Cimarron (1931)

Director:

Wesley Ruggles

Writers:

Edna Ferber (novel)
Howard Estabrook (screenplay) ...
(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:

Epic | Land Rush | Oil | 1880s | 1890s

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 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	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Max Barwyn	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Frank Beal	...	Louis Venable (uncredited)
Tyrone Brereton	...	Dabney Venable (uncredited)
Dolores Brown	...	Ruby Big Elk (uncredited)
Bob Burns	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Frederick Burt	...	Bit part (uncredited)
William P. Burt	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Lois Jane Campbell	...	Felice Jr. (uncredited)
Nino Cochise	...	Extra (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Ken Cooper	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Nell Craig	...	Arminta Greenwood (uncredited)
Frank Darien	...	Mr. Bixby (uncredited)
Kay Deslys	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Don Dillaway	...	Cim (uncredited)
William Elmer	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Bob Erickson	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Edith Fellows	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Barney Furey	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Otto Hoffman	...	Murch Rankin (uncredited)
Harry Holden	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Clara Hunt	...	Indian girl (uncredited)
William Janney	...	Worker (uncredited)
Junior Johnson	...	Cim (uncredited)
Buff Jones	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Gordon Jones	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Bob Kortman	...	Killer (uncredited)
Frank Lackteen	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Lillian Lane	...	Cousin Bella (uncredited)
Ann Lee	...	Aunt Cassandra (uncredited)
Jack Leonard	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Walter P. Lewis	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
George Lollier	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie	...	Pat Leary (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Man at dinner table (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Extra (uncredited)
William Orlamond	...	Grat Gotch (uncredited)
Helen Parrish	...	Donna Cravat (uncredited)
Bud Pope	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Hank Potts	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Dorothy Raye	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Walt Robbins	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Henry Roquemore	...	Jouett Goforth (uncredited)
Apache Bill Russell	...	(uncredited)
Douglas Scott	...	Cim (uncredited)
Reginald Scott	...	Yancey Jr. (uncredited)
Whitten Sovern	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Carl Stockdale	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Reggie Streeter	...	Yancey Jr (uncredited)
Gloria Vonic	...	Ruby Big Elk (uncredited)
Ford West	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Lillian West	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Whitehorse	...	Trick Rider (uncredited)
Leo Willis	...	Bit Part (uncredited)

Directed by
Wesley Ruggles

Writing credits
Edna Ferber		(novel)
Howard Estabrook		(screenplay)
A.B. MacDonald		descriptive passages from 'Hands Up'
Fred E. Sutton		descriptive passages from 'Hands Up'

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

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Doran Cox	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Dewey Starkey	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Max Rée	....	scenery

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

Special Effects by
Lloyd Knechtel	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Willard Barth	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Neal Beckner	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Francis Burgess	....	camera operator (uncredited)
James Lee Davis	....	grip (uncredited)
L. De Angelis	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Eddie Garvin	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Maurice E. Kains	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Harry Kaufman	....	camera operator (uncredited)
James V. King	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
James V. King	....	camera operator (uncredited)
William Schuck	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Al Smalley	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Harry L. Underwood	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Harold E. Wellman	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Lothrop B. Worth	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1930) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Filming Locations:

Jasmin Quinn Ranch, near, 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.

Quotes:

Sol Levy: They will always talk about Yancy. He's gonna be part of the history of the great Southwest. It's men like him that build the world. The rest of them, like me... why, we just come along and live in it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

Epic Frontier Film

A charismatic Kansas lawyer takes his bride to the Oklahoma Territory's CIMARRON Country to start a newspaper in the violent, rawboned town of Osage.

Edna Ferber's sprawling novel of frontier life comes to the big screen in a film deemed fine enough to win a few Oscars, including Best Picture. It was one of the first great epics of the Sound Era and is still very entertaining to watch. Occasionally there is a bit of overacting, perhaps, and technical difficulties with the microphones can be discerned while trying to hear the stars' voices clearly during some crowd scenes, but this in no way detracts from the enjoyment of viewing the film.

The performance of Richard Dix as pioneer & dreamer Yancey Cravat has been criticized as being too florid and overripe, but this is unfair. The popular actor had his roots in silent films when acting techniques were somewhat different, but this robust style perfectly suits the energetic wanderlust of his character. Anything less than abundant enthusiasm would look silly in a fellow called upon to deliver a sermon and shoot an outlaw almost simultaneously, vigorously champion the rights of fallen women and racial minorities and yet still blithely abandon his family for long years as he follows his own star of destiny. Call it what you may, Dix's performance can certainly never be tagged as being dull.

Irene Dunne, as Yancey's wife Sabra - his ‘Sugar' - provides the calm emotional center for the film. She is the one who holds the family and newspaper together while her husband is off bringing civilization to other frontiers. She is even able to achieve substantial business and political importance. What saves Dunne's performance from becoming too sweet is the story giving her a few personality wrinkles to deal with, most notably her determination to destroy the town's bawdy house madam (well played by Estelle Taylor) and her intense bigotry towards the local Indians. Her growth as a human being is juxtaposed with that of Oklahoma's expansion as a state.

Some fine character actors provide prime entertainment value: stuttering Roscoe Ates as the Cravats' faithful printer; George E. Stone as a gentle Jewish peddler who becomes a firm family friend; Stanley Fields as a town tough who tangles with the wrong hombre; William Collier Jr in a brief, vibrant outlaw role as The Kid; and Eugene Jackson as the young Black servant who gives the ultimate sacrifice of loyalty to the Cravats. Marvelous gossipy Edna May Oliver, replete with snooty sniffs & piercing glances, neatly tucks all her scenes as a society matron into her handbag and stalks off with them.

With production costs of 1.5 million dollars, RKO could give CIMARRON excellent production values, featuring crowds of extras and very realistic sets. A few of the scenes are classics and remain in the mind for a long time: the 1889 Land Rush sequence which opens the film; the church service in the saloon; the gun battle in the dusty street. It is very interesting to watch how the town of Osage changes during the movie, from a dangerous dirty settlement to an Oklahoma metropolis in 1930, all achieved most convincingly for the screen.

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The Cimarron is a wild & unruly river that arises in New Mexico and runs for about 600 miles before becoming a tributary of the Arkansas River near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The word is Old Spanish and refers to the thickets along the River and the bighorn sheep which inhabited them