Martha Wilcox Charles Bickford plays a muscular canal worker who fights his way through a community who enjoy watching a fight. It's like being at school where pupils relish the prospect of watching a fight in the playground.Henry Fonda makes his film debut in this Victor Fleming directed offering. He enters the scene as a passive farmer with no presence or personality. Janet Gaynor plays a charming cook with a half smile that Fonda falls for.Andy Devine plays a supporting role as his usual self.The tension between Bickford and Fonda doesn't ring true. They are not a match of equals, nor do you believe that Fonda would win a fight with Bickford. The film should have started with Bickford beating Fonda in a fight, and then the rest of the film having Fonda evolve into a man and a equal that can challenge and win a fight with Bickford. Fonda didn't prove himself in this film, and it was obviously a vehicle for him to be launched into Hollywood.

wes-connors 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

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre "The Farmer Takes a Wife" is remembered as Henry Fonda's film debut. He had previously starred in this story as a Broadway play. Reportedly, when Fonda met this film's director (Victor Fleming) for the first time during pre-production, Fonda asked Fleming why so many scenes featured a woman named Dolly who never said anything. Fonda then showed Fleming a line in the shooting script: "Dan and Molly cross the field. Dolly with them." He didn't know that this refers to a camera's dolly shot!The film and play are based on a novel by Walter D Edmonds, who specialised in novels about the early history of the United States. Here, we're on the Erie Canal in 1853. For nearly 30 years, the river people have prospered from the canal, which enabled easy transport between New York City and the Great Lakes. But now the railroads are coming, and the river barges may become obsolete...This film splendidly conveys that transitional moment in history, with only a few historic errors (Amerindians in New York State didn't wear Sioux war bonnets) and a few awkward examples of phony prole dialogue: I doubt that anyone ever actually referred to Utica as "Yoot-ickey".Fonda and Janet Gaynor give excellent performances, with splendid chemistry between them. Slim Summerville gives an astonishingly nuanced performance, and even perennial scene-chewers Charles Bickford and Jane Withers are good here.Margaret Hamilton, who was in the Broadway play with Fonda, repeats her stage role here: for once, she portrays a sympathetic character. I never thought I'd describe Hamilton as "pretty", but in this movie -- wearing a frilly gingham frock and an elaborate hairstyle -- she seems almost attractive for once.SLIGHT SPOILERS. There's one wince-worthy scene in this film (it wasn't in the novel or the play) when the bargees meet touring actor Junius Brutus Booth and his 15-year-old son John Wilkes Booth. The boy reads a newspaper article about a rising politician named Abraham Lincoln, and vows to become just as famous one day. Here's the truth: although Junius Booth toured with his elder son Edwin, younger son John Wilkes was kept home in Virginia ... and this is one reason why, in adulthood, the embittered John Wilkes Booth was inspired to commit the assassination that would make him more famous than his brother and their father.I also cringed at a scene when Andy Devine calls out to Janet Gaynor and she asks who's there. (Their characters have already met.) Devine had one of the most distinctive (and most annoying) voices in Hollywood, so Gaynor shouldn't have to ask him to identify himself.My all-time favourite character actress, Eily Malyon, is seen here in a very brief role ... and she actually sings, for perhaps the only time in her long acting career.There are many delights in this movie; I only regret that this is one more film in which a man must prove his manhood by getting into a brawl. I'll rate 'The Farmer Takes a Wife' 9 out of 10.

Single-Black-Male The 30 year old Henry Fonda made his screen debut in this film where he delivers a fairly mediocre performance. His voice is always the same and he's still as stiff and one dimensional as he went on to become as an old man on the screen, but there is activity in his face which redeems him as a screen actor.