The Farmer Takes a Wife

The 30 year old Henry Fonda made his screen debut in this film where he delivers a fairly mediocre performance. His voice is always the same and he's still as stiff and one dimensional as he went on to become as an old man on the screen, but there is activity in his face which redeems him as a screen actor.

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.

In 1934, a new actor named Henry Fonda was receiving glowing reviews on Broadway for his performance in the play The Farmer Takes a Wife. Based on the 1929 novel Rome Haul by Walter D. Edmunds, Farmer was the tale of love and conflict along the Eerie Canal during the mid 19th century. Fonda, under contract to Walter Wanger, was called to Hollywood to reprise his role when Fox Film Corp. decided not to use Gary Cooper or Joel McCrea in the role of farmer Dan Harrow for their upcoming film version. Fonda's engaging naturalism and classically humble style in the film version would pave the way for his quick meteoric rise as the great "All-American" star. Declared the top box-office attraction in 1934, Janet Gaynor was wisely as the female lead. The Character Molly Larkins would allow Gaynor to stray a bit from her diminutively wholesome reputation into a meatier role with forthright spunkiness. Character actress Margaret Hamilton reprised her Broadway role as the character Lucy Gurget.

The film's Producer, Winfield Sheehan, had a very successful career producing and supervising such Fox hits as CALVALCADE, STATE FAIR, and CHANGE OF HEART. In 1935 alone, Sheehan would produce a total of five films for Fox. Before the shooting date arrived, the crew completed the one set that was to be used on the film with fastidious period detail. Sheehan would repeat this technique the same year with WAY DOWN EAST, also with Fonda.

Although he never received the great successes or recognition of other directors, Victor Fleming consistently and successfully delivered solid, well-crafted films. His work on FARMER and throughout the 1930's reflected his professionalism and ability to get sensible and honest performances from his actors. He would finish the decade overseeing two of the most memorable motion pictures in Hollywood history, GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Fate plays a big factor in people's lives, especially if the profession is acting. Henry Fonda, at 30, was happy with his five years so far acting on the stage, especially in New York City. In Hollywood, Fox Films was winding down its productions with its pending consolidation with 20th Century Pictures when the studio began casting for its August 1935 "A Farmer Takes A Wife." First Gary Cooper, then Joel McCrae were approached to play Dan Harrow, an Erie Canal boat driver in the mid-1800s who sees farming as his future. Both actors were unavailable. Studio scouts then pointed to the young actor, Henry Fonda, on the Broadway stage as befitting the character's personality. It was a huge gamble to take such a neophyte unfamiliar with studio lights and filmmaking methods and hand him the lead in a major Hollywood production. Director Victor Fleming was willing to take the chance on Fonda and commit the extra work to familiarize him with Hollywood's ways.

"With this first movie, Fonda established himself as an earnest screen presence - a young man of ideals and integrity," described film reviewer Paddy Lee. Fleming gave Fonda the film presence that reflected the humbleness the actor showed off camera. "The debut of that soon-to-be-iconic screen persona is immediately engaging," wrote reviewer Paul Mavis. "The tentative glances, the long, slow gait, the stillness and inner resolve, and the romanticized plaintiveness of his speech as he quietly rhapsodizes about simple rural pleasures. No wonder he was a big hit right out of the gate with this turn." Henry Fonda was a shy six-foot tall Omaha, Nebraskan native when his mother's friend recommended that he try out for a part in a local community theatre's play. The 20-year-old credit bank clerk got the part. Soon after he received the lead in another play, where he realized acting was something he enjoyed. He joined the University Players in Cape Cod, meeting his future wife actress Margaret Sullivan. Before long, Fonda journeyed to New York City, reconnecting with fellow University Players alumni Jimmy Stewart, where the two became roommates honing their acting skills on Broadway for the next several years. Fate took over after two major Hollywood stars were unavailable to play the canal driver. Fonda assumed the lead in the movie version of the Frank Elser/Marc Connelly play 'The Farmer Takes a Wife.'

Janet Gaynor's character Molly Larkins was the love interest to Fonda's Dan Harrow in "The Farmer Takes a Wife." As one of the main stars for Fox Films, Gaynor's luster with the newly merged 20th Century-Fox dropped from number one to 24th. Her frustration in the two roles she played the following year caused her to seriously think about retiring. That's when producer David O. Selznick offered her a part of a rising actress in his 1937 "A Star Is Born."

The framework of "The Farmer Takes a Wife" illustrates the transformation from canal transportation to the railways. Molly Larkins is a cook who works for Jotham Klore (Charles Bickford), a rough, rowdy canal driver who locks horns with Dan, who believes there's no future working on the canals. Ironically, although Bickford played a major role alongside Fonda in his movie debut, the two never acted in the same film again until Bickford's final motion picture, 1966's 'A Big Hand for the Little Lady.' Two other character actors, Andy Devine and Margaret Hamilton, also contributed largely to "The Farmer Takes a Wife." Devine's distinctive voice set him apart from other actors. The Arizonian performer claimed a curtain rod he was holding between his teeth as a child while running jammed into his mouth when he fell. One reporter later asked about his anodes causing his raspy voice. Devine replied, "I've got the same nodes as Bing Crosby, but his are in tune." The actor began his entertainment career in a comedy act called 'Three Fat Guys' with David Arvedon and Jackie Gleason, the well-known comic entertainer with his long-running TV show. Devine left for Hollywood, where he appeared in over 400 movies, mostly Westerns.

Margaret Hamilton, known famously for her role in the Wicked Witch of the West in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz," initially loved teaching, earning a college degree at Wheelock College in Boston as a kindergarten instructor. But Hamilton gravitated towards the theater, and made her film debut in 1933's 'Another Language.' "A Farmer Takes a Wife" was Hamilton's sixth feature film appearance and was consistently active in movies and television well into the early 1980s.

"The Farmer Takes a Wife" was remade into the Technicolor 1953 musical with Betty Grable and Dale Robertson. But the original film version is more known today as the movie that introduced the public to the unique talents of Henry Fonda.

What a delightful period comedy and romance is "The Farmer Takes a Wife." As others have noted, this was Henry Fonda's first film role. He got the male lead in his first film on the strength of having starred in the role in the Broadway play, and after the first two choices were unavailable. It was all uphill after that for Fonda. He makes a nice showing here, and even as a 30-year-old, he has the look of an older youth. But, most film fans will remember Fonda as the more mature looking man of early to late middle-age in which he played his most memorable roles in the 1940s through 1960s.

Yet, make no mistake about it, this is a mostly Janet Gaynor film all the way. The successful star of the late silent film era had transitioned well into sound pictures. She was the leading actress for Fox in the 1930s, and helped that studio compete favorably with the pioneering sound studio of Warner Brothers. In 1929, Gaynor won the first best actress Oscar of the Academy Awards, and she remains the only performer to have ever won an Oscar for multiple films and roles. That first year of the Oscars, performers were nominated for their body of work - their most recent films, rather than a single film, as would be the case from then on. And, her films by Fox were the only ones from among more than 20 pictures by Warner Brothers that dominated the 1927 sound pictures. It should be noted that Warner's "The Jazz Singer" of that year was the first truly "talkie" film - and the only one of that year, with part of it actually filmed in sound. The bulk of the early sound films, before the end of 1928 were recorded silent films that then had sound recordings made and transposed onto the film.

The three Janet Gaynor films of her 1929 Oscar were all dramas and highly successful and recognized films. Two were from 1927 and one from 1928. "7th Heaven" was released as a silent and then re-released with sound added. "Sunrise" of Nov. 4, was a silent film with a music and special effects sound track. Finally, "Street Angel" of April 9, 1928, had a full sound track transposed onto the film.

This film, and others of the sound era, gave the very talented Gaynor the opportunity to show her great versatility with language. Her Molly Larkins is superb in this story about mid-19th century life in, on and around New York's Erie Canal. The whole story revolves around Molly and her character's persona makes it a delightful film.

Besides the leads, some other well-known actors have very good parts in this film. Charles Bickford plays Jotham Klore who had been the meanest and toughest boat operator on the canal. Andy Devine plays Elmer Otway, Slim Summerville is Fortune Friendly, Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of "The Wizard of Oz") is Lucy Gurget, John Qualen is Sol Tinker and Sig Ruman is the Blacksmith. I was amused to see Ruman's early film billing as Siegfried Rumann.

The movie was filmed in and around the Sierra Nevada Range near Sonoma, California. The only water I know of there is New Melones Lake, which didn't come into existence until 1979. So the Fox crew did a remarkable job of creating a set for canal scenes and scenery that resemble the area and what the Erie Canal must have looked like in the mid-19th century. I have driven across much of New York State. On a 2005 trip along the Mohawk River and valley, I stopped to watch boats pass through locks at a couple of locations.

The Erie Canal has a great history. It opened in 1825 and the tolls from the first year completely paid for its construction. It was just over 360 miles long when built originally. And the first third of its distance, from the Hudson River at Albany, upstream to Utica and Rome, New York, is the actual Mohawk River. Fonda's character, Dan Harrow, several times remarks that the canal will soon be put out of business from the competition of the railroads. But this was in 1850, when the 25th anniversary of the canal's opening was to be celebrated. And, the canal wasn't soon put out of action. The railroad had some effect, but it was gradual. And a complete rebuild and expansion of the canal from 1905 to 1918 kept it going strong as a major commercial route between the Port of New York and the Great Lakes area.

It took two later big events to end the commercial reign of the Erie Canal. In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. That, and the building of modern highways that helped the trucking industry, led to the canal's last regular scheduled barge operation in 1994. But, the canal continues to operate today, now used mostly by boats and pleasure water craft. And, it remains a tourist attraction with museums and historic sites along its route. In 2000, Congress established the Erie Canalway as a national heritage corridor. Interstate 90 across New York parallels the canal route, just south of it.

So, with the scenes, events and places of record along the Erie Canal, and the boats and other settings, this film has a little historical interest as well. I think most people would still enjoy it today. It's a nice story of a slowly developing romance set in mid-19th century America, along the Erie Canal.

One of the funniest exchanges of lines in the film occurs when Molly, from her boat hails a young girl leading a cow beside the canal. Molly and others know the young girl, Della, who is played by Jane Withers. Molly hollers, "How much milk will she give?" And, little Della replies, "She don't give anything. You have to squeeze 'em."