The Farmer's Daughter (1947): A Review

THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER

Immigrants add so much to the uniqueness of American life. Everything from American cuisine to American vernacular has been enriched by foreign-born people. Politics is no different. In America, a naturalized citizen can rise to high positions of power except for President of the United States. One such success story is chronicled in The Farmer's Daughter. Charming and surprisingly contemporary, The Farmer's Daughter delights in its blend of homespun wisdom and political romance. 

Swedish American Katrin "Katie" Holstrom (Loretta Young) leaves her family's farm to study nursing in Capitol City. Crooked barn painter Adolph (Rhys Williams) offers her a lift to save bus fare but instead hoodwinks her into spending all her money for car repairs. These repairs, caused by his incompetence and efforts to force his attention on the not-so-dumb blonde, leave her penniless. 

Still, Katie is a resourceful Scandinavian. She quickly finds employment as a maid to the politically powerful Morley family. Katie does not initially win over the Morley's cranky butler Joseph Clancy (Charles Bickford). However, she is a good worker who manages to survive Mr. Clancy's cantankerous ways. She also charms Agatha Morley (Ethel Barrymore). Mrs. Morley is the widow of a respected Senator and something of a kingmaker for her political party. She is also the mother of Glen Morley (Joseph Cotten), who is on his third term in Congress. 

Katie has made clear that she will work for the Morleys only temporarily. Her plan is to be their maid just long enough to raise the funds needed to go back to nursing school. However, Katie has become indispensable to the family. Mrs. Morley and Mr. Clancy also see what Glen will not admit: he has fallen in love with Katie. Katie feels the same way, but neither can say it out loud.

One thing that Katie can say out loud are her views on politicians and politics. The Morleys and their party seek out a replacement for a fellow Congressman who has just died. Reluctantly settling on Anders J. Finley (Art Baker), Katie is appalled at the selection. He is thoroughly unsuitable in her eyes. She confronts Finley on his record at his first political rally, much to Agatha and Glen's embarrassment. Katie's open and honest manner inspires the opposition to field their own candidate for Congress: Katrin Holstrom! She agrees to be their candidate, driving a wedge between herself and the Morleys. Her open and honest campaign is at odds with Finley's dirty tricks, culminating in lurid suggestions on her reputation by Adolph to the Finley campaign. Will Agatha and Glen go along with smearing Katie's good name to hold on to power? Will her Swedish brothers help her out of this jam? Will Glen and Katie find that politics does make the strangest but happiest of bedfellows?

The Farmer's Daughter has a special place in Academy Awards history. It is not because of the number of nominations that it received (only two, for Loretta Young as Lead Actress and Charles Bickford as Supporting Actor). It is not because of the film's historical significance. In fact, save for being a television footnote in that it inspired a television series of the same name, The Farmer's Daughter is not well-known. No, the film has that special place because it has one of the biggest upsets of all time in terms of Oscar winners. 

At the 20th Academy Awards, the odds-on favorite to win Best Actress was Rosalind Russell for her performance in Mourning Becomes Electra. Russell was on her third nomination in six years and a back-to-back nominee this year. She was well-liked and respected by her peers. She had also hired publicist Henry Rogers to run her Oscar campaign. Rogers had guided Joan Crawford and Olivia de Havilland to their successful Oscar wins the previous two years. Mouring Becomes Electra was a rich, juicy lurid melodrama meant to showcase Russell's range. She had won the Golden Globe for Best Actress for Mourning Becomes Electra. At the Oscar ceremony, all of that year's Golden Globe winners matched the eventual Oscar winners for Picture, Director, Actor and Supporting Actor/Actress. It stood to reason that Rosalind Russell had the Oscar in the bag.

Russell was so sure that she would win that she literally stood up just as Fredric March announced the winner. The winner, however, was not Rosalind Russell. To audible gasps, the winner was Loretta Young. Young's win seemed to come out of nowhere. This win is more stunning given that all her competition was in heavy dramas, and the Academy then and now is very resistant to comedies. Perhaps another time we can discuss how Loretta Young pulled off one of the greatest surprise Oscar wins in Academy history. For now, let us look at the film.

The Farmer's Daughter is a breezy 97 minutes long. In that runtime, we get a great deal of story that showcases the various actors. Loretta Young maintains solid Swedish accent. It is never cartoonish or exaggerated, a credit to her and her dialect coach. She also shows Katie to be much shrewder than everyone gives her credit for. Early on, she and Adolph are forced to stay in a motel. He pretends to have trouble starting the car. Katie, with a look that shows she is fully aware of Adolph's schemes and intentions, cooly gets the car started. Katie is a smart cookie despite the blonde hair and foreign accent.

