Saturday, March 5, 2022

City Girl (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A Chicago waitress falls in love with a Minnesota farmer, and decides to face a life in the country.
Directed by F.W. Murnau. Starring Charles Ferrell, Mary Duncan, and David Torrence.

City Girl is a silent film about a young man who is sent into the big city to sell his parents' wheat crop and returns with a wife. The man's father is pretty sure the wife is just a gold digger and does not warm to her at all, so she has to adjust to her new life and try to prove to her in-laws that she and her new husband really are a good match. This is a charming movie. The stakes are simple but it's easy to root for the main two, and it unfolds in a really natural compelling way -- not the way I would have expected. It's a thoughtful sort of melodrama that is a lot more concerned with the characters and their personalities and the way they react to things. The plot itself *happens* but definitely feels character-driven. It very much reminded me of director F.W. Murnau's earlier film Sunrise, which I found equally charming. If you are a fan of Sunrise, you should definitely check this one out if you haven't seen it. It's a sweet and compelling story that was thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:
City Girl > Gas Food Lodging
City Girl > Till Death
City Girl < Walking and Talking
City Girl < The Swimmer
City Girl > Judas and the Black Messiah
City Girl < The Offence
City Girl < Do the Right Thing
City Girl > The Graduate
City Girl > Hustlers
City Girl < Crazy, Stupid, Love
City Girl > Upside Down
Final spot: #750 out of 3538, or 79%.

No comments: