State Fair comes along at an auspicious moment to remind you that simple joys are fun as well as poetic and that you will find the most pleasing sort of amusement valentines both comic and sentimental among the situations.

| Nov 10, 2023

As it uses also genuine Americana seldom dramatized in any form, State Fair becomes one of the few important productions of the year. And in case this academic discussion of it has wearied you, I might add that it is good-humored and even funny.

| Nov 10, 2023

State fair, adapted from the popular novel by Phil Stong, is wholesome, homely, astute comedy drama. It abounds in clean humor, bunkless performance and interesting incident.

| Nov 10, 2023

This picture is mainly dependent for its entertainment value on its depiction of the scenes at the state fair and the good-natured shirtsleeve humor of Will Rogers... For [most] of its length, the picture is a rarely sensible and satisfactory production.

| Nov 10, 2023

Director King captures a vivid atmosphere at the outset and he is constantly manufacturing a picture that is already indelibly etched in the minds of all who have ever attended one of these rural revels.

| Nov 10, 2023

Its gay trappings are alluring to youth and although many of its pleasures prove to be as senseless as a ride on the merry-go-round, when the band stops playing and tents are struck one is loath to leave all of its excitements behind.

| Nov 10, 2023

[State Fair] is one of those agreeable little plays which doesn't get anywhere in particular but, being delightfully played by a big cast of favorite stars, it goes over with a real bang.

| Nov 10, 2023

Rogers and his hog supply the comedy and how? It will be a long time before anyone who sees this picture forgets Blue Boy What a porker! And how Rogers is wrapped up in him! Does be win? That would be telling.

| Nov 10, 2023

It is a homely little yarn, too, yet the people in it for moat port are pretty decent, their likes and dislikes are not very pronounced, their problems are the same as confront the average person.

| Nov 10, 2023

A pleasant and satisfying little picture, devoid any smashing moments, but always running along smoothly and agreeably, and giving Rogers opportunity to provide one of those 100 percent rural types... which he always seems perfectly at home.

| Nov 10, 2023

Except for one or two theatric love-moments, which do not beat close to the heart of realism, it is the kind of a picture which is seldom constructed -- being honest, clean and consistently drole.

| Nov 10, 2023

[State Fair is] a fresh and delightful screen piece which will please customers of all acres. It is moulded to suit youth in its romantic episodes, and to be thoroughly appealing to the older generation in its abundant homey, domestic situations.

| Nov 10, 2023

[Director Henry King] has turned in a production that has the charm of naturalness and the virtue of sincerity. No villain, little suspense, but a straightforward story of a rural family who find their great moments at the state fair.

| Nov 10, 2023

The fair used as a background Is a big one, and the atmosphere of the midway, the stock pens, the housewives' competition in mince pies and the track where the trotters race has been developed in a glamorous and colorful way.

| Nov 10, 2023

The background of the state fair, with its side-shows, and its masses of people who look forward to this yearly event, is colorful and at times exciting.

| Nov 10, 2023

Not since Wallace Beery’s The Champ has any American picture striven so hard for a feeling of place. The choice of Phil Stong’s novel was of course an excellent one for the purpose.

| Nov 10, 2023

If [State Fair] falls a little short of being a masterpiece, it never fails to be a thoroughly engrossing story told in celluloid. Moreover it seems to me to have more of the genuine feeling -- one might say the smell -- of a State fair.

| Nov 10, 2023

Will Rogers... gives a most pleasing characterization of a farmer named Abel Frake, whose chief interest at the fair is in winning the blue ribbon with his hog, Blue Boy.

| Nov 10, 2023

Will Rogers... imparts a considerable portion of the humor, in the familiar and popular Rogerian style.

| Nov 10, 2023

Convincing home-and-fireside atmosphere in an excellently acted and directed picture.

| Nov 10, 2023