The Farmer Takes a Wife

Typical 1950's Hollywood production. Costumes are not period, zippers, high heeled pumps and pony tails were not part of the 1850's. The men wear dinner jackets with bow ties and everyone's outfit is sparkling clean and starched, despite the fact that they have been working all day plowing, washing and cleaning. Penciled in eyebrows, eyeliner and lipstick a hundred years too early. Betty Grable still looks like a a pin up girl, and Dale Robertson has a pompadour hair style, also why are they using southern accents in Rome NY? This movie is cute but not Betty Grable's best picture by far. Lovely 1950's period piece in long skirts.

It's sad that The Farmer Takes A Wife was owned by 20th Century Fox instead of Warner Brothers. Had Jack Warner been in charge he had the right person for the female lead in Doris Day. As it is this musical adaption of the Frank Elsner-Marc Connelly play has a most miscast Betty Grable doing a part that had Doris stamped all over it. When Betty says 'Uticky' it doesn't quite come out right.

The original play ran for 104 performances in the 1934-35 season and was the vehicle that made Henry Fonda a star. In fact producer Walter Wanger took the highly unusual step in bringing Fonda to Hollywood to star in the role that made him. Playing the parts that Betty Grable and John Carroll have in this version are Janet Gaynor and Charles Bickford.

Of course with this being changed to a musical and the billing reflecting it, the emphasis was changed from the male to the female lead. Seeing Dale Robertson as Dan Harrow though, he makes an admirable substitute for Fonda.

Too bad that Harold Arlen and Dorothy Fields didn't write anything memorable in the score. And for the life of me I can't figure why John Carroll who does sing well, wasn't given more to do musically.

The story is an old fashioned rustic one set during the final days of the Erie Canal. Everyone but Betty seems to realize the railroad will eventually put the canal out of business as the major venue of transportation. Still she and soft spoken farmer Robertson do eventually come together as Robertson wins her over Carroll who is a real lout in this film. I can readily see Charles Bickford in that part in the first film version.

At the same time Betty was doing this, Doris Day was doing Calamity Jane over at Warner Brothers in a similar role with much better songs. Maybe with a better score, The Farmer Takes A Wife would have been more memorable.

Still I think it would have needed Doris Day.

I would lke to give this a 6 but I just cannot even though I am a big Grable fan, Also a fan of Robertson but this was not his best performance by far. Maybe he felt as out of his element as I perceived him to be.

However the weak script and scenes lets the two of them have several moments that the songs couldn't completely ruin.

I did burn this to DVD because I really do want to have a complete library of both the stars.

The costumes were nice and the color was nice and the 4 major actors/actresses did as much as you could hope for in a weak vehicle.

Watch it but don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.

As I think on it a 5 might be a little high but I will stick witn it

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.

"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".