The Farmer's Daughter (1947)

Fresh off the farm, a young woman (Loretta Young in her Oscar winning performance) finds employment as a maid in the household of a Congressman (Joseph Cotten) from a family of career politicians. Loosely based on the play JUURAKON HULDA by Hella Wuolijoki and directed by H.C. Potter (MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE). Political comedies weren't all that common in Hollywood but Frank Capra and Preston Sturges made their mark doing exactly that. Sometimes they were pungent (Sturges) and sometimes they were unbearably corny (Capra) but THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER straddles the line between both. Loretta Young is one of my least favorite actresses but she's quite charming here (though her Oscar win remains inexplicable). The film takes aim at fascism in politics (which makes it relevant to today) but without hokey pablum of Capra. What's rather sad is that politics and political landscape in America haven't changed all that much since 1947. I'm probably making the movie sound more complex than it is. It's an entertainment with a point of view. With Ethel Barrymore, Charles Bickford, Lex Barker, James Arness, Keith Andes, Rhys Williams and Rose Hobart.