Memorable, crazy movie

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Blistering performances.

I love the premise of this movie - not only is a woman running for Congress, but she's the daughter of an immigrant, and on top of it, she is currently employed as a maid! Talk about aspirations and dreaming big! Not too bad considering women just won the right to vote in 1920 and this movie was released in 1947. "Women's participation in national political life remained low long after the right to vote was gained in 1920. No more than two women served in the Senate at any time until 1994, and fewer than a dozen were Congressional Representatives until 1955. Current representation is 16 senators and 67 representatives, around 15% of the United States Congress." (Wikipedia - History of Women in The U.S.) And here we are some 60+ years since this movie and we have a woman running for President!But I think this film was ahead of its time showing a woman running for Congress in the 40's. I'm sure it must have raised a few eyebrows in spite of its success and awards. I'm sure there were detractors in its day that dismissed the premise as foolishness or pure Hollywood fantasy. Either way, it is a great movie that stands the test of time and is just as relevant today (especially being an election year).Happy viewing!

When Loretta Young beat out Rosalind Russell in the Academy Award sweepstakes of 1947 it was considered one of the great upsets in the history of Oscar. Russell had gotten a lot of acclaim for her dramatic breakthrough performance in Mourning Becomes Electra which was RKO's prestige picture of the year. The O'Neill drama flopped at the box office. Young was nominated almost as an afterthought to round out the field in 1947. Of course RKO didn't care because The Farmer's Daughter was also one of their films.Young worked hard to get her proper Swedish accent for the film and the results would have made Greta Garbo proud. I can't see Garbo appearing in a film like The Farmer's Daughter though.Young plays Katie Holstrum who leaves the family farm to study nursing and in an almost Forrest Gump like set of circumstances winds up working as a maid in Congressman Joseph Cotten's home. She's not working for just Cotten. Presiding over the home and the state of Minnesota itself is Cotten's mother Ethel Barrymore. Ethel's not only queen of her own roost, but she's a Senator's widow and still one formidable power in her state of Minnesota. And there's Charles Bickford the family butler who got an Oscar nomination himself in this film for Best Supporting Actor as Young's gruff, but kindly mentor.Although at the time this film was made Young was 34 years old she does manage to convey youth here. It worked in this case because in 1947 a lot of people were starting their careers late. It's pointed out in the story that she stayed on the family farm while her beefcake brothers, James Arness, Keith Andes, and Lex Barker were all in the service during World War II.A long running television series was adapted from this film with the tragic Inger Stevens in the lead and William Windom in Cotten's role. Cathleen Nesbitt was the grande political dame. The butler's role was dropped and Windom was made a widower with two boys. Even with a genuine Swede like Stevens playing Katie, Young still comes out the better.Too bad Rosalind Russell never got an Oscar, but Loretta Young was one of the great survivors of Hollywood and her award was as much an award for a lifetime as for the still fresh and funny, The Farmer's Daughter.

Loretta Young and Joseph Cotten's talented work in this genre of Hollywood leftism. An apt display of its' penchant for the disdain of capitalism, and the glorification of the common working man, there are scenes with script reminiscent of the writings of Karl Marx. It's typical portrayal of populism is typical of the thinking of the Hollywood left that was and still is prevalent to this day. See this film as a set-piece for the views of the era, and its' communist leanings. Young is an attractive and idealistic immigrant, albeit with leftist leanings who sees an establishment corrupt because it doen't guarantee a living wage to all,even as she agrees that one should be responsible for ones own security. It falsely portrays a political machine that allows sinister establishment characters to prey on the public, while idealistic candidate Katie only wants the best for the common man,who has been duped by the establishment.Pure Eugene Debbs propaganda. Cotten is among that establishment, that as a matter of birth, he has been incorporated into the capitalist rip-off, but comes to realize the error of his ways in an epiphany of love of the innocent Katie. Young plays Katie,a wise and sweet maid servant turned political" do gooder" candidate. All and all, a totally implausible script, but wonderfully Hollywood, and totally conformed to the political left leanings of the elite who rule Hollywood, then and now.

I was truly impressed with this movie. It entertainingly told us how important our votes are. It was not heavy handed, but showed us how important each and every voice is. How anyone can run for public office and represent certain values. It showed us how ugly politics can get, the smear campaigns, the lying and payoffs. It is something many of today's voters are painfully unaware of. In this day of apathy, it is time for films such as these to be released and remind us of how wonderful this country is, and how important a single vote is. It is a personal right, a way of running our own government, something that is woefully ignored in today's filmmaking. Capra said it many times over in films such as "Meet John Doe" and "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" -- they were big hits. Hollywood -- it is time to do something right for our country!