Plot Intro
Katie Holstrom (Loretta Young) is an American-Swedish girl who grew up on a farm and heads into the city to study to become a nurse. In order to afford this, she takes a job as a maid in the household of wealthy US representative Glenn Morley (Joseph Cotton) and his politically-powerful mother, Agatha (Ethel Barrymore). The two take an instant liking to Katie, but Katie’s political awareness, pragmatism and desire to help those in need endears her their political friends and she inadvertently becomes embroiled in election season…
After a lengthy string of immensely well-known names (Rogers, Fontaine, Bergman, Crawford and de Havilland), we hit one that you may not have heard of. Loretta Young’s win was, however, one of the biggest Oscar upsets in history as many thought her long-time friend, Rosalind Russell would win. In fact, rumours are that Russell herself thought she would win and was halfway out of her seat before Loretta’s name was announced. Thankfully no bad blood seems to have existed between the two as they worked together on humanitarian endeavours in their older years. But Russell would never win an Oscar unfortunately so she may well appear on our Best of the Rest posts very soon…
It’s hard to compare the two as we haven’t seen Russell’s esteemed performance in Mourning Becomes Electra but we’re pretty relieved that Loretta won over a three hour adaptation of a Eugene O’Neill play. We’re also relieved because The Farmer’s Daughter is, quite frankly, one of the most charming, fun-filled and involving movies we’ve seen on both this project and our Best Pictures one. In fact, I’d call it the best one of the Best Actress movies so far, surpassing even It Happened One Night and Gaslight.
I was immediately endeared towards Loretta’s character. Her Swedish accent borders on stereotypical but the film goes to great lengths to emphasise her tenacity, her intelligence and her courage hidden beneath a veneer of innocent Scandinavian practicality. Her fascination with city life provoked huge laughs and we were completely on her side as she stood up against the male-dominated corruption of real-life politics.
In fact, this is a film that remains relevant today, as Loretta as Katie represents total idealism. Whilst she states that she loves libertarian American values, she also believes that powerful people have a duty to help the less powerful, a belief that goes against anything the current Republican party candidate stands for (which is ironic seeing as Loretta herself was a dedicated Republican). The ease with which she gets into politics and subverts any attempts to discredit her don’t feel very believable and never would have worked in an age where misled opinions on Twitter and Facebook take precedence. But it’s heartwarming and funny, and that’s good enough for me.
Joseph Cotton is also a delight as the main love interest and it’s refreshing to see a male lead not be perfectly suave and to be repeatedly flummoxed by the female lead’s brightness. But it is Ethel Barrymore who also nearly steals the show as his mother and it is disgraceful that she wasn’t even nominated for this. She’s the insightful, “seen it all before” older woman who calls out everyone’s shortcomings when she sees them- a 1940s Olenna Tyrell, and Barrymore (Drew Barrymore’s great aunt) nails every line she gets. It’s easy to see why she was considered one of the most important and influential actresses to have ever lived.
In terms of her life, Loretta Young was, for many years, comparatively dull compared to the various dramas of her contemporaries such as Dietrich, Crawford and Swanson. The height of Hollywood fame was in the '40s and afterwards had a substantial career in television and in voluntary work with fellow actresses Jane Wyman, Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne and Ginger Rogers. She eventually died of ovarian cancer at the age of 87 in 2000.
But there was a secret in Loretta Young’s life that finally came to public attention in 2015 when Linda Lewis, wife of Loretta son Christopher, revealed that Christopher’s adopted sister Judy was not, in fact, adopted but rather a biological daughter of Loretta and Clark Gable. In 1935, Loretta and Gable conceived Judy but Loretta kept her in an orphanage to avoid public scandal. At 19 months old, Judy was “adopted” by Loretta and took Loretta’s second husband’s name of Lewis when she was 4. Due to Judy’s striking resemblance to Gable, Loretta pinned her ears back surgically when she was 7. The only time Judy met Gable was when she was 15 but he did not tell her that he was her father. It was not until she was 31 that Loretta revealed all to her although she had heard rumours beforehand. Judy’s autobiography in 1994 revealed all but Loretta refused to speak to her for 3 years. It was not until Loretta’s death and her autobiography was published posthumously that the story was confirmed.
