The Farmer's Wife - Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock had such a varied career. While I am only towards the start, his early films show the variety of stories he was willing to work on. Not all of them were choices he would have made as he was under contract, but he did what he could with what he had. This is one of those films, based on a play which was adapted from a novel - both by Eden Phillpotts. 

The Farmer's Wife opens with a gorgeous idyllic shot of English countryside and farmland. You follow it up to a traditional cottage where you come to find out that the Farmer's wife is dying. According to the title cards her last words were to their housekeeper asking her to make sure the Farmer's clothes are always pressed. If that isn't foreshadowing, I'm not sure what is. The house ends in mourning the loss of the mother. The daughter gets married and the farmer is left alone in his house with the servant, and farm hand. There is a very funny scene on the day of the wedding as the staff is getting the wedding dinner ready that the farmhand sits next to the fire (and the roasting meat) complaining about love....and drinking. 

At the wedding dinner we, the audience, are introduced to the rest of the village - specifically the single women of the village. The remainder of the film deals with the farmer realizing he wants a wife and visiting all the eligible women. There is some very funny physical comedy during this section. Naturally the film ends with the farmer realizing the house keeper who has always been there for him since his wife passed is the one for him.

This is probably available in a variety of box sets. I watched it on the Legend Series. There is no cameo.