A look back into the 1940s

We've reached the 1950s, but before I enter that decade, I'd like to take a look back into the 1940s.

The 1940s were a turbulent time, filled with world war, the dregs of a depression, and changing social times.  Beginning with Rebecca, a dark look into lies and secrets, and ending with All the King's Men--which I suppose deals with the same material.  It would seem that not much changes during this decade.  But a look at the films show an interesting arc in the popular ideology and interests of American people
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1940--The winner is a dark Hitchcock picture, Rebecca, where a young ingenue is sucked into her new husband's dark mansion, which is still haunted by the specter of his ex-wife.  Mr. de Winter is secretive, moody, and foreign.  The heroine is naive and foolish, but despite herself is drawn into the terrible mystery of Manderlay, her new home.  She survives the eventual fire, but the horror of it still lingers.  At the time this film won its award, the war was becoming increasing desperate, with America less than a year away from Pearl Harbor.  Like Mrs. de Winter, Americans were trying to stick their heads in the sand, but were still being drawn inextricably towards the fire.

1941--With How Green Was My Valley, you get the story of a Welsh mining family attempting to overcome oppression.  They aren't entirely successful, but there is a message of hope flickering, despite it all.  Even so it is again, a European tale, with a murky outcome and a depressingly disparate house and home.  America has been in the war for only a few months, but it has begun to take its toll.

1942--Mrs. Miniver is the story of, again, a British family.  It follows them as they attempt to survive World War II, while it is still years from ending.  This film has an uncertain ending, with some truly sad moments, but it is as a whole is hopeful.  It is more of a generic, crowd pleasing film than the other two, and shows there is starting to be some hope (or desire for hope) in the American psyche.

1943--Casablanca: the ultimate tale of unrequited love and heroism.  The film is about war, redemption, and the will to fight an oppressor.  The tide of war is turning.

1944--The strangest winner of the group, Going My Way is about a priest who saves a struggling parish by teaching the young boy's choir how to sing.  Wholesome, fictional, and filled with images of home and hope, this is the dream to show both to the young people fighting for their country, and the people who want them home.  The priests, the children, even the baseball----this is the dream of home.

1945--Coming on the heels of such an angelic film is The Lost Weekend, a film about a struggling alcoholic finally left along for a weekend by his family and friends.  He goes on a bender that almost destroys him, only to survive on a thread.  It's the end of the war, but this marks a darker time for returning vets.

1946--The Best Years of Our Lives explores the lives of returning veterans, who are having a difficult time settling back into their lives.  While it has the upbeat emotion (and ending) similar to Mrs. Miniver, there are darker scenes that reflect the sentimentality of The Lost Weekend.  When an airline pilot sits in an abandoned plane, he suffers the same hallucinations that an alcoholic might.  There are good times promised ahead, but the transition is a little rocky.

1947--In Gentleman's Agreement we see a man crusading for justice in a disillusioned world.  He wins out at the end, but at great cost personally, without a clear knowledge that he really changed things.  Like a few of these later 1940s films, it is depressing and confused, with a murky ending.  It depicts a morerealistic view of the world than the earlier, Capracorny films of the 1930s.

1948--Hamlet, the story of a confused prince, fighting for his father but constantly questioning himself and others.  While Shakespeare may not at first seem to fit with the flood of disillusioned veterans filling the movie theaters, the story of Hamlet--bloody, fearsome, and battle-filled while being psychologically disturbing--seems to fit right in.  These men and women are turning from the easy melodies of Going My Way and turning towards a more realistic approach to life as a coping mechanism.

1949--And lastly, All the King's Men, a story of a crusader who finds himself disillusioned as the man he thought would be the politician for the people turns out as corrupt as the rest of them.

Well, if anything All the King's Men puts a cap on the later half of the 1940s, a time when Americans were looking at more realistic films, versus the panoramas and epic dramas of the earlier years.  These movies, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, center around the war happening at home and abroad.  They arc from frightening, to hopeful, to peaceful, to disturbed, and finally to a reality fighting against a new society.  The end of the 1940s is a dark one, but with perhaps a silver lining.  We're left with a reality that may be different, but is at least real.  These aren't showy theatricals in glittering technicolor.  They are real, at times gritty portrayals of average, unlikable men.  Well--and one prince.

Who knows what the stability of the 1950s will bring?

PS-My favorite?  The Best Years of our Lives

Going My Way

"A golf course is nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors."--Father Fitzgibbon (Going My Way, 1944)

Well it's a lovely movie, especially to watch at Christmas time.  If I close my eyes I can pretend I'm watching White Christmas.  What's it about?  Bing Crosby.  Seriously.  He sings, it's great, and I think he's a priest who helps people and saves a church?  Don't know.  Don't really care.  I enjoyed watching it, I loved the music, and I don't really remember what it was about.  Entertaining film with Bing Crosby?  Absolutely.  Oscar-worthy film?  Eh--probably not.

Fathers O'Malley and Fitzgibbon

The Plot
The film starts in New York City, with mortgage broker Ted Haines