema as I could make through with an open mind. After my disastrous viewing of Metropolis, I had become quite adverse to watch another film from the silent era. But this is what happens when you give something another try. Right out of Hitchcock’s silent repertoire, The Farmer’s Wife is a beautiful little romantic comedy that’s both simple and signature. I found it hard to get into at first and I do blame my slightly prejudiced modern movie-goer mentality for that, but as I persevered I became completely entranced by the whole thing. This is a really lovely little film. 

A widowed farmer becomes even lonelier when his daughter gets married. He decides to take another wife and gets his housemaid, ‘Minta, to help him make a list of all the possible women he could marry. He then attempts to woo each lady on the list, completely oblivious to the fact that ‘Minta herself is secretly in love with him and would make the perfect wife. 

Without much of a script to speak of, silent films do have to be watched through a different lens so to speak. Because of the lack of dialogue, your focus can waver over other facets that make up the movie that you might otherwise have taken for granted. The Farmer’s Wife features a beautiful and sophisticated range of Hitchcock’s signature camera shots including his emotive close-ups, his evasive off centre shots, and his indicative fade-ins and fade-outs. Until you see them without the distraction of dialogue, screams, or gunshots, you don’t realise how defining and standout they are. 

Where I floundered in Metropolis was with the acting, which from memory was overblown and exaggerated, but my faith has been restored with this film because even though it is silent, the performances were not exaggerated so as to indicate to the audience what’s going on. There were some moments when the gestures or the facial expressions became a bit large and ridiculous, but overall the performances were all very genuine and easy to take seriously. 

Starring Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis, Gordon Harker, Gibb McLaughlin, Maud Gill, Loui Pounds, Olda Slade, Ruth Maitland, Antonia Brough, Haward Watts, and Mollie Ellis, The Farmer’s Wife is a gorgeous little movie filled with drama, comedy, and romance. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, both moving and funny.