Cimarron (1931)

Writers:

Edna Ferber (by)
Howard Estabrook (screen version & dialogue)

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 | Frontier | Land Rush | Newspaper Editor

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

Runtime:

131 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)

Filming Locations:

Jasmin Quinn Ranch, near, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

A then-record $125,000 was paid for the film rights to the novel.

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:

Yancy Cravat: Louie Heffner, as coroner do your official duty and remove the body.
Louie Heffner: Okay, Yancy. It was self-defense and justifiable homicide. This town needs a Boot Hill and I'll start it with this burial.
Yancy Cravat: Fellow citizens! Under the circumstances, we will forego the sermon and conclude this service with a brief word of prayer.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table (1987)

A look at the past through the eyes of the past.

Seeing Cimarron is comparable to looking at old pictures, with the difference that they move and speak. It makes you go back in time to 1931, and also it shows you how people at that time would look at the end of the 19th century. Even though it is a `talkie' you have the feeling you are seeing a silent film. After all they were closer in years to the days of the wild west, than we are from the year the film was made. Richard Dix gives a `silent movie' performance as Yancey, the guy who had `ants in his pants' and could not stay anywhere for a long time, but would show up at crucial moments. Edna May Oliver as Mrs. Wyatt gives an incredibly actual performance, but just the opposite happens with William Collier Jr. as `The Kid', who seems to have only one expression on his face. Cimarron, nowadays, is not a film for anyone, only for those who have curiosity about old movies and what they show us about the past.