Western Wednesdays: Cimarron (1931)

     Cimarron was released on February 9th, 1931. Directed by Wesley Ruggles and based on the novel by Edna Ferber (Giant, Showboat) it was the first western film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards (this would not occur again until Dances With Wolves won the award in 1990). In it Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) makes his fortune in Osage, a booming town in the Oklahoma Territory in the late 1800's, helping to bring civilization to the wilderness.

     Being an early sound picture, Cimarron is a little dated in certain respects. Like many films from this period the performances are highly theatrical. Many film-makers did not how what to do with the new element of sound and they looked to theatre for inspiration, especially in regards to the acting. So the acting in films from this period often featured exaggerated gestures and loud, sonorous dialogue delivery. While these kinds of performance work on the stage, where you have to get your feelings across to someone on the other side of a room, it does not lend itself well to film. This movie also has some characters who are racial stereotypes, particularly Yancey's black servant boy, portrayed by Eugene Jackson. There are also some strange editing choices in the first half of the film.

     Cimarron is less disingenuous and more folksy then later entries in the genre. It is not weighed down by the years of mythologizing and philosophical moral questions about the necessity of violence or the corruption of civilization that would mark so many famous westerns. This film assumes that establishing civilization to the wilderness is a good thing and that violence is sometimes necessary in order to accomplish this. But it's also a more progressive film then I expected, especially in its treatment of White/Indian relations. There's a scene early in the film where Yancey is giving a speech in a church and declares, "If you knew anything at all, you'd realize that a Cherokee is too smart to put anything in the contribution box of a race that's robbed him of his birthright." A strong statement for a film released 60 years before Dances with Wolves.

     This film is epic in scope. Opening with an awesome portrayal of the 1889 Oklahoma gold-rush, the films chronicles Yancey Cravat's rise to power over the proceeding 2 decades. He is shown to be a progressively minded individual. Aside from his previously alluded to sympathy for the plight of Native Americans he also stands up for a local prostitute, Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor), one who the film hilariously avoids referring to that way (this is incredibly tame for a pre-code film), going so far as to defend her in court when the town tries to run her out for her illicit business despite his wife's objections.

     Yancey's relationship with his wife Sabra (Irene Dunne) is a problematic element in the film. He leaves her, multiple times, in order to go out and seek adventure. There's nothing wrong with this on its own, the call of the wilderness is a common trope in the genre, but the film seems completely sympathetic to him despite his abandonment of his family. Sabra herself is portrayed as something of a bigot through much of the film. Showing prejudice toward the Cherokee and against Dixie Lee. By the end of the film, largely through Yancey's sympathy for them, she has become more progressive in her outlook and the film closes with her becoming the first female congresswoman.

     Cimarron is not a great film. It's held back by overly theatrical performances, an uncritical view of its flawed protagonist and occasional racial stereotypes but it is a really unique western, and one worth checking out for its historical significance and epic scope if nothing else.

Score: 7/10