Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Pretty Good

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Upon hearing a disagreeable melody, one might wonder whether one was hearing a good song sung poorly or a bad song sung well. I had a similar reaction in watching this movie with regard to the character Yancey Cravat: Is this an admirable character portrayed by a bad actor, or a despicable character excellently portrayed? By the time the movie was over, I had concluded that it was the worst of both worlds. Richard Dix gives a hammy performance of an insufferable jerk.This would not be so bad if the movie wanted us to regard Yancey as a jerk, and Richard Dix merely overacted the part as if he were performing on stage, where a loud resonating voice and sweeping gestures are needed for the benefit of those sitting in the back rows. But the movie goes to great lengths to get us to admire Yancey, and the dissonance between what the movie expects of us and what we are actually feeling as we behold this preposterous character is grating.Irene Dunne, by way of contrast, does a decent job of playing Sabra, Yancey's wife, whom we sympathize with for all she has to put up with, even though the movie really does not want us to like her very much, because it is continually showing her as lacking the virtues that Yancey possesses. For example, Sabra is a racist who despises Indians, while Yancey is respectful of Indians and regrets the way they have been treated by white men (there is the suggestion that he is part Indian himself, but whether Sabra knows this is not clear). Also, Sabra is a heartless prude, who wants to run Dixie Lee out of town for being a public nuisance (i.e., a prostitute), while Yancey realizes that Dixie is "more to be pitied than censured," and successfully defends her in court against the legal action brought against her by Sabra. And when Yancey deserts Sabra and the two children so that he can have some fun pioneering again, the movie practically wants us to think it is her fault for not being willing to go with him. Of course, we are eventually allowed to like her once she finally realizes that Yancey has been right and she has been wrong.Underscoring all this are their children. Their daughter is a shrew, while their son is such a nice guy he even intends to marry an Indian. But why stop there? The whole town is like that. With the exception of a few scoundrels, the men are genuine and likable, while the decent women of the community are snobs and prudes. It is hard to believe this movie was based on a novel written by a woman.When Yancey abandons Sabra again, the movie sees no need to belabor his second desertion of her, but merely mentions it in an intertitle. Many years go by, during which time Sabra becomes a United States representative, her reward, presumably, for finally realizing how enlightened her husband had been all along. At a political banquet in her honor, she gives credit to the contribution women have made in civilizing Oklahoma. Given all the misogyny we have seen up to this point, this belated tribute to women almost sounds like an apologetic afterthought.Sabra barely manages to fight back the tears as she tries to tell herself that Yancey is still alive somewhere. But then it turns out that some old roughneck working on an oil rig right nearby has been severely injured because he used his body to shield the rest of the crew from some exploding nitroglycerin, and Sabra, hearing that the man's name is Yancey, rushes to him, where he dies in her arms while blathering about what a loving wife and mother she is. Of course, we cannot help but think that even though he was working right there in the local oil fields, he apparently did not want to have anything to do with her, because he never even let her know he was in town.And then the cover is removed from an obscenely huge statue of Yancey in honor of the pioneers who made Oklahoma what it is. There is another figure, somewhat smaller in stature, standing behind him, but it is not Sabra. It is an Indian. A male Indian, of course.

This movie is easily the worst Best Picture Oscar winner. It won in 1931, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because it was a talkie, and talking pictures were still fairly novel. Maybe because of how epic its historic time scale is. Maybe because it tells a story of the exploration and settlement of America that sparked something in 1930s audiences.Who knows. All I can say is that by modern standards it is incredibly bad.This is not because of the cinematic technology or anything like that. It has a dull story with hammy acting. Worst of all, it is blatantly racist. The black kid is merely there as a figure of fun, something to be made mocked and made fun of. Interesting that while large parts of the movie are very politically correct in the treatment and rights of native Americans, they undo all this good by portraying African-Americans so badly.I had already watched the 1960 remake before watching this, and that wasn't that great either. It retained the dull plot and hammy acting, but at least reduced the bigotry. I didn't realise the original could be that much worse, but it is...

Cimarron was an early talkie that made great strides in sound, allowing natural interaction between the cast and a more natural movement of the camera, allowing the filming of some truly spectacular scenes. The shots of the Oklahoma Land Rush stampede involve ground-breaking sound and cinematography that make it one of the most realistically shot scenes up to that time. Other well filmed scenes include those of Osage's dusty streets with the camera tracking the main characters as they walk along while hundreds of extras bustle about them, showing the life of a busy boom town shortly after the land rush. Unfortunately, this is pretty much where my praise of this film ends.This film stars Richard Dix as Yancey Cravat, a man who was born under a wandering star. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Yancey from taking a wife and having children, it just stopped him from taking any responsibility for that same wife and children. Through the years, Yancey chases one hair-brained scheme after another while his long-suffering wife Sabra (Irene Dunne) takes responsibility for the newspaper Yancey started but abandons time and again. Sometimes Yancey's adventures keep him home, other times they take him away for years at a time. The film focuses on Yancey's adventures, while the whole time I'm wondering what Sabra is up to. In modern times, her story is much more compelling and sympathetic than Yancey's.Richard Dix's performance is quite hammy by modern standards. You'll find yourself laughing in places that were not intended to be funny by the film's creators, and in spite of your laughter, you'll still find Yancey to be completely unlikeable. He would make a great politician in the 21st century - he is very apt at doing one thing, saying another, and still finding time for splendid oratory. Unfortunately, this film was my introduction to Dix. I didn't see another one of his films for a long time and, when I did, I was surprised to find out how good he was in his smaller non-Academy recognized performances.Remarkably, this film won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1931. Even more remarkably, Richard Dix was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in this film. Not remarkably, Irene Dunne was nominated for Best Actress for her performance, in spite of the lack of depth of the examination of her character in the film. Thus I'd say this film is worth it just to see the very good technical achievements it featured in sound and cinematography and Dunne's performance as the long suffering Sabra.

Adventuresome and scholarly Richard Dix (as Yancey Cravat) joins the 1889 Oklahoma land rush, and helps settle the territory, with loyal homesteading wife Irene Dunne (as Sabra). His oratory skills as a lawyer and work as a newspaper editor help Mr. Dix defend the downtrodden through the ensuing decades. Notably, Mr. Dix is supportive of Native American (Indian) rights. Dix also helps independent woman and presumed prostitute Estelle Taylor (as Dixie Lee). After some decades pass, we meet the title character, wild and unruly son Don Dillaway (as Cimarron "Cim" Cravat)."Cimarron" is mostly recalled as the first western to win an "Academy Award" for best film. Some may think it should be recalled as the first time an award was given to prop up the box office of a flop. But, the red ink was due to RKO spending so much on the film; while not recouping its cost, "Cimarron" was one of the biggest box office hits of 1931. It was also a triple crown "Best Picture" award winner, with prizes from "Photoplay" and "Film Daily" included. Those awards were also the ones bestowed upon "The Covered Wagon" (1923), which was the world's previous western standard.None of this means "Cimarron" is anything more than a swaggeringly average western, with a lot of production cost. Some of it is so dull, the "ethnic" characters emerge as most perversely entertaining. It's difficult to justify the acting nominations for Dix and Ms. Dunne. Director Wesley Ruggles manages the crowds well and adds a few artful moments, like the clever crucifying positioning of Jewish character George E. Stone (as Sol Levy), after some bullying. Edna May Oliver (as Tracy Wyatt) also makes the most of her role, employing many mannerisms seen later in Carol Burnett.***** Cimarron (1/26/31) Wesley Ruggles ~ Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, George E. Stone