Cimarron (1931) [Blu-Ray]

Excellent movie added to my film collection

An excellent transfer shows the age of the source material but is a big step up from the DVD, and all of the bonus material is 1080p.

I ordered this movie because its star, Richard Dix, actually started out in silent films, and I knew this was a very early effort at making a sweeping film of the West. It was an effort, and it probably worked really well at the box office of the day. I got what I expected - an historical documentation of the early attempts to show the plight of the American Indians, the adventure loving man who cannot be fully tamed, and the woman who finds that she can indeed use her brain to earn a living and make a difference in society. The unexpected inclusion to the "man moving to the frontier" was the Southern beginning of the film with the slaves being presented so stereotypically as faithful and childlike - one young black boy stowed away on the wagon to go to Oklahoma with the master because he was treated more kindly by the star, but as the child was a part of the land rush and was growing well in the new environment, he became a casualty of a gun fight in the street. The illustrious hero became a bum and was gone from his wife for nearly three decades before she is elected as the first congresswoman and celebrates forty years of newspaper editing. The old pioneer man dies in her arms after saving several men in a mine cave in. Quite an elaborate story for the time, and my husband says that it must have been eight hours long.

The scene of thousands of wagons and horses, maned by crazed at the same time terrified pioneers, racing to make their claim is mesmerizing. Movies made laden with computer graphics, can't match the authenticity of movies created so close in time to the historical events they portray. The creators of these movies understood events in a way we can only intellectualize now. Only watch this movie if you intend to appreciate and enjoy it for it's history - not just of the raising of Oklahoma City - but for it's movie making. If you do, you will thoroughly enjoy it, and be left thinking of all the symbolism and meaning this epic movie intended.

Often, in the early talkies, you'll notice what you thought were sane actors talking to inanimate objects instead of their fellow castmembers. Of course, what they were really doing was talking into the hidden microphones, but the whole image can be quite a hilarious spectacle to the unknowing audience. 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 film is very impressive when taken in the context of its technical achievements. The shots of the opening of the Oklahoma Land Rush, and the Land Rush stampede itself 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. Yancey goes after one hair-brained scheme after another while his long-suffering wife Sabra (Irene Dunne) must come up with ways to clothe, feed, and house herself and their children. Sometimes Yancey's adventures keep him home, other times they take him away for years at a time. It's all the same to Yancey as long as he is in the midst of excitement of some sort. 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.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.The worst thing about this film, which was not unusual for its day, was the rendition of Cravat's servant Isaiah. The stereotypes are truly jaw-dropping. For example, in one scene Isaiah gets very excited when Yancey points out a cart full of watermelons at his new home. It makes you wonder how the actor portraying Isaiah felt about this, how the filmmakers felt about this, and how the audience felt about this sort of material back in 1930. Honestly, what were they thinking?The extras on this DVD are stingy. There's a vintage color musical short - `The Devil's Cabaret' - which is a very strange musical number with an even stranger pre-code storyline, and an example of something that could only have been done pre-code. At "Satan & Co., Inc.", the Devil is upset because too many people are going up to Heaven rather than down to Hades. He gives his assistant, Mr. Burns the task of getting more people to his domain. In front of a nightclub, Mr. Burns invites a crowd of people to come inside to "The Devil's Cabaret" and be entertained. After they enjoy songs and dancing, the people go willingly to Hades. To me, this was more entertaining than the movie. The second extra feature is a classic cartoon - `Red-Headed Baby' - that runs six minutes. It's an early Merry Melodie that focuses primarily on a Baby toy that Santa is building. After Santa goes to sleep, the toy sings a song for the other playroom toys. The animation has that primitive charm that is trademark Merry Melodie, but as a whole there is nothing really special about it. There are no extras related to the film itself.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. Less 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. There are two reasons to watch this film (a) To see the very good technical achievements it featured in sound and cinematography (b) To see the very bad things about it including Dix' hammy performance, the stereotypes that were common in films of that era, and the fact that in the early twentieth century nobody apparently thought that the long-suffering Sabra was doing anything other than her duty as a wife in spending most of her time waiting for her husband to come home from his misadventures.

I had preconceptions about this film because most of what I had heard said it was poorly acted and dated. I didn't find this to be the case at all. This multigenerational account of the formation of the Oklahoma Territories had me in its grip from the stirring land rush that opens the film to its wistful Depression Era conclusion. The film is at turns epic, grandiose, and ambitious. In these supposedly enlightened times some may fault the film but I found its attitudes towards African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Jews to be quite progressive when you consider the time it was made. This would make a terrific pairing with George Stevens' "Giant", another great film adapted from an Edna Ferber novel.

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!

Boîtier cassé, affiche du DVD en mauvais état et légère bosse sur le DVD mais assez pour ne pas pouvoir le lire...Heureusement qu’il était arrivé en avance ^^

Ottimo

This 2023 Warner Bros Archive Collection Blu-Ray of Cimarron has significantly better picture quality than the Warner 2006 DVD.It is region free, and is highly recommended for anyone interested in Oscar winning movies.

Excelente producto, es justo como la imagen lo representa, no hubo ningún problema. La calidad es promedio pero dado que es una peli vieja o hay mucho problema.

You have to remember this was when movies were new. Picture quality and sound are good. Misses a lot of what's in the book but not a bad movie.