utgard14 Slight but enjoyable early Alfred Hitchcock movie about a widower (Jameson Thomas) who sets out to find a new wife with help from his loyal housekeeper (Lillian Hall-Davis). It's a charming and touching story. Not quite what you would expect from the eventual Master of Suspense. It's a good-looking film, as well. Thomas and Davis are both likable. Gordon Harker is fun as the farmer's handyman, Churdles Ash. Love that name. It's nothing to get worked up over but a pleasant enough film that's worth a look to more than just Hitchcock completists.

jacobs-greenwood Written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock (the director's screenplay was based on a play from Eden Philpotts), this silent comedy (!) begins with the death of the farmer's wife, though the titled character actually refers to said farmer's 'replacement' spouse; the film's story is about his pursuit of several eligible ladies in the community. Apparently there are two versions of this movie; I watched and reviewed the 2+ hour DVD.Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) is an older man with a housekeeper he calls Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) and a handyman named Ash (Gordon Harker). After Sweetland's daughter (Antonia Borough to Haward Watts, his only film) is married, there is speculation within the small farming community about whether Samuel will seek another wife. Gibb McLaughlin plays Sweetland's old friend Henry Coaker. Samuel decides that it's time; with Minta's help, he compiles a list of the available women in the area. He then puts on his best coat and goes to call on each one in succession.The widow Louisa Windeatt (Louie Pounds in her only film) turns out to be too independent; Samuel is shocked that she's not interested in being his wife. Thirza Tapper (Maud Gill), who appears to happily be an old maid, is so surprised by Samuel's proposal that she shakes nervously, can't reply, and even faints. Giggling, chubby Mary Hearn (Olga Slade) seems interested at first, but is so put off by Samuel's 'demands' by which she'd have to live that she loses control of herself into hysteria (screaming, rocking forward and back while waving her hands uncontrollably). After each rejection, Samuel crosses the name off his list until only Mercy Bassett (Ruth Maitland), the local barmaid, remains on it. Ash is upset that his master is making a fool of himself while Minta is sympathetic and actually imagines herself as Samuel's next wife.After Sweetland crosses Mercy off the list, he returns home a failure. Minta listens and eventually sits in the fireplace chair opposite Samuel who finally sees the light of day and proposes to his housekeeper. She is cautious, then thrilled to accept his proposal.Meanwhile, Mary has had second thoughts and she returns, with Thirza, to Sweetland's home where both tell him about their change of heart. Samuel says that he's made his decision and each think they are to be the chosen one, but both are surprised when he introduces them to a newly dressed and coiffed Minta descending the staircase.Of course, this causes Mary to go into hysterics again; Thirza only shakes a little bit (though she does appear to be speechless again). Coaker joins the festivities and Ash tells his former co-worker that he'll help her manage the master if she'll help him (e.g. get better pay).

JoeytheBrit I don't know if other reviewers are cutting this film a little more slack than usual because it's directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock, but I had a tough time making it to the end of this dull romantic farce. Stage actor Jameson Thomas – looking much older than his 40 years – plays the gentleman farmer whose thoughts turn to marriage once he recovers from the premature death of his wife. Not that he's in love with anyone in particular – he just wants someone to gaze upon as he sits in front of the fire at night. He's not too fussy either, drawing up a shortlist of women who would have most men running in the opposite direction from them. To his surprise and shame, all four women turn him down for different reasons.The film takes a while to decide upon its tone, starting as a sad drama before taking a left turn into comedy territory with mostly uncertain steps. Farmer Sweetland comes across as too noble a man to lower himself to chasing after any available widow for only the vaguest of reasons, and the country bumpkin dialogue the intertitles put into his mouth just don't ring true. Much responsibility for the humour is placed upon the shoulders of Gordon Harker, who manfully turns down the corners of his mouth and juts his lower lip out; he's sort of funny, but he can't sustain a movie that goes on for more than an hour and a half, but which seems much longer.I suppose there's a certain fascination with watching the young Hitchcock learning his craft, and this film isn't any worse than many others from the late silent era (when audiences were accustomed to a more leisurely style of storytelling), but there's little evidence of the undisputed master of the screen that Hitchcock would eventually become.

Brian_o_Vretanos The first half is rather slow, but keep going - it's definitely worth it. The humour in Hitchcock's films is generally based around great character actors (e.g. Jessie Royce Landis in To Catch a Thief and North by NorthWest), and here not one of the actors disappoints. Lillian Hall Davis has a better part in the Ring (also 1928 - Gordon Harker is again very amusing in it too), but is lovely in this film. Sound would have added nothing. My 8-year old daughter was apprehensive about watching a silent film, but once things started to get going in the second half, was hooked.Hitchcock referred to it in later years as one of his "photographed plays", but the action occurs in several locations, so is nowhere near as constrained as many of his films (plays or not). In fact, even though the location shots are few and far between, they really give this film a non-studio feel.All of Hitchcock's films are notable for their visual storytelling (look at the initial scene-setting in Rear Window that speaks volumes without a single word being uttered), and it is interesting to see the origins of this, and the great influence of German Expressionism.