The Farmer's Daughters

The Farmer's Daughters

(One reel of 1,006 feet, September 28, 1913)
Print source: British Film Institute, 15 minutes 36 seconds.
Scenario by Lloyd F. Lonergan.
Cast: Muriel Ostriche (May, the farmer’s daughter), Jean Darnell (Grace, the farmer’s other daughter), Billy Noel (hired hand), Nolan Grane (hired hand), Justice Barnes (father).
Original music composed and performed by Ben Model.

The daughters of the farmer do some very good character work fooling young college graduates who are bent on matrimony. Iincidental glimpses of American farm life considerably enhance the value of the film.

The one-reel light comedy was a specialty of Thanhouser, as were well-selected locations and a clever scenario. The theme of gender democracy is not unusual in Lloyd F. Lonergan’s stories. Here, the two daughters are set up against their will as sexual lures, but they turn the tables and get the best of the men.

Look for an innovative pan and tilt of the camera during the scene starting at 7:45. As Charlie Keil points out in his paper, the Thanhouser studio "...was much more prone to use panning to expand depicted space or to reframe than any other manufacturer at this time save Lubin."