City Girl

1930

Action / Drama / Romance

17
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 83% · 8 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 83% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.7/10 10 4025 4K

waitress countryside marriage crisis pre-code wheat

Plot summary

A waitress from Chicago falls in love with a man from rural Minnesota and marries him, with the intent of living a better life - but life on the farm has its own challenges.

Director

F.W. Murnau Photo
F.W. Murnau

Top cast

Mark Hamilton Photo
Mark Hamilton as Hungry reaper
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Photo
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as Reaper
Arnold Lucy Photo
Arnold Lucy as Cafe patron
David Rollins Photo
David Rollins
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
813.01 MB
854*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 1
1.63 GB
1280*1080
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ducdebrabant 9 / 10

Fascinating, especially as a social document

True, it isn't "Sunrise" (what is?) and it isn't even the complete silent version as Murnau envisioned it, but it's still a beautifully expressive film from one of the great masters. What's more, it's the only film I've ever seen which pinpoints a pivotal moment in American history (it seems to be set before the Crash). One thing that precipitated the Great Depression was the squeeze on farmers, who had no profit margin at all, and whose only recourse was to plant more and more, unwittingly worsening their own situation. One of the conflicts is that Charles Farrell is sent to the city to sell the wheat crop at the most advantageous price (and this is a desperate necessity), and not only fails to do so but comes home with a (perhaps unsuitable) new wife. The family patriarch has planted the farm in wheat right up to the front door, and even reprimands his little girl for picking a stalk of it to play with. They are drowning in a product everybody needs but which barely supports them, and on which they are completely dependent. The contrast between an agricultural America far from idyllic and a motorized city whose drudgery for most is at least as bad is redeemed by the awakening of human feelings and re-ordered priorities. Nothing will save these people but love and family.
Reviewed by AlsExGal 8 / 10

Romantic drama from Fox and director F.W. Murnau

Minnesota farm boy Lem (Charles Ferrell) travels to the big city of Chicago for the first time to sell his family's annual wheat harvest. He meets tough-cookie waitress Kate (Mary Duncan) who dreams of a simpler life. The two fall for each other and get married, but they receive a less-than-warm reception back home from Lem's angry, tyrannical father (David Torrence). Kate is disappointed when Lem won't stand up to his father's violent ways, and things get more complicated when a work team arrives for the harvest, and the men start making advances on Kate.Although less artistically flashy than many of Murnau's films, this is stronger narratively. While Murnau was said to be disappointed that producer William Fox insisted on the casting of Duncan in the female lead (Murnau wanted to cast Janet Gaynor), I have to say that I was very impressed with Duncan's performance, and I consider it the highlight of the film. Torrence is also good as the mean father, and I like that he's given a nuanced background, showing that his ill-temper is a result of his worries over making ends meet and paying the bills, a source of stress for most farmers. The only drawback for me with this movie was that the end tied everything up a little too neatly to be believable. Recommended.
Read more IMDb reviews

3 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment