Cimarron (1931)

Writers:

Edna Ferber (novel)
Howard Estabrook (screen version)
(more)

Release Date:

9 February 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

World's Mightiest Show!

Plot:

A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.

Plot Keywords:

Oklahoma | Newspaper | Newspaper Editor | Land Rush | Frontier

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Richard Dix	...	Yancey Cravat
Irene Dunne	...	Sabra Cravat
Estelle Taylor	...	Dixie Lee
Nance O'Neil	...	Felice Venable
William Collier Jr.	...	The Kid
Roscoe Ates	...	Jesse Rickey (as Rosco Ates)
George E. Stone	...	Sol Levy
Stanley Fields	...	Lon Yountis
Robert McWade	...	Louis Hefner
Edna May Oliver	...	Mrs. Tracy Wyatt
Judith Barrett	...	Donna Cravat (as Nancy Dover)
Eugene Jackson	...	Isaiah
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alice Adair	...	(uncredited)
Max Barwyn	...	Sabra's Luncheon Greeter (uncredited)
Frank Beal	...	Louis Venable (uncredited)
Tyrone Brereton	...	Dabney Venable (uncredited)
Dolores Brown	...	Adult Ruby Big Elk (uncredited)
Frederick Burt	...	(uncredited)
William P. Burt	...	(uncredited)
Lois Jane Campbell	...	Felice Venable, Jr. (uncredited)
Nino Cochise	...	(uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	(uncredited)
Nell Craig	...	Arminta Greenwood (uncredited)
Frank Darien	...	Mr. Bixby (uncredited)
Kay Deslys	...	(uncredited)
Don Dillaway	...	Adult Cim (uncredited)
William Elmer	...	(uncredited)
Edith Fellows	...	(uncredited)
Mildred Frizelle	...	(uncredited)
Barney Furey	...	(uncredited)
Otto Hoffman	...	Murch Rankin (uncredited)
Harry Holden	...	(uncredited)
Clara Hunt	...	Indian Girl (uncredited)
William Janney	...	Man Phoning Ambulance (uncredited)
Junior Johnson	...	Child Cim (uncredited)
Bob Kortman	...	Killer (uncredited)
Frank Lackteen	...	Man Warning Yountis (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw	...	(uncredited)
Lillian Lane	...	Bella (uncredited)
Ann Lee	...	Aunt Cassandra (uncredited)
Jack Leonard	...	(uncredited)
Walter P. Lewis	...	(uncredited)
George Lollier	...	(uncredited)
Timothy J. Lonergan	...	(uncredited)
Robert McKenzie	...	Pat Leary (uncredited)
Marion Mirsch	...	(uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Man at Dinner Table (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	(uncredited)
William Orlamond	...	Grat Gotch (uncredited)
Helen Parrish	...	Young Donna (uncredited)
Dorothy Raye	...	(uncredited)
Henry Roquemore	...	Jouett Goforth (uncredited)
Apache Bill Russell	...	(uncredited)
Douglas Scott	...	Toddler Cim (uncredited)
Reginald Scott	...	Yancey Jr. (uncredited)
Dorothy Simms	...	(uncredited)
Carl Stockdale	...	(uncredited)
Reggie Streeter	...	Yancey Jr (uncredited)
Helen Trask	...	(uncredited)
Gloria Vonic	...	Young Ruby Big Elk (uncredited)
Ford West	...	(uncredited)
Lillian West	...	(uncredited)
Leo Willis	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Wesley Ruggles		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Edna Ferber		(novel)
Howard Estabrook		(screen version)
Howard Estabrook		(dialogue)
Louis Sarecky		contributing writer (uncredited)

Produced by
William LeBaron	....	producer
Wesley Ruggles	....	producer
Louis Sarecky	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Edward Cronjager		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
William Hamilton

Costume Design by
Max Rée

Makeup Department
Ern Westmore	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Doran Cox	....	assistant director (uncredited)
B. Reeves Eason	....	second unit director (uncredited)
F.D. Langton	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Dewey Starkey	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Max Rée	....	scenery
Sidney Ullman	....	assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Clem Portman	....	sound recordist
Ralph Spotts	....	assistant recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Lloyd Knechtel	....	special effects

Stunts
Bob Burns	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Rex Cole	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Ken Cooper	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Lee Cooper	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Bob Erickson	....	trick rider (uncredited)
'Shorty' Hall	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Pete Janet	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Charles Johnson	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Buff Jones	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Gordon Jones	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Bud Pope	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Hank Potts	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Walt Robbins	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Whitten Sovern	....	trick rider (uncredited)
Whitehorse	....	trick rider (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
E.F. Adams	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Willard Barth	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Neal Beckner	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Guy Bennett	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Otto Benninger	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Fred Bentley	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Joseph F. Biroc	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Osmond Borradaile	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
H. Lyman Broening	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Francis Burgess	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Paul Cable	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Emillo Calori	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Roy Clark	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Rex Curtis	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Dean Dailey	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
James Daly	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
James Lee Davis	....	grip (uncredited)
L. De Angelis	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Robert De Grasse	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
George E. Diskant	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Linwood G. Dunn	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Elmer Dyer	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Mack Elliott	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Eddie Garvin	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Pliny Goodfriend	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Jack Grout	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Neal Harbarger	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Ted Hayes	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Bill Heckler	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Edward Henderson	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Fred Hendrickson	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Fred Hendrickson	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Russell Hoover	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Newton Hopcraft	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Harry Jackson	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
William S. Johnson	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
Maurice E. Kains	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Harry Kaufman	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Edward Kearns	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
James V. King	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
James V. King	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Edward A. Kull	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Jack Landrigan	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Joseph LaShelle	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Fred Mayer	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Earl Metz	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Nicholas Musuraca	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Joe Novak	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Robert Pittack	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Eddie Pyle	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Frank Redman	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
William Schuck	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Lester Shorr	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Al Smalley	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
John Thompson	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Rod Tolmie	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Edward Ullman	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Harry L. Underwood	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Joseph Walters	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Harold E. Wellman	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Ben White	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Harry J. Wild	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Rex Wimpy	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)
Lothrop B. Worth	....	camera crew member: land rush scenes (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Max Steiner	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Hyatt Daab	....	general press representative (uncredited)
Harold Hendee	....	researcher (uncredited)
Judd Steven	....	location meals served by (uncredited)

Thanks
A.B. MacDonald	....	acknowledgement: from Miss Ferber for certain descriptive passages in 'Hands Up' by
Fred E. Sutton	....	acknowledgement: from Miss Ferber for certain descriptive passages in 'Hands Up' by

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures (as Radio Pictures) (presents)

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1930) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (2007) (Argentina) (all media) (re-release)

Other Companies

• Bobbs-Merrill Company, The  acknowledgement: 'Hands Up' published and copyright 1927 by

Also Known As:

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1029: 2 July 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

According to Anthony Holden's book "Behind the Oscar" (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), R.K.O. lost $5.5 million (approximately $58 million in 2003 dollars, when factoring in inflation) on the movie despite its winning a Best Picture Academy Award.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the period of the film set in 1907, Yancey is the Progressive Party's candidate for governor of Oklahoma. The Progressive Party did not form until 1912, and then disbanded after Theodore Roosevelt's unsuccessful third party candidacy that year.

Quotes:

Mrs. Tracy Wyatt:One of my ancestors was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Sol Levy:That's all right. A relative of mine, a fellow named Moses, wrote the Ten Commandments.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Return of the Bad Men (1948)

Quantity - not quality

This gargantuan war-horse of a western epic won the Oscar as the Best Film of 1930/31 proving from the earliest days of the Academy it was quantity not quality that mattered and that big equalled best. Of course there wasn't much in the way competition, ("East Lynne", "The Front Page", "Skippy" and "Trader Horn"). Much better films like "Morocco", "The Criminal Code" and "Little Caesar" failed to make the short-list. But it is still surprisingly robust and enjoyable in the way that these kind of movies sometimes are, (it's certainly a lot less po-faced than the dire 1960 remake), and it has some really good things in it; a great church meeting sequence and a very well staged hold-up culminating in a great moment when a young black boy is killed and is ignored in the general mêlée and is a brave scene for the period, and a sequence probably deemed too contentious for the remake.

The acting, too, is a cut above the average for the time. A young, fresh-faced Irene Dunne is lovely and shows considerable promise here and Richard Dix has a kind of screen presence. It's ham and he plays to the gallery but he's very likable. Estelle Taylor is touching as the whore with the obligatory heart of gold and Edna May Oliver is very funny but in too small a role.

It runs out of steam before the end. It's top heavy in the plot department, (based, as it is, on an Edna Ferber door-stopper), and characters come and go without making much of an impression. Often listed in polls of the worst films to win the Best Picture Oscar it has vigour and a complete lack of pretension. I'll take it any day over "A Beautiful Mind".