Cimarron - 1931

HERS -

Wow – this movie was actually a lot better than I expected it to be! I typically don’t like “westerns” and “prairie” kind of movies. I didn’t even like the “Little House (Tear) on the Prairie” series! But, this movie had some very interesting and funny characters! I liked Yancey even though he ditched his wife for many years. What is with that? He was like...I have wanderlust so I can’t stay in one place for more than five years. That was very rude. However, he did have a good heart and cared about everyone and understood that people go through hard times and it makes them do things they wouldn’t normally do. I love Sabra (Yancey’s wife). First of all, I loved her name. I think if I was having kids right now, I would name my daughter Sabra. She was a strong woman who persevered even though her husband left her. She ran his newspaper and became a leader in their community and their state. That was pretty cool!

The sound on the movie was not very good but thanks to subtitles, we were able to understand everything. Cimmaron was actually made before Grand Hotel but we watched them a little out of order. I was impressed with the amount of extras and outside scenes that were in this movie. The scenes of the growing city of Osage were pretty cool. The movie depicted a passing of time during a time in U.S. History when things changed a lot. At the beginning of the movie, everyone had horses and buggies. At the end of the movie, there were high rises and cars. I was impressed by that procession of time.

These blogs will tell you a little about Andy and I. I am a “get to the point” type of woman. He is more detail oriented and specific. So, you will note that all his blogs are a lot longer than mine! :)

I am looking forward to our next movie, “It Happened One Night”. I hear it is good!

HIS -

I am very appreciative of subtitles I have found as we've been watching these early movies, as the audio quality makes it difficult to to make out some of the conversations. Yay for technology and advances in movie making! The makeup at the beginning of the movie (especially on Yancey) was a bit grotesque, but as the movie went on it improved. The editing in these older movies is interesting as well. While trying to make dramatic points, the camera sits on a character for awhile longer than you would anticipate which can break the flow of the story as you wonder exactly what is going on.

I wasn't certain what to expect from this movie, but it definitely wasn't what I expected. The first part of the movie was okay. Yancey's character was larger than life, but a bit too superhuman for my taste. He did clean out the riff-raff, stood up for the defenseless (Sol and Dixie), and held the first church service in Osage.

I did like that he stood up for those less fortunate and vulnerable, but for being such a virtuous person I didn't like that he would disappear for years at a time without even one word to, or thought of, his wife and family.

The social themes woven throughout the story were poignant at times. Black and Indian servants being subtly or overtly belittled, the governmental mistreatment of the Indian race - as well as the personal prejudice of Sabra, and the faux piety of society women of the era all made there appearances.

I found myself being on either side of the lead couple. The wanderlust of Yancey compelling him onto new frontiers when the current situation became stale was understandable, but leaving the wife for years with her wondering if he was still alive was cruel in my book. Then the expectation that things continue on as if no time had passed after his return was totally unrealistic.

In the end the absence of Yancey for a couple of decades, again with no communication, repeated the heartlessness of this presumably compassionate man, which is further exacerbated by the fact that he had been in the area for several years without reuniting with his wife. Incomprehensible! The one redeeming part of the second half of the movie was seeing that Sabra had mellowed with age and her prejudice seemingly vanished.

Overall entertaining, but it's not going to be in my top ten of Academy Award Best Pictures list.