The Farmer's Daughter (1947)

Waste of time

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Loretta Young was the surprise winner of the 1947 Best Actress Oscar for her performance in "The Farmer's Daughter". It's not much of a performance in dramatic terms but it's a very likeable one in a very likeable, if somewhat silly, film. It's a political fairytale with the good guys naturally coming out on top, (neither of the two parties is actually named), as well as a romantic comedy with the maid (Young) falling for the master of the house, (Jospeh Cotten), who happens to be a congressman. Twenty minutes in and you can see exactly where the film is going; the only real surprise is just how well it did. If the central theme is much too cloying there is at least a decent supporting cast headed by Ethel Barrymore, (Cotten's overly sweet mother), and Charles Bickford, (the gruff butler with a heart of gold). H C Potter was the director so you knew not to expect too much.

I love the premise of this movie - not only is a woman running for Congress, but she's the daughter of an immigrant, and on top of it, she is currently employed as a maid! Talk about aspirations and dreaming big! Not too bad considering women just won the right to vote in 1920 and this movie was released in 1947. "Women's participation in national political life remained low long after the right to vote was gained in 1920. No more than two women served in the Senate at any time until 1994, and fewer than a dozen were Congressional Representatives until 1955. Current representation is 16 senators and 67 representatives, around 15% of the United States Congress." (Wikipedia - History of Women in The U.S.) And here we are some 60+ years since this movie and we have a woman running for President!But I think this film was ahead of its time showing a woman running for Congress in the 40's. I'm sure it must have raised a few eyebrows in spite of its success and awards. I'm sure there were detractors in its day that dismissed the premise as foolishness or pure Hollywood fantasy. Either way, it is a great movie that stands the test of time and is just as relevant today (especially being an election year).Happy viewing!

Farmer's Daughter, The (1947) *** (out of 4) Loretta Young won an Oscar for her performance of a Swedish maid who goes to work for a Senator (Joseph Cotten) but then ends up running against his party for a seat in Congress. This film really is two separate movies with the first half being a romantic comedy and the second half being a political drama. The first half is decent but nothing special, although Cotten really steals this half with his comic timing. The second half belongs to Young who really goes powerhouse with her political speeches and hopes for the country. I think the film should have paid more attention to the political side of things because it made for some nice drama while the love story is very predictable. Cotten and Young have wonderful chemistry together but the supporting cast is just as good. Ethyl Barrymore and Charles Bickford nearly steal the film Rhys Williams, Harry Davenport and Tom Powers adding nice support. The film has Frank Capra written all over it and I'm sure he would have made more out of the overall film but for what's here there's plenty to enjoy.

When Loretta Young beat out Rosalind Russell in the Academy Award sweepstakes of 1947 it was considered one of the great upsets in the history of Oscar. Russell had gotten a lot of acclaim for her dramatic breakthrough performance in Mourning Becomes Electra which was RKO's prestige picture of the year. The O'Neill drama flopped at the box office. Young was nominated almost as an afterthought to round out the field in 1947. Of course RKO didn't care because The Farmer's Daughter was also one of their films.Young worked hard to get her proper Swedish accent for the film and the results would have made Greta Garbo proud. I can't see Garbo appearing in a film like The Farmer's Daughter though.Young plays Katie Holstrum who leaves the family farm to study nursing and in an almost Forrest Gump like set of circumstances winds up working as a maid in Congressman Joseph Cotten's home. She's not working for just Cotten. Presiding over the home and the state of Minnesota itself is Cotten's mother Ethel Barrymore. Ethel's not only queen of her own roost, but she's a Senator's widow and still one formidable power in her state of Minnesota. And there's Charles Bickford the family butler who got an Oscar nomination himself in this film for Best Supporting Actor as Young's gruff, but kindly mentor.Although at the time this film was made Young was 34 years old she does manage to convey youth here. It worked in this case because in 1947 a lot of people were starting their careers late. It's pointed out in the story that she stayed on the family farm while her beefcake brothers, James Arness, Keith Andes, and Lex Barker were all in the service during World War II.A long running television series was adapted from this film with the tragic Inger Stevens in the lead and William Windom in Cotten's role. Cathleen Nesbitt was the grande political dame. The butler's role was dropped and Windom was made a widower with two boys. Even with a genuine Swede like Stevens playing Katie, Young still comes out the better.Too bad Rosalind Russell never got an Oscar, but Loretta Young was one of the great survivors of Hollywood and her award was as much an award for a lifetime as for the still fresh and funny, The Farmer's Daughter.