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Romantic comedy

The Farmer's Wife

Year
1928
Length
107 minBFI National Archive restoration presentation Version sources ↓

A widowed farmer makes a list of suitable women to marry, overlooking the person who understands both him and his household best.

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Language
English
FunnyGentle Great first watch · Easy Romantic comedy
Four wooden chairs stand in a row on pale green, one facing a different direction.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Hitchcock and a lively ensemble turn courtship into choreography. Repeated proposals, social gatherings, and household movement reveal the farmer’s self-image more clearly than his carefully prepared list does.

How to ease in

The repetitions are the design. Enjoy how each visit changes the same expectation, and watch the housekeeper Minta’s practical attention beside Samuel’s abstract search for suitability.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes class and gender stereotypes, comic humiliation, age-related insults, controlling behaviour, and period attitudes to marriage.
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Samuel keeps looking outward because a list feels more impressive than recognition. I enjoy every small moment in which Minta already knows what the grand plan has failed to notice.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Version map

BFI National Archive restoration presentation 107 min 107 minutes is attached only to the named BFI National Archive restoration presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred. Source: British Film Institute — The Farmer's Wife Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

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