Thursday Movie Picks-Farm

"Green Acres is the place to be, farm living is the life for me"...oops sorry, whoever loves to get up at 4am, clean up shit, work until hands are raw from bailing hay, and send off cows to the butchers and chop chickens’ heads’off have no clue. I grew up on a sawmill but we were surrounded by farms and my friend was the next door neighbour, so I helped out with hay baling, catching chickens, cleaning up the barn plus picking fruit and veggies. They had a good free hand:). Did anyone else ever work on a farm or live on one? I wonder what everyone else will pick, so head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves and find out. Here are my 3...

1. THE EGG AND I-1947

I just re-watched this since I own the DVD and enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s based on a book about the exploits of a young newlywed couple who buy a farm, knowing likety-split about chicken farming. The movie became a smash (hahahaa..get it...smash..eggs..ok never mind) hit despite Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray being a bit too old as young newlyweds, but they were great in their roles.  The house looks just as bad as the chicken coops but she does her best to help make her husband’s dream come true. Enter a good looking woman who brings out the green in the new wifee and Ma and Pa Kettle who help out the newlyweds teach the ways of farming and you have a good entertaining movie. In fact, Ma and Pa Kettle were so popular in this movie that the studio used the actors, Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, to make a whole bunch of movies based on their characters.

2. SO BIG-1953

I have not seen this film in decades but I really enjoyed this version and the 1932 film, with Barbara Stanwyck, but I remember the newer version better. Jane Wyman (the ex Mrs. Ronald Reagan) plays a teacher who helps a young man realize his dream of being a concert pianist. She ends up meeting a farmer, marries him and they have a son whom the nickname, So Big. Her husband dies and she is left to deal with the farm and her young son. She sees her son also has a gift in building and helps him to become an architect since her farm is now a success because of (blecch) asparagus, but he meets a wayward woman, the hussy. He loses his way and his mom becomes disappointed in him. She must overcome many hurdles especially being a woman in farming but her love for her son, for teaching and helping others see their potential keeps her going. It’s melodrama at its finest and Jane Wyman was the queen of melodramas in the 1950’s.

3. BABE-1995

I love this fairy tale movie that was a surprise sleeper hit and gave a huge career boost, not to mention an Oscar nod, to James Cromwell plus using an innovative way to have the animals talk and make it look believable. We meet Babe, a young pig who is bought by a farmer to grow up and become bacon. The young pig is brought to the barn and is scared and lonely but is taken in by the mom dog who is an excellent sheep herder along with her gruff partner who doesn’t care much for the pig. The pig is always polite to all the animals and just wants to be friends and the farmer takes a shine to the little pig. The farmer takes the little piggie into his home much to the cat’s chagrin and starts to teach the piggie how to rear..um, herd the sheep (no, the farmer is not Greek). I found the whole film enchanting, sweet and very clever. It must have been a challenge to act against all these animals. I loved the cottage and wished I could stay there myself. In fact, I had a dream where I asked the mice if i could sing with them. Apparently, I sang this song out loud and woke up my then current hubby. Yes, I have weird dreams.

Which 3 would you choose