Cimarron (1931)

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

Director:

Wesley Ruggles (uncredited)

Writers:

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

Stars:

Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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:
Roberta Gregory	...	Indian Girl

Storyline

When the government opens up the Oklahoma territory for settlement, restless Yancey Cravat claims a plot of the free land for himself and moves his family there from Wichita. A newspaperman, lawyer, and just about everything else, Cravat soon becomes a leading citizen of the boom town of Osage. Once the town is established, however, he begins to feel confined once again, and heads for the Cherokee Strip, leaving his family behind. During this and other absences, his wife Sabra must learn to take care of herself and soon becomes prominent in her own right.

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Plot Keywords:

oklahoma land rush | old age makeup | character name as title | nickname as title | oklahoma | 

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Taglines:

Earth-shaking in its grandeur! A titanic canvas sprung to life!

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

9 February 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cimarron

Filming Locations:

Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,433,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film has the lowest IMDb rating (6.0) of all Best Picture Oscar winners as of December 2018, along with Cavalcade (1933).

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Goofs

Mr. Levy says "Moses wrote the Ten Commandments". In fact according to the bible Moses brought down the Ten Commandments that had been written in stone by God.

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Quotes

Yancy Cravat: Wife and mother, stainless woman, hide me... hide me in your love.

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Connections

Version of Cimarron (1960)

User Reviews

The State of Oklahoma Gets the Red Carpet.

The outstanding but admittedly dated "Cimarron" dazzled audiences so much that it was a runaway Best Picture Oscar winner in 1931. The film is novelist Edna Ferber's epic tale of the early American settlements of Oklahoma from 1889 and goes to the economic unrest of the Stock Market crash of 1929. Richard Dix (Oscar-nominated) immediately moves his family out to the untamed land and starts a new life. Wife Irene Dunne (Oscar-nominated) has doubts not only about the new land, but also about her husband's adventurous nature. Dix is an individualist with itchy feet and thus he comes and goes as he pleases, but always seems to come through for his family and his adopted state when the chips are down. "Cimarron" is an abbreviated history of a land which was once wild and untamed that slowly became modern by the early-20th Century. The views upon African-Americans and Native Americans is given much air time here. Ferber's equally riveting "Giant" posed similar questions towards Texas' views of women and Hispanic Americans. She was a truly gifted writer and her novels were both adapted into stunning motion picture experiences. Wesley Ruggles' (Oscar-nominated) direction is a bit prodding and the film does stall a bit due to its length, but overall "Cimarron" is an important American movie that if nothing else created the legitimate Western genre. 4.5 out of 5 stars.