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Sheet re Mt, Farmers and Gangsters HE. TITLE of “The Farmer’s Daugh- ter” has made it the butt of the saddest of reviewers’ jokes, and the ad- vertising blurbs have made it sound a dreary business. Yet the film itself is a political fantasy with some funny dia- logue, grown-up direction and good performance. It’s almost a relief to find a good film that puts its worst foot for- ward. In this fairy story, politics are glossed with a clear candy coating, but the con-| fection is produced with practically none of the usual stupidity. There is through- out the movie a tendency toward _lib- eralism; just the broader aspects, of course, since this is a box-office com- modity and care has been taken not to be specific or militant and to offend no - one with the price of.a ticket or the ear of a congressman. Out-and-out. fascism, . “however, is still a sitting duck) and’ there are some satisfying digs at a Bund- ist organization with America First over- tones. There is even a lusty fight in| which the liver is beaten out of a whole lodgeful of these creatures. In this _ picture my favorite movie mansion, which i is authentic in‘ contrast to the silly house in “The Late George Apley,” is run by a Mr. Clancy, the butler - and cherished friend of the Morleys, a prominent family of Capitol City, somewhere in the Middle West. He is played by Charles Bickford, who- gives a valid characteyization of great charm. How chic is simplicity! Clancy runs the house for the widow of a beloved sena- tor of the state, wittily played by Ethel Barrymore, who seems to enjoy this dowager role, and for her son, Repre- sentative Morley. This Prince Charming is Joseph Cotten, who looks like a man and invariably makes sense. Loretta Young, as Katie, is starred as a cute Swedish farm girl of decided opinions and countless capabilities. She looks as though she could not only call ETHEL BARRYMORE a hog, but butcher it when it came trustingly up to her, smoke it, pickle it, and very likely make shoes of it. She leaves her, stalwart, attractive family— the backbohe, and in this case, the heart and head of the nation—to study nursing in town, and there has a nasty experi- ence with one of the villains of the piece, a slick sign painter played pretty heavily by Rhys Williams. Williams, who was fine with Ethel Bar- tymore_in “The Corn Is an and with Helen Hayes “Harriet,” seems a little nervous as the drunk who has to get the taste of paint out of his mouth. She loses her sav- ings, gets a job as a waitress in the Morley house, is a hit the first day and is invited to’ stay as long as she will. -Ja no time, Katie is.deep in the po- litical activities of the Morleys and their assorted party bosses.. She has her own ideas about candidates, entrances the as- semblage with her knowledge of ma- chine methods and'soon wins the heart - of the congressman and heir. There is a scene in which Mrs. Morley and Clancy place modest bets on the" romance be- tween the waitress and the scion. As the fantasy becomes more fantastic, Katie swings a big political meeting, is her- self nominated in opposition to the Morley candidate and tides handsomely into office. In the last scene, the only stupid one, the hero and hero- ine (they could as well have strolled through a field of wheat into the setting sun) walk up the steps of the Capitol hand in hand. “The Farmer's Daughter” is the first picture in which Loretta Young has made a good, positive impression on me as an actress. She gives an appealing, sustained performance that should mean for her, in comedy, a new lease on life. It is worth noting that Katie’s mother is a bit part played by Anna Q. Nils- son, a star of the old silent pictures. DICK POWELL NEW REPUBLIC H. C. Potter, a young director with the play, ““A Bell for Adano,” and several good movies to his credit, directs a script adapted by Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr. They have made from what could have.been a run-of-the-mill affair a fable of political integrity and kind- ness which wouldn't happen this side of heaven, but is fun to watch. AVING been breathlessly assured by H the elevator boy that ‘The Devil Thumbs a Ride’ was a hot, the most deadly of our new screen desperados, Lawrence Tierney, and destined to be a surprise hit, I gathered up my spectacles and headed for the theatre. The boy exagger- ated, but the picture isn’t bad. It has some good chase scenes and one wonderful police poker game in which a kid, the gas-station -attendant who can identify the criminal, is reluc- tantly allowed to sit in. His math teacher has taught him all the percent- ages, he handles his cards like a high- class sharp, and takes the whole night shift at the station house to the cleaners. Tierney, whom I praised in “San Quen- tin,” is now- getting a little too iron- faced. That cold calm has stood many a movie murderer in good stead, but it is wise to break the mask occasionally, lest the effect be that of dummy dressed in bolts of gabardine. ICK POWELL, who .used to be a D sweet-singing type, never caught my attention until he distinguished him- self in ‘Murder, My Sweet,” one of the best of the whodunits. ‘Johnny O'Clock,” his latest, is not the picture the Chandler story was, but it is good in comparison to the last few Bogart efforts or to any of the other recent gangster stuff, Lee J. Cobb, who gave a beautiful performance as the chief of police in “Boomerang,” is the police in- spector of “Johnny O'Clock” and up to his usual standard. The combination of Powell, as the smart, self-contained gam- bling-joint proprietor, Cobb and - the actor who plays Powell's partner, S. Thomas Gomez, is easily worth two hours of watching. great, terrific movie showing