Young also shows that Katie is blunt but polite, almost guileless, in her manner. She is serving at a victory party for Glen and his fellow Congressman Wilbur Johnson (Thurston Hall). Johnson asks her if she voted for him. She replies that she had just moved and had not registered to vote in his district. He boasts that she would have voted for him if she could have. "If I could have voted, I wouldn't have voted for you", she replies in a perfectly sweet and matter-of-fact manner. Young says this with such innocence but directness that one laughs. Katie did not tell Johnson this to insult him. She told him this because she is honest. Earlier, she piped in when Morley's cronies deride a former Congressman whom the Holmstrom family knows. When he was described as a second-rate Congressman, Katie says, "Mr. Schmidlapp was first-rate with a second-rate party". 

The Farmer's Daughter does not mention either the state or which party is which. However, I think that the Morleys were Democrats given how Katie was given a speech by the late Senator Morley to practice her English with. The speech was a eulogy for President Woodrow Wilson which criticized the failure to enter the League of Nations. This particular scene is well-shot and directed by H.C.  Potter. As Katie speaks, we see her absorbing the thoughts, reflecting on the meaning. Unbeknownst to her, Mrs. Morley is overhearing her late husband's words. Mr. Clancy is aware of this, but Mrs. Morley silently shushes him. The scene is surprisingly moving.

The film does not skimp out on the love story. Loretta Young plays Katie's growing love for Glen softly and effectively. A glance, a softness in her facial expression, her fainting when she mistakenly thinks that Glen and not Wilbur had died all show how she had fallen in love without overtly saying so. Joseph Cotten is not often thought of as a romantic lead. However, he does a nice job in The Farmer's Daughter. There is a particularly amusing scene when Glen is attempting to impress Katie with his skating prowess. As played by Cotten, he comes across as a lovestruck teen attempting to show off to the girl. There is something almost childlike in Cotten's manner that makes the scene cute. The conclusion will have you smiling if not laughing the way that Katie was.

Glen, as played by Cotten, is a good man. He can be a political creature, willing to pick someone electable versus someone who would be best for the constituents. However, we see that Glen eventually does the right thing by both his morals and by Katie. Charles Bickford was nominated for his performance as the crabby but secretly lovable Joseph Clancy. He is efficient and brooks no foolishness. He also appreciates Katie's solid work ethic and ultimately becomes her friend and ally. As she tearfully leaves the Morley home when starting her campaign, Clancy tells her that he's been with the Morleys for over twenty years. He has supported them and their candidates all these years. This time though, he's going to vote for her. 

Ethel Barrymore is wonderful as the shrewd Agatha Morley. She has great rapport with Bickford's Clancy. While most people refer to them as "Mrs. Morley" and "Mr. Clancy", in their scenes they refer to each other as "Agatha" and "Joseph". This reveals a greater connection than that of employer and employee. There is no hint of romance between them. Rather, it is more one of respect and personal affection.

The Farmer's Daughter is surprisingly contemporary when it comes to politics. Katie comes out in favor of a living wage. When Morley asks her to explain what that is, she replies that a living wage depends on whether you're getting it or receiving it. She also is unafraid to call out politicians who work for their donors rather than their constituents. Katie openly confronting Finley about his past corrupt bargains of giving government contracts to family and friends is something we rarely see now. Such a scene will have the viewer cheering.

The film also targets not just political but moral corruption. While never overtly stated, it is clear from Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr's screenplay that Adolph is a Ku Klux Klan member. As he tells a clearly displeased Agatha about his "organization", she fills in the information about this organization's goals and memberships. It wants an America that is white, with no foreign born and with "the right kind of religion". This group would therefore not want someone like Katrin Holmstrom due to her immigrant Swedish background. However, Agatha sees that Finley would have no problem not only associating with someone like Adolph but would smear Katie's reputation. Agatha would, very reluctantly, go along with the insinuations of impropriety. The connection to open bigotry, however, is a bridge too far. at the end, she has Adolph thrown out. Clancy, in fury, throws Adolph's hat at him. "YOU FORGOT YOUR HOOD!" he shouts.   

Still, The Farmer's Daughter is not a political film. It is a romantic comedy that involves politics. Charming, sweet and with strong performances all around, The Farmer's Daughter is a film that people should know more of. Raise a cup of glogg for the delightful The Farmer's Daughter, and we'll just pretend that it is Christmas.   

DECISION: B+