La jolie batelière

I wasn't intending to watch this film when I turned on TCM early this morning to see what was on, but as a classic film buff found it interesting enough to sit down and see. What grabbed my interest was not the hokey, homespun, highly predictable story. It was that unlike most films of it's day, much of the film was shot outdoors with highly mobile and fluid camera-work. The outdoor back lot sets were fairly elaborate, and the scenes at the hero's farm were shot on location in a beautiful rural area (I'm pretty sure the same area was used by Fox several years later for Drums Along The Mohawk).

I strongly suspect that the large supporting role played by Slim Summerville was intended for Fox star Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash in 1935.

In the 1930's a high percentage of Fox films were aimed at rural and small town audiences, unlike most of the films of the other major studios. I've read that this was because a large percentage of the theaters that Fox owned were in those areas, rather than urban ones.

When The Farmer Takes A Wife completed its run of 104 performances on Broadway in 1934 it was readily seen as a tailor made property for the number one star on the Fox Film's lot, Janet Gaynor. She specialized in playing sweet and rustic rural girls both on the silent and talking film.

But when Winfield Sheehan could not get either Gary Cooper or Joel McCrea to play the male lead, he took the unusual step of hiring the actor who originated the part on Broadway. And that boys and girls is how Henry Fonda became a motion picture star.

Even with Gaynor getting first billing, the accent here is on Fonda's character, a farm kid who's working on the Erie Canal in its last days because the railroad is coming through. Fonda just wants to earn enough money for good piece of farm land, not unlike Gary Cooper's Sergeant York character before he went to war. He's not into the Canal and what it's meant to the history and economy of upstate New York, in fact the whole Northeast of the USA.

Gaynor and most of the rest of the cast depend on the canal for a living and they don't like progress. But she does like Fonda, prefers him in fact to another Erie Canal boat pilot, Charles Bickford who plays a real lout. You know he and Fonda will tangle.

The Farmer Takes A Wife made Fonda both a stage and screen star, unusual for one work to accomplish both. But on the screen it also type cast Fonda into playing rustics for years. Think about all the roles he had in his early days. His next film was a sound remake of Way Down East, after that he did The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine, Slim, Chad Hanna which was based on a novel by Walter Edmonds just as The Farmer Takes A Wife was. Even his acclaimed parts for John Ford in The Grapes Of Wrath, Drums Along The Mohawk, and Young Mr. Lincoln fall in this same vein.

After almost 80 years, The Farmer Takes A Wife still holds up well as a drama. This is a quintessential Janet Gaynor film and if a young viewer didn't know Henry Fonda became a major star because of this film, they'd guess it right away.

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.

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."

In 1853 upstate New York, sweet 'n' bossy Janet Gaynor (as Molly Larkins) admires boatmen laboring along the Erie Canal, but frowns upon railroad-loving farmers like handsome Henry Fonda (as Dan Harrow), who only wants to work on the canal until he can buy a farm. Despite their differences, Mr. Fonda and Ms. Gaynor are obviously smitten with each other. Fonda wants Gaynor to cook for him, rather than boozy boating rival Charles Bickford (as Jotham Klore). But, Gaynor wants Fonda show he can be strong 'n' rough.

The crew at Fox created Award-worthy sets and locations for this film, which photographer Ernest Palmer and director Victor Fleming display beautifully. More about gender roles than farm and boatmen, the story is very silly. Yet, Gaynor elevates it by using cooking as a metaphor for sex. She and Fonda, reprising his stage success as a debut film appearance, are a radiant couple. And, the supporting cast is excellent. Watch out for veteran actor Robert Warwick (as Junius Brutus Booth) and his politically-interested young son.

******* The Farmer Takes a Wife (8/2/35) Victor Fleming ~ Janet Gaynor, Henry Fonda, Charles Bickford, Slim Summerville