When Linda Lewis (Loretta’s daughter-in-law) came forward in 2015, it was because she wanted to talk publicly about the fact that Loretta’s liaison with Gable was, in fact, date rape. This was something that Loretta apparently found difficult to understand. She was brought up in a world where women were taught to protect themselves from the sexual predation of men and any woman who falls victim to it was careless. In more modern and (generally) enlightened times, this sort of victim-blaming would not be allowed.
Judy died in 2011 from cancer and is survived by her daughter, Maria.
There’s a very amusing scene in which Loretta tries out Ethel Barrymore’s stairlift. A small highlight, but a delightful one nonetheless.
There’s a scene in which Loretta and Joseph Cotton go ice skating and it is immensely obvious that they are stunt doubles. But this is so minor is barely deserves mentioning.
On first glance, The Farmer’s Daughter did not look like it would amount to much. It starts with a Swedish family all being vaguely comical on a farm in a place which could be any rural area in the world. She then has misadventures with a painter/layabout who tries to clumsily seduce her but fails, and then falls into a maid job at a Congressman Glenn Morley’s house in the city.
What happens then is extraordinary for a film that takes place in 1947. Firstly she openly gives her opinion - the writing plays on her Swedish frankness and uses gentle comedy around her abruptness to let this happen for a ‘40s audience - and then she actively begins influencing Glenn Morley, who despite being of the rival party to her, is charmed and interested by her accurate, passionate views.
When the film leads her into participating herself in politics, I saw the ending coming a mile away. She would run for Congress, fail, but be supported by Glenn and become a Happy Wife. In fact, seeing this coming from a mile away was rather depressing, considering the story it was beginning to tell. Oh well, I thought, at least a ‘40s film about a woman wanting to be in politics is pretty forthcoming.
Reader, I was wrong. The writers take another step of bravery, and do not err from their story of a good, true woman wanting to be part of the political system, helping to shape the country’s governance. They place obstacles in her way, including the resurgence of the unpleasant painter/layabout who starts spreading false scandals, and even Glenn himself who thinks that Katie can’t possibly survive the scandal. It’s only thanks to Katie’s dad who shows extraordinary disappointment in her for not continuing to try, and Glenn’s mother (the frankly over-talented Ethel Barrymore who takes what could be a wet limpet of a part, and turns it into a scene-stealing, cheer-rousing Strong Woman role) that Katie does not give up.
The final scene, which I won’t reveal, is heartening in the extreme, marrying the gentle love story and Katie’s political journey in one, very sweet and cheering image.
They do not put a foot wrong - the writers, the actors or the directors. Katie is loveable and unusual yes, but her funny extreme practicality (tucking in guests’ napkins for them at a posh cocktail party) is born of hard work and constant graft - whenever she might be about to become a figure of fun, an event or moment occurs to remind you of her humanity and of her truthfulness. Loretta Young deserves her Oscar for making it a sweetly humorous role while never failing to convince you that as a politician, she would fight for what is right and decent. She’s backed up by a sterling cast including the afore-mentioned Barrymore and Joseph Cotten as the Congressman.
Yes it’s entirely idealised. But in a world where an orange-tanned brute has seized control of the Presidency by convincing swathes of under-educated Americans that he will protect their interests, all the while undermining them with glee, a film like this that protests that there could be fairness and justice in the world feels like a lantern in the fog. I found myself emotional by the end, hoping that maybe - just maybe - there could be a return politically to a world like this.
Loretta Young does sterling work throughout, but my highlight really has to go to Ethel Barrymore who turns her scenes into rabble-rousing cheer-inducing triumphs. I found myself cheering as she turns on the men around her trying to bring down her female opponent, and standing up for justice constantly.
The other female character (a reporter) seems only there as a foil to Katie and Glenn’s love story and didn’t really feel necessary. A tiny gripe.
Mark
10/10
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