Martin Bradley Loretta Young was the surprise winner of the 1947 Best Actress Oscar for her performance in "The Farmer's Daughter". It's not much of a performance in dramatic terms but it's a very likeable one in a very likeable, if somewhat silly, film. It's a political fairytale with the good guys naturally coming out on top, (neither of the two parties is actually named), as well as a romantic comedy with the maid (Young) falling for the master of the house, (Jospeh Cotten), who happens to be a congressman. Twenty minutes in and you can see exactly where the film is going; the only real surprise is just how well it did. If the central theme is much too cloying there is at least a decent supporting cast headed by Ethel Barrymore, (Cotten's overly sweet mother), and Charles Bickford, (the gruff butler with a heart of gold). H C Potter was the director so you knew not to expect too much.

Lawson It's taken me a while to finally appreciate the charms of Loretta Young, who has never stood out this much in any other movie I've seen her in. It's no wonder she picked up an Oscar for this role. Here she plays a Swedish immigrant - replete with a braided pigtail around her head - who, through a series of events, finds herself a maid in the household of a US congressman, and subsequently, as a nominee to be a congresswoman as well. It's a charming story in itself, but I also loved the performances. Besides Young, this movie also showcased Joseph Cotten as a romantic lead - a role I've never seen him in, and Ethel Barrymore - a grande dame of stage and screen - is perfection in her role as a kingmaker. It's remarkable that all three actors managed to stand out without overshadowing each other.

bkoganbing 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.

silverscreen888 Perhaps this is Loretta Young's best film ever, and best performance ever. This attractive B/W classic satire stars Joseph Cotten as her handsome politico boss, Ethel Barrymore as his understanding mother, and an outstanding cast who support their political and romantic involvements. But Katie Holstrom does not begin this film as a candidate nor anyone's fiancée; she begins it on a farm with her large family with a plan to go to school as a nurse in the big city.What happens next is she leaves, and within one day has been bilked of her savings. The need for a job drives her to seek employment as housemaid to a Congressman, Glenn Morley, played by Cotten, and his mother. Ethel Barrymore. Under the house major-domo Charles Bickford, she proves herself to be possessed of charm, common sense, lively intelligence and honesty--qualities which please well when they are not exasperating her employers, unused to such qualities in a world of politicians. Katrin and Glenn find themselves attracted, despite his having a fiancée (Rose Hobart). But when the party's candidate for Congress has to be dumped, it is Katie who somehow gets chosen to run, and wins. The film's climax is Katie's victory, the ending is the romantic pair's arrival in Washington. The values of this award- winning films are not hidden ones. Milton S. Krasner, cinematography, sets by Darrell Silvers and Harley Miller , Edith Head's costumes and many more contribute to the overall effect. The lighting throughout is like a sunny outdoors; and the actors are outstanding. Along with the leads, the director, H.C. Potter, featured Harry Shannon and Anna Q. Nilsson as Katie's parents, Lex Barker, James Arness and Keith Andes as her brawny brothers, Art Baker, Rhys Williams, William Harrigan, Tom Powers, Thurston Hall and many others. The script by Allen Rivin and Laura Kerr adapts Juhani Tervapää's delightful play seamlessly to the screen. The film's pace is interestingly steady and unhurried, its dialogue good or better at all points. The theme of the plot it to be true to oneself; and the story develops this in terms of a time when an individual could be offered as a candidate on the basis of his/her attributes, not of inherited millions. As refreshing as a summer breeze, and often as delightful. This is a classic of anti- Establishment thinking that is only occasionally political at all. Dservedly popular achievement.