The Farmer's Wife (1928)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Film Review

Heartened by the success of The Ring, Alfred Hitchcock was somewhat taken aback when his employers at British Internation Pictures requested him to adapt a stage play - in this case Eden Phillpotts' hit The Farmer's Wife.   One of the reasons why the director had left Gainsborough to work for BIP was because he had resented being saddled with the direction of two play adaptations.  Unable to turn down the request, Hitchcock decided to make the best of a bad job, presumably believing that if he agreed to make this film and it proved successful, he would have more freedom later on.   Such is the naivety of youth.

It may not have been Hitchcock's forte, but The Farmer's Wife stands as one of his most charming films, and it proved to be an immense commercial success.  It is by far his funniest film, with visual and scripted jokes that provoke the kind of laugh-out-loud reaction that is more associated with a great Chaplin film.  The comedic highpoint is an hilarious tea party, the only piece of pure slapstick to feature in a Hitchcock film.  All this fun is counter-pointed by some moments of genuine poignancy, which are equally unusual for Hitchcock.

One of the biggest problems filmmakers faced when adapting plays for silent cinema was what to do with the dialogue.  If too much dialogue is cut out, the story will be hard for an audience to follow; if too much is left in, the film will be little more than a blaze of inter-titles.  Hitchcock's innate talent for telling a story through images and his virtuosity with the camera allowed him to sidestep the problem.  By using carefully composed pictures to tell the story, much of the dialogue in the original play becomes superfluous.   Interestingly, Hitchcock took charge of the camerawork for part of the film when his cinematographer, Jack E. Cox, fell ill during the shoot, so he had far greater control over the visuals than he usually enjoyed.

Here, Hitchcock shows great ingenuity in the way he employs cinematic devices to avoid dialogue and show what characters are thinking without resorting to inter-titles.  This is best illustrated in the scene where Minta's feelings for her employer becomes apparent and then later when Sweetland realises that his housekeeper would make the perfect wife.  These work because Hitchcock had previously used two chairs beside a fireplace to symbolise the happy union of Sweetland and his future wife.  Another thing that Hitchcock does to take us out of the confines of the stage play is to include several exterior location shots.  Set in some breathtakingly beautiful English countryside, these give a real sense of country life which adds to the film's bucolic charm and poetry.

The Farmer's Wife is not only superbly directed and photographed, it also benefits from an exceptionally talented cast.  Jameson Thomas gives a sympathetic tragic-comical performance as the farmer Sweetland, whilst Lilian Hall-Davis (who had previously featured in The Ring) plays the part of the housekeeper with a subtlety and realism that is rare in silent cinema.  Most of the rest of the cast delight us with their wildly over-the-top histrionics, notably Gordon Harker as the handyman Ash and Maud Gill as one of the reluctant brides.

Anyone who believes that Hitchcock was only capable of directing one kind of film - the suspenseful crime thriller - should take a look at this film, and be pleasantly surprised.  The Farmer's Wife is a marvellously entertaining illustration of Hitchcock's lighter side, and assuredly one of the most likeable comedies of the silent era in British cinema.

Film Synopsis

For some time, farmer Samuel Sweetland has been without a wife.  On the day of his daughter's wedding, he decides it is time that he re-married.  The prospect of a future alone without a good woman by his side is unbearable.  So, with the help of his faithful housekeeper, Minta, he draws up a list of eligible middle-aged spinsters.  There are four candidates, all of whom should be an easy catch for a man of Sweetland's standing and rugged good looks.  However, when he broaches the question of marriage, each one of them seems remarkably unwilling to take him seriously...