The Farmer's Wife | |
---|---|
Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
Written by |
Eden Phillpotts Eliot Stannard Leslie Arliss (uncredited) |
Starring |
Jameson Thomas Lillian Hall-Davis Gordon Harker |
Cinematography | Jack E. Cox |
Edited by | Alfred Booth |
Production
company |
|
Distributed by | Wardour Films |
Release date
|
2 March 1928 |
Running time
|
129 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
The Farmer's Wife is a 1928 British silent romantic comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis and Gordon Harker.
It is adapted from a play of the same name by British novelist, poet and playwright Eden Phillpotts, best known for a series of novels based on Dartmoor, in Devon. The Farmer's Wife is produced by British International Pictures at Elstree studios. The film's sets were designed by the art director Wilfred Arnold.
Tibby, the wife of Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) dies, and shortly afterwards his daughter marries and leaves home, leaving him on his own with his two servants. His wife had told him that he should remarry after her death, so he pursues some local spinsters who were at his daughter's wedding after he and his housekeeper Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) make out a list of possibilities.
First is Widow Louisa Windeatt, but Sweetland is shocked and mad when she rejects his advances and says she is too independent for him. Next, he attempts to court Thirza Tapper, a nervous wreck who almost collapses when Sweetland proposes to her. She, too, rejects him because she says she has no need for a man, and he is furious yet again. He wanders outside as other guests arrive for her party. His bolshie servant Ash is helping at the party, wearing an ill-fitting coat and trying to keep his trousers up while doing his work at the party.
While the others are outside listening to some singers, Sweetland proposes to Mary Hearn, but she rejects him as too old, and then bursts into hysterical laughter when he angrily tells her that she is "full blown and a bit over."