|
|
Rating:  - Yancey Cravat - Good guy or gadabout? (contains spoilers)
CIMARRON is a film that all classic cinema fans should see at least once. The opening sequence of the 1889 Oklahoma Territory Land Rush is still quite remarkable, and the early struggles of the townspeople of Osage well-rendered. This feels and looks much like a silent movie, but has the benefit of sound. You can clearly see why CIMARRON won the Best Picture Oscar, even at a distance of 75 years.
Much criticism has been given Richard Dix for his larger-than-life portrayal of this story's ostensible hero, Yancy Cravat. Leonard Maltin for one called Dix's acting "overripe." I couldn't disagree more. Dix's traveling stageshow technique is most appropriate for the times depicted. That being said, I came away disliking Yancey because he was a selfish individual who put his own wants above the needs of his family.
The story unfolds episodically in the years 1889, 1890, 1893, 1898, 1907, 1929 and 1930. Early on, Cravat fares best with viewers. He helps establish the town of Osage, saves lives with his gunslinging and kills several bad guys. But then the wanderlust takes hold and Yancey leaves behind his small family and wife Sabra, who must run the fledgling newspaper Yancey founded all alone.
The gadabout reappears five years later, and hangs around long enough to defend in court the town floozy against all the "decent womenfolk," including his own humiliated wife. Then Cravat is gone again, this time for a decade! But for some mysterious reason, his wife stays loyal, passively awaiting his return.
In 1907, the now middle-aged wanderer is back-- no explanations given. Yancey soon after clashes with Sabra over the content of an editorial, then haughtily proclaims that HE is the editor of the newspaper he hasn't been a part of for 13 years, and the editorial would read as he wants it to! Sabra gives in quietly.
Do you think this guy would stay home now that he was older? Uh-uh. THIS time, Cravat vanishes without a trace for 23 years, and still Sabra waits for him. At movie's end, the elderly Cravat performs one last heroic act and his wife finds him just as he's ready to expire. The man's good qualities hardly compensate for the bad. Had I been Sabra, the first time Yancey abandoned me would have been the last. Were women that different 100 years ago? Was there no sense of self-esteem?
The true hero of CIMARRON is Sabra Cravat, who raised two children, successfully ran and grew a newspaper and ended up in Congress only a decade after women were given the right to vote. Edna Ferber's skillful storytelling assures you could never doubt the depth of this woman's courage and dedication for even a moment.
Rating:  - Cimarron 1930
Horizont-Stretching etertaiment from the Author of GIANT (1956) Edna Ferber (1887-1968) .Spaces were neither wide nor or open in most early Sound Western . Not so in CIMARRON , It starts with one of the most renowed giddy-ups in Cinema history : a thundering recreation of the 1889 Oklahoma land Rush . From there CIMARRON , based on the bestselling epic by Ginat (1956) and Show Boat (1951) novelist Edna Ferber , traces the generations-spaning saga of that land . There rugged Yancey Crvat ( Richard Dix 1893-1949) and resourceful pioneer wife Sabra ( Irene Dunne 1898-1990) sink roots , persevere, give shape to their dreams . It's a saga of change , told with an authenticity that moviegoers wha had lived through that era recognized -and told with a skill that eraned it three Academy Awards including Best Picture . High Quality Transfer. Highly Recommended .
Rating:  - Great technical achievements with stereotypes galore
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.
Rating: - a hard to find movie worth seeking out
one of the first best picture oscar winners, this was (appallingly) the only western to win until "unforgiven". like other adaptations of edna ferber novels, the source material is too sprawling to work, but its fascinating in its (for the time) relatively compassionate views towards race and towards "working girls". richard dix is pretty wooden as the male lead and irene dunne gives little early evidence of the glory that was to come, but as usual in this type of film there are wonderful performances in smaller roles. also, the scene depicting the beginning of the land rush in 1889 is spectacular, and one wishes a certain mr ron howard had studied this sequence before he made that crappy tom & nicole thing. a historical curiosity maybe, but i enjoyed myself nonetheless.
Rating: - "The Devil's Cabaret" is on this disc!
There is another reason to pick up this DVD: the inclusion of the pre-Hays Code short film "The Devil's Cabaret." This short was created as a vehicle for comedian Edward Buzzell, but the highlights are the sequence with secretary Mary Carlisle (who is amiably daffy and cute to boot), and the extended "nightclub from Hell" sequence where girls strip off their clothes and happily sell their souls to the Devil. This is a vintage reminder of how racy the times were before the government piddled on the party.
|
|