The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)

Although he had played young farmer Dan Harrow in the hit Broadway version, Henry Fonda was actually the third choice for the role in this entertaining film version. Fonda does a great job in his first screen appearance, carrying a rather simplistic story about romance and roughneck Erie-Canal boatmen in 1850. Janet Gaynor is appealing as his beloved Molly, and Charles Bickford almost steals the film as the hard-bitten Jotham Klore. It's no classic, but it does charmingly recall an almost forgotten part of American history, as director Victor Fleming (Gone With the Wind) skillfully portrays the closing days of canal dominance and the growing power of the railroads. A star from the beginning, Fonda would become one of the most beloved screen figures of the next half-century for his sincere, wholesome qualities, which are well in evidence here. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide