Customer Reviews

Farmer's Wife (Full Screen)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Released in 1928, THE FARMER'S WIFE was a radical departure for Alfred Hitchcock. Based on a play by Eden Philpotts, the story translates perfectly to the silent-movie-medium.

Following his wife's death, farmer Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) goes in search of a new wife. He has his pick of any of the middle-aged spinsters in town, as well as an overweight hysteric and an equestrienne socialite.

Minta (Lillian Hall Davis) is his meek little maid who has loved him for many years, but now decides to make her move. But just as she is about to, the many "lovelies" in the town decide to marry him after all!

This pristine, black and white-tinted silent is backed by a colorful orchestra soundtrack, which underscores every mood and emotion shown on the screen.

A delightful silent programmer.

Even though the film originally ran about 97 minutes, and even though Amazon's info shows the running time to be 93 minutes, this Laserlight's DVD version of THE FARMER'S WIFE runs 129 minutes. Apparently, the wrong film speed was used in transferring the film to DVD, stretching the film by an additional half hour. The film's tempo is therefore slowed down a great deal, and the pacing and timing of the various comedy scenes are very much ruined. The DVD does have decent picture and sound (mono) quality.

This dated and predictable film was nevertheless well-acted by Jameson Thomas as the farmer and Lillian Hall-Davis as his housekeeper. Hall-Davis also starred in another Hitchcock's silent comedy "The Ring" (a much better film), also available as a Laserlight DVD.

En esta era de la tecnología y el gusto por lograr las mejores imágenes y los mejores efectos, esta colección nos lleva a darnos cuenta que las grandes obras de arte se deben edificar a partir de eso, "El Arte". Y esto es precisamente lo que demuestra este box set. El arte de la cinematografía puesta en las manos del genial Hitchcock. Ni que hablar de la producción: Siete discos, cada uno en su propio estuche, excelente sonido, y todo el material subtitulado (includo extras, introducción y trailers), además de que los discos son multizona. Cabe destacar que esto no fue obra de una gran empresa sino de LaserLight Video, pero es algo que los grandes estudios deberían tomar como ejemplo, hartos ya de ver películas con extras sin subtítulos. Si a eso le sumamos el costo del set, nos encontramos con una joya que no podemos desperdiciar. Muy recomendable.

I have nothing against silent films. In fact Clara Bow's 'It', Lon Chaney's 'The Phantom of The Opera' and Louise Brooks's 'Pandora's Box' are amongst my all-time favourites. But with the exception of 'The Lodger', Hitchcock never really got going in silent films. 'The Farmer's Wife' certainly had the potential for an easy going, enjoyable comedy, but NOT when it lasts over 2 hours. I challenge anyone to watch this film in one sitting without their eyelids feeling increasingly heavy. On the plus points, Laserlight has dispensed with one of those embarrassing Tony Curtis introductions, and has provided us with a newly recorded (and very good) score. The picture quality is also very good. If you're tempted to buy this DVD because it's a Hitchcock film, I'd say don't. It is only worth a look to anyone with an interest in silent films or a genuine Hitchcock enthusiast.

A solid collection of lesser known titles that are definitely worth the price if you are a true Hitchcock fan. Image quality and extras are lacking when compared with your typical Criterion Collection dvd but for this price you can't complain.

For the hard-core Hitchcock fan, I recommend getting this set of eight of his early films plus an episode of the TV show. The best of these (39 Steps, Lady Vanishes, Blackmail) all bear the Hitchcock stamp of his finest work inthe 50s and 60s. I especially enjoyed Easy Virtue (1927), an unremarkable film on its own - I had never seen it before, yet could start seeing signs of his masterpieces to come. Although none in this collection is as excellent as North by Northwest or Psycho (although 39 steps isn't far off), where else can you get this much Hitchcock for $30? Buy it!

This is an early entry into the British tradition of class based comedies. A one-joke film that drags on for an interminably long 115 minutes, the film was however an un-surprising hit upon it's original release, thanks largely to the performance of it's excellent cast.

Thomas portrays Sweetland so completely without charm, tact or grace it is easy to see why the women all reject him. Unfortunately he manages this so completely it is impossible to feel any pathos for the man, and one can feel only sympathy for the woman who eventually consents to be his bride.

Gill, Pounds, Slade and Bassett are all uniformly excellent as the various objects of Sweetlands pursuits, while Hall-Davies and Harker who were so good in "The Ring" are largely wasted in this coarse script.

Hitch, well aware of the built in popularity of the film seizes the opportunity to experiment behind the camera, the fluid camera movements owe much to Hitch's hero Murnau and the film features one of the first rapid dolly shots.

Hitch's broadest of comedies has dated badly, while it is a highly polished exercise in commercial film production, there are only so many laughs to be gained from watching Harker repeatedly drop his trousers.