Cimarron (1931) Director: Wesley Ruggles
“In 1889, President Harrison opened the vast Indian Oklahoma Lands for white settlement… 2,000,000 acres free for the taking, poor and rich pouring in, swarming across the border, waiting for the starting gun, at noon, April 22nd.”
★★☆☆☆
In my view, Cimarron is a tired, boring film loaded with clichés and spotty acting. As a major award-winner, the fourth to win Best Picture, Cimarron is one of the earliest in a long line of movies, once honored by the Academy in their day, but are now mostly forgotten. It is a testament to the flawed nature of these awards and their self-proclaimed prestige that obviously flawed films like Cimarron can accumulate accolades and rave reviews in their day. If I had the opportunity to do it over, I would not have seen this film and would not recommend it. Watching it is like slogging through a long, droning soap opera. Interestingly enough, Cimarron was not a massive financial success in 1931 (RKO sunk $1.5M into the film during the depths of the Great Depression and it only garnered about $1.4M at the box office) but it was somehow universally critically lauded. In 1931, Variety wrote Cimarron is “an elegant example of super film making and a big money picture. This is a spectacular western away from all others. It holds action, sentiment, sympathy, thrills and comedy – and 100% clean. Radio Pictures has a corker in “Cimarron.” The New York Times wrote that Cimarron is “a graphic and engrossing screen conception of Edna Ferber’s widely read novel.” However, reviews of Cimarron have since been anything but kind. At least the great composer Max Steiner completed the score!
Based on Edna Ferber’s 1930 popular novel of the same name, Cimarron wound up being RKO studio’s most expensive film to date (you can also read my reflections on Edna Ferber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel So Big here). Cimarron was the first film to receive more than six academy award nominations and it was the first “western-esque” movie to win Best Picture. The Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Biltmore Hotel that year. It began with a dinner that began after 9pm and the ceremony was finally underway after midnight. Interestingly enough, U.S. Vice President Charles Curtis was the guest of honor and he delivered a nearly 2-hour speech praising the motion picture industry. The following day, Variety called the ceremony a dour experience that would like away turn away many Hollywoodians in the future. Cimarron won three of the top awards (it was the first film to be nominated for the big five), but it did not win Best Director.
The plot follows a young man named Yancey Cravat (played by Richard Dix, an early film star best known for this role) during the Oklahoma land rush —Cimarron was filmed on a large ranch in 1930 outside Los Angeles. It trails his adventures as he falls in love and marries a young woman named Sabra (played by Hollywood Golden Age actress, Irene Dunne). Yancey is tricked by a prostitute named Dixie (played by silent film star Estelle Taylor) so he moves his family to a small fictional town called Osage, an unruly place in its early pioneer days. The town grows due to the oil boom and the controversial presence of the Cherokee causes friction as Westward expansion continues. Yancey, the main character, starts a muckraking newspaper but he becomes restless. They have children together and get involved in local politics until Yancey abandons his wife and children in search of new adventures. In the end, Yancey and Sabra are briefly reunited before he dies.
Credits:
- Director: Wesley Ruggles
- Screenplay by: Howard Estabrook and Louis Sarecky
- Based on: Edna Ferber’s 1930 novel of the same name
- Produced by: William LeBaron and Louis Sarecky (associate producer)
- Starring:
- Richard Dix…..Yancey Cravat
- Irene Dunne…..Sabra Cravat
- Cinematography: Edward Cronjager
- Edited by: William Hamilton
- Music by: Max Steiner
- Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures
The 4th Academy Awards (1931)
The fourth Academy Awards ceremony was held on November 10, 1931 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
- Best Picture: Cimarron
- East Lynne
- The Front Page
- Skippy
- Trader Horn
- Best Director: Norman Taurog – Skippy
- Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore – A Free Soul as Stephen Ashe
- Jackie Cooper – Skippy as Skippy Skinner
- Richard Dix – Cimarron as Yancey Cravat
- Fredric March – The Royal Family of Broadway as Tony Cavendish
- Adolphe Menjou – The Front Page as Walter Burns
- Best Actress: Marie Dressler – Min and Bill as Min Divot
- Best Original Story: The Dawn Patrol – John Monk Saunders
- The Doorway to Hell – Rowland Brown
- Laughter – Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast, Douglas Doty, and Donald Ogden Stewart
- The Public Enemy – John Bright and Kubec Glasmon
- Smart Money – Lucien Hubbard and Joseph Jackson
Did the right film win Best Picture?
Absolutely not. Cimarron has aged terribly in my view, and it ranks among my least favorite Best Picture winners of all-time. Almost any of the other films I have seen from 1931 would have made a better selection for the top prize, such as: Little Caesar (1931); City Lights (1931); Dracula (1931); Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931); Dishonored (1931); Le Million (The Million) (1931); The Public Enemy (1931); M (1931); Limite (1931); The Smiling Lieutenant (1931); Monkey Business (1931); Marius (1931); La Chienne (1931); Frankenstein (1931); À nous la liberté (Freedom for Us) (1931); or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Personally, I’d like to think I would have selected Charlie Chaplin’s beautiful film City Lights (1931) instead.
Click here to return to my survey of the Best Picture Winners.
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