The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)

Charming love story set on the Erie Canal in the mid-19th Century. A farmer works on the canal to earn money to buy a farm. He meets a cook on a canal boat, but she can't even consider ... See full summary »

Director:

Victor Fleming

Writers:

Walter D. Edmonds (novel), Marc Connelly (play),

Stars:

Janet Gaynor, Henry Fonda, Charles Bickford

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Janet Gaynor	...	Molly Larkins
Henry Fonda	...	Dan Harrow
Charles Bickford	...	Jotham Klore
Slim Summerville	...	Fortune Friendly
Andy Devine	...	Elmer Otway
Roger Imhof	...	Samson 'Sam' Weaver
Jane Withers	...	Della
Margaret Hamilton	...	Lucy Gurget
Sig Ruman	...	Blacksmith (as Siegfried Rumann)
John Qualen	...	Sol Tinker
Kitty Kelly	...	Ivy
Robert Gleckler	...	Fisher - Freight Agent

Storyline

Charming love story set on the Erie Canal in the mid-19th Century. A farmer works on the canal to earn money to buy a farm. He meets a cook on a canal boat, but she can't even consider leaving the exciting life on the canal for a banal one on a farm...

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Plot Keywords:

canal | farm | cook | boat | erie canal | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Noiva do Camponês

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Henry Fonda's debut film.

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Goofs

The map shown at the beginning of the movie contains several errors for the 1850s, including showing West Virginia as a separate state. The second map shows an arrangement of European states that would not be valid until 1871.

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Connections

Referenced in The Waltons: The Bicycle (1973)

User Reviews

A lovely, leisurely ride up the Erie

Bucolic and slow-moving in the '30s Fox tradition, this comedy-drama from a mild Broadway hit preserves what was probably best about it--Henry Fonda, in his film debut--and adds some beautiful photography that may be back-lot but sure looks like the real Erie Canal in the 1850s, complete with morning haze, small-town unpaved streets, and modest canal skiffs. Not a lot happens as would-be farmer Fonda romances a proud Canal gal (Janet Gaynor, feistier and less goody-goody than usual), but it gets by on mood and a gallery of vivid supporting roles, ably handled by Charles Bickford, Slim Summerville, Andy Devine, Margaret Hamilton, and the appealingly un-cute child actress Jane Withers. Victor Fleming brought a lot of feeling to this, and Alfred Newman's scoring, for a change, isn't overemphatic. It's a lazy, outdoorsy movie that builds nicely to an unsurprising, satisfying conclusion.