1930/1931: Cimarron

The fourth film to win Best Picture was 1931's "Cimarron," produced by RKO Radio Pictures.  It also won Oscars for Best Writing, Adaptation (Howard Estabrook) and Best Art Direction (Max Ree).  Other nominations that did not win were Best Director (Wesley Ruggles), Best Actor (Richard Dix), Best Actress (Irene Dunne), and Best Cinematography (Edward Cronjager).  It was the only western to win Best Picture until 1990's "Dances With Wolves".

The story takes place over 40 years, beginning in 1889.   Yancey (Richard Dix) and Sabra (Irene Dunne) Cravat are living in Wichita with Sabra's parents, when President Harrison opens up the Oklahoma Territory to white settlement.  At the appointed hour, Yancey - and thousands of others - rush in to stake their claims.  Yancey has his sights set on a tract of land called Bear Creek, but he is outwitted by Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor), a prostitute hoping she can change her life by starting a ranch.  With his dream of ranching on Bear Creek gone, Yancey goes back to Wichita and announces that he and Sabra, along with their young son Cimarron, will be moving to the frontier town of Osage.

On the way to Osage, a group of bandits rides in to the Cravat's camp, but it turns out their ringleader - The Kid (William Collier, Jr.) - is an old acquaintance of Yancey's.  How they know each other is never explained, but in any event, the bandits ride off without harming or robbing the Cravats.

In Osage, Yancey establishes a newspaper, the Osage Wigwam.  The publisher of the town's previous newspaper had been murdered by Lon Yountis (Stanley Fields), who Yancey confronts and kills.  Later, after Sabra has given birth to a daughter, The Kid and his gang come to Osage and terrorize the town.  In order to protect his family and the town, Yancey kills The Kid.

When another land rush is announced - this time in an area known as the Cherokee Strip - Yancey decides once again to embark on an adventure, and leaves his family behind in Osage for five years. Sabra runs the paper in his absence.  When Yancey returns, he represents Dixie Lee in court (it's not stated what she's charged with, but presumably it was prostitution) and gets her acquitted.  This does not set well with Sabra, until Yancey makes her realize it's not Dixie that's guilty, it's "the social order."

In 1907, President Roosevelt makes the Oklahoma Territory a state, and Yancey writes an editorial suggesting that the Indians should be treated more fairly than they had been by the US government up to that point, and that they should, in fact, be given full US citizenship.  This is too much for Sabra, who has very bigoted anti-Indian views.  When oil is discovered on the Osage Indian Reserve, Yancey decides to run for governor, but is defeated when he refuses to participate in a scheme to rob the Indians of the income the oil is providing them.

Irene Dunne and Richard Dix

And then, for no apparent reason ("struck by wanderlust" is the only statement made), Yancey decides to up and leave his family again for several years.  He does not stay in touch, but Sabra maintains the belief that he's alive.  Meanwhile, she becomes a member of the US House of Representatives, the first woman from Oklahoma to do so.  At a reception held in her honor, she introduces her children, and speaks warmly of Cimarron's Indian wife.

Before Sabra leaves for Washington, there is an explosion at one of the oil fields.  A man was gravely injured while saving several of the oil workers, and an ambulance is called.  When Sabra asks who the brave man was who risked his life, she is told it's an old drifter some people call "Ol' Yance."  Realizing it's her husband, she rushes to his side.  He declares his eternal love for her, then dies in her arms.

I enjoyed "Cimarron," but it's definitely got some strange things about it.  First off, it's odd that it's titled after a relatively minor character.  And, as noted, there are some plot developments that aren't fully explained.  Still, it's interesting to see a frontier town deal with racism, classism, and anti-Semitism.  Although Yancey is something of a schmuck for leaving his family over and over, he is noble in is treatment of other people.   William Dix's has a strange rhythm to his voice, but the acting of all the leads was very good.   The Category of Best Supporting Actress hadn't yet been established, but if it had, Edna May Oliver certainly would have been nominated.  She turns in an absolutely hilarious performance as Mrs. Tracy Wyatt, a snooty society matron.