The Farmer's Daughter

From an hard-working family of Swedish immigrants to the USA, the young "Katrin" - aka "Katie" (Loretta Young) finds herself employed as a maid in the home of the wealthy, politically connected, "Morley" family. The widow of a former Senator, it's sagely matriarch "Agatha" (Ethel Barrymore) is embroiled in the selection of a new nominee for Congress and quickly "Katie" finds herself immersed in this process and a witness to the way the family - including son 'Glenn" (Joseph Cotton) go about sorting out the nomination. She's bold enough to speak out at a meeting about the failings of their choice, and next thing the opposition have decided she could stand herself. With the polls suggesting a 70%-30% vote against her, she looks doomed but then a series of twists and turns occur that might just help her out - especially as she and Congressman "Glenn" are clearly fond of each other and the mother is much more of a decent woman than a mere political manipulator. A constant in all these machinations is her butler-cum-confidante "Clancy" (Charles Bickford) who has worked for the family all of his life, earned a position of considerable trust and influence, and like his boss becomes concerned that the fight isn't being fought fairly and in the best interests of the community. It's a little reminiscent of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) in that it shows a plucky, if naive, young person determined to try and make a change in a political world stacked in favour of the vested interests, but that aspect of the plot isn't really brought home so much as the increasingly romantic elements of her relationship with "Glenn". It's more Barrymore and Bickford who inject a sense of power into the thing whilst the enamoured couple try to get their act together. It still offers us quite a cleverly constructed and occasionally humorous swipe at the establishment and American "democracy" and Young - despite her rather unnecessary accent - turns in one of her stronger and more characterful efforts.