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Staring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Edward Buzzell, Mary Carlisle, Vera Marshe
Director: Nick Grinde, Rudolf Ising, Wesley Ruggles
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Product Details
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Home Video
EAN: 9780790748368
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0790748363
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-01-31
Running Time: 123
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1931-02-09

Product Features
Spaces were neither wide nor open in most early Sound Westerns. Not so in Cimarron. It starts with one of the most renowned giddy-ups in cinema history: a thundering recreation of the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush.From there Cimarron, based on the bestselling epic by Giant and Show Boat novelist Edna Ferber, traces the generations-spanning saga of that land. There rugged Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) and

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Editorial Review
Description
Spaces were neither wide nor open in most early Sound Westerns. Not so in Cimarron. It starts with one of the most renowned giddy-ups in cinema history: a thundering recreation of the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush. From there Cimarron, based on the bestselling epic by Giant and Show Boat novelist Edna Ferber, traces the generations-spanning saga of that land. There rugged Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) and his resourceful pioneer wife Sabra (Irene Dunne) sink roots, persevere, give shape to their dreams. It's a saga of change, told with an authenticity that moviegoers who had lived through that era recognized - and told with a skill that earned it three Academy Awards * including Best Picture!

Amazon.com
This epic Western won the 1931 Academy Award for Best Picture. Heartthrob Richard Dix plays Yancey Cravat (yes, really, that's his name) a frontiersman, newspaper editor, and former gunslinger who's studly enough to fill in as preacher or lawyer should the situation demand. Yancey brings his young bride Sabra to the wild Oklahoma territory to taste the adventure, crusade for social justice, and leave his family for years at a time. Modern viewers will have trouble making it past one or two horrifying racist caricatures at the start, made doubly odd because of the film's intended message of tolerance. Once it gets underway, though, Cimarron can be quite a bit of fun. Most of its pleasures are of the guilty variety--Dix's performance in particular is endearingly huge--but there are a few genuine highlights. The Oklahoma Land Rush sequence is still exciting and wet blanket Sabra turns out to have far more gumption than anyone imagined. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews

A Creaky Western Saga, 2008-02-08
It's hard to believe this 1931 relic won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Wesley Ruggles' clumsy production of Edna Ferber's "Cimarron" survives only as a curio. The western saga opens with a rehash of the Oklahoma land-rush sequence from William S. Hart's 1925 classic "Tumbleweeds" and goes downhill fast. Richard Dix's cartoonish portrayal belongs in the School of Bad Acting, but Irene Dunne makes the most of her first starring role. In retrospect, "Cimarron" might have worked better as a silent film.

When the Old West was much less Old, 2008-12-30
I decided that I wanted to watch all the Best Picture Academy Award-winning films from the very first one. Unfortunately, like many of my generation, the older a movie is, the less I can tolerate it. This is not something I'm proud of, but it's just the way it is. But I was pleased that CIMARRON was an exception. It is in fact the oldest film (talkie) I have ever seen all the way through.

When I first sat down to watch it, I didn't even know how to pronounce it: SIMMER-ON. At the risk of sounding cliché, CIMARRON is a grand, sweeping epic that spans the time of over forty years. The plot revolves around Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) and his wife Sabra (Irene Dunn) and their adventurous life together picking up stakes in Kansas to settle in Oklahoma after the massive land rush. This part of the film, along with many, many other scenes, was incredibly filmed, especially when one remembers that this was several decades before what we now call computer graphic imagery (something which in my opinion is working very hard on ruining the movie industry).

Yancey Cravat is the quintessential Dudley Do-right. He reminds me of a mixture of Charles Ingalls, Rocky Balboa, and Roy Rogers. He's the tall, buff, proud man in the White Hat. He can draw a six-shooter in a blink, fire it with dead aim, print and edit a picture-perfect newspaper, present a jury-convincing impromptu defense argument, deliver a standing-room only church sermon, and stand up for the poor, needy, and under-privileged in a way that would have made Father Flanagan blush.

The movie does have a few slow moments, as any great epic might. But they always pass, and the film is overall very enjoyable. One thing that struck me as very interesting is that this movie about the Old West was made only a few decades after the time of the Old West. In fact, many people from that time period were probably around (and might have even lended their advice and insight) when CIMARRON was made. It would be no different than someone making a movie today about World War II.

Many will criticize this movie as politically incorrect. But the funny thing about political correctness is what is politically correct today will be politically incorrect tomorrow. The same goes with CIMARRON. I have no doubt that when this movie first appeared in the early 1930s there were many critics who thought the film was far too-sympathetic toward black citizens and Native American Indians. It was very rare back then to have such a film. Now, the scales have tipped toward the other direction, and CIMARRON is not progressive enough.

I don't watch movies to be enlightened in a social or political manner. I watch them for entertainment and for great storytelling purposes. And for these two reasons I can call CIMARRON a four-star film.

Early Irene Dunne in Classic Western , 2008-01-02
This is a sprawling epic version of Edna Ferber's novel. It starts with the original Oklahoma Cimmaron land rush (1889) and ends in during the height of the oil rush (1930).

This is a great movie about the a part of US history that most people have only heard breifly about. And like Ferber's more famous book Show Boat, this film takes on civil rights - this time the rights of native Americans and the rights of women (Sabra is elected to Congress.) It even touches slightly on anti-semitism.

This also marks the second film for Irene Dunne. While she will have better roles in the future, this film shows her raw talent.

My big question is why haven't they restored this film? There are constant scratches throughout the film and certain scenes are shakey. This can be corrected with today's computer technology. This film won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Screenplay and Interior Decoration. Plus Dix, Dunne, director and cinematographer received nominations. (This was massive because there were only 8 categories that year!!)

DVD EXTRAS -
Short Subject - The Devils Cabaret (1930) - this is a sixteen minute early color short subject (actually red is the only color in it because it was the easiest to produce.) The novelty is in the color technique not the actual short.

Cartoon - Red Headed Baby (1933) - this is a six minute Merrie Melodies cartoon that takes place in a Santa-esque toy factory.

Nothing beats the original, 2009-07-01
I saw this film a few years back. It amazed me. Way ahead of its time. Irene Dunne is phenominal and a perfect counterpoint to her Yancy. I have not seen the film since. I was compelled to order the original DVD today after watching the 1960 remake with Glen Ford last night on TCM. Although specatular in cinemascope, I wound up just hating Ford as much as his whining, domineering wife. The film did touch on all the issues and heartaches, but I can still rememeber the exhilarating feelings I got from the original film, even after all these years. I never wanted the film to end because of Dunne's performance. To me, that is the test of a great film. If you want it to go on forever, it's a winner. The Academy thought so too. Get this DVD and enjoy!

A classic novel of the old west, 2009-10-17
There are several versions of this novel as movies;
I remember seeing a color version from the 50's.
The acting is very good and this history of the US
government selling off Indian land after they had been relocated
there in the past as being the most worthless land they could think of at the time?
Yancy Cravat is an restless newspaper editor who with his family
moves Oklahoma after failing to get a plot in the 1889 government land rush.
He is successful, but is still not satisfied with staying in one place.
His wife runs the newspaper in his absence and after her son's marriage to an Osage
princess, comes to realize Yancy's idea for Indian ( Native American) rights
were the future of the west.
The death of Yancy in a new oil field in the 30's brings to a close
a saga of 40 years on the American frontier.
The movies is good, but one gets a feeling that some of the detail in the
novel is lost.

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