The Farmer Takes a Wife * (1953, Betty Grable, Dale Robertson, Thelma Ritter, John Carroll) – Classic Movie Review 10,668

Director Henry Levin’s 1953 Twentieth Century Fox comedy musical romance The Farmer Takes a Wife is a plushly produced but uninvolving musical rehash of the sweet 1935 original The Farmer Takes a Wife.

It is beautifully filmed in gorgeous Technicolor by Arthur E Arling, but with surprisingly dull songs from Harold Arlen (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics), following the lines of the original version, in which mid-19th-century Erie Canal captain Jotham Klore (John Carroll)’s cook and gal Molly Larkins (Betty Grable) hires handsome new haul-horse driver Dan Harrow (Dale Robertson) as a deckhand. But Dan Harrow only wants to be a farmer and buy a farm, and Molly Larkins only wants to boat, though she falls for his charms, starting a love triangle.

Though it has been proved over and over that no story cannot be turned into a successful show – Evita or Jesus Christ Superstar for instance – this story proves not at all ideal for a musical reinterpretation, and mostly only Grable’s singing and dancing ring any bells in this flaccid retelling.

The leads may not be ideally cast, with Robertson most out of place, but Thelma Ritter as Lucy Cashdollar and Eddie Foy Jr as Fortune Friendly and Gwen Verdon, who appears in an early (uncredited) role as Abigail, all help to liven up the show.

It is shot at 20th Century Fox Studios, 10201 Pico Blvd, Century City, Los Angeles.

The original play opened on Broadway on 30 October 1934 and closed in January 1935 after 104 performances. The cast included Henry Fonda and Margaret Hamilton, both also in the first film of The Farmer Takes a Wife, which was Fonda’s film debut.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,668

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