City Girl

One of the films Murnau made in America. Lem travels from his father's wheat farm to Chicago to sell the harvest. He has never seen the city, and there he meets a waitress named Kate in a diner. Kate has been behind the same counter for years and is tired of the city. Within a few days they marry and go back to the farm. At the farm it is different. Lem's father rejects her at once: he takes her for someone after his son's money and says so to her face. Lem cannot stand up to him and Kate is caught between them. The best-known passage is the wheat field: the ears moving in the wind and two people running through it. The scene is among the most-cited images of silent cinema. The production has a story of its own. It was shot silent, but when the studio moved to sound, talking sections were added and the director's version was altered. The original silent cut was found later. F. W. Murnau directed; it is among his last American films. Charles Farrell plays Lem and Mary Duncan plays Kate. A valuable production for anyone who likes silent cinema and rural stories. For a viewer expecting a fast narrative, it moves calmly and the melodramatic shapes are pronounced.