La novia prohibida

"The Farmer Takes a Wife" is so disappointing that it could serve as an example of "the last gasp of the Hollywood musical." It's hard to believe that the marvelous "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" came out the following year. To start with, none of the songs are memorable, and the production numbers are so stylized and overstuffed with flounces, ruffles and ribbons that they are effectively deadened. Grable herself looks slightly overblown in this context and John Carroll who has a very pleasing voice and good presence, is not allowed to sing at all other than humming a few bars. Dale Robertson, who is not a singer and probably had his singing dubbed, is given one of the best songs to sing while taking a bath in a rain barrel...and is repeatedly shown apparently scrubbing at his crotch while performing the song! Viewers are well advised to skip this one, which is for extreme Grable and/or Carroll fans only. Even they will have a hard time tolerating it.

The one thing you'll no doubt notice when this film begins is that Betty is clearly older. She's 37 and playing a part designed for a teenager or perhaps a woman of 20...plus she simply looks older than 37. She also apparently had far less clout by 1953, as she was cast along with Dale Robertson--not exactly a household name. RObertson wasn't bad in the film, mind you...but he was a big comedown from folks like Don Ameche or Victor Mature in the 30s or 40s. Studio veterans John Carroll and Thelma Ritter are on hand to lend support. This loss in popularity also might help to explain why the once big star was forced to do a remake of a completely unremarkable film. The 1935 version was only fair and here almost two decades later it's essentially the same film but with music and Technicolor. This remake is certainly no better due to the miscasting of Grable, a few very unremarkable songs and a plot that just seemed to drag. Not a bad film but one that clearly showed that Grable's days as a star were nearly passed. Watch it if you'd like but it's only a time- passer and nothing more.

"The Farmer Takes a Wife" is a charming, forgettable piece of fluff of the "Boy meets girl; boy loses girl; boy gets girl back" school of film musical. Fox musicals were almost always rather forgettable, with their insipid songs and frequently bad singing. However, they were also bright and colorful, since Fox used Technicolor longer and more frequently than the "Tiffany" studio, MGM. "The Farmer Takes a Wife" is especially charming in costume, art and set decoration.

Betty Grable is, well, Betty Grable, and if you adore her (and I do), you're likely to adore "The Farmer Takes a Wife". Betty's ably supported by Dale Robertson, John Carroll, Eddie Foy, Jr. and, the always wonderful Thelma Ritter. I won't pretend it's a great movie, or even a good movie, but "The Farmer Takes a Wife" is a "Betty Grable" movie, and that's good enough for me. I give "The Farmer Takes a Wife" a "6".

A career-killing movie for Betty Grable, who is wasted, along with everyone except Eddie Foy Jr. in this prettified musical version of the movie that made Henry Fonda a star. Dale Robertson plays the farmer, who is a moron, Thelma Ritter is wasted and some fake-looking scenery still leaves one mystified at how people can live in riverfront saloons and on farms and know nothing at all of the facts of life or the baser side of human nature -- it must be those perfectly maintained canal boats with red-striped awnings they travel in. The songs are also pretty poor, including an ode to Schenectady that did not make Rodgers and Hammerstein jealous.

While none of Gable's starring musicals are likely to make any top-100 lists, most of them have fairly good musical numbers and enough plot and comedy relief to get you from one standard to the next. This one doesn't.

This film is one of the Hollywood musicals that marked the end of a particular genre-the romantic, comical romp filled with solid songs sung well by stars like Judy Garland, Doris Day, and Alice Faye. Based on a Broadway play and a 1935 nonmusical film, this half-hearted attempt is more insipid than romantic or comical. Betty Grable, whose charms I have always found elusive, is miscast as a cook on a boat on the Erie Canal, with Dale Robertson (not a great musical talent) as the guy she falls for. Although they are written by the great Harold Arlen and Dorothy Fields, the songs are forgettable. The highlight of the film for me was watching an uncredited Gwen Verdon dance with Grable in the splashy tune "We're in Business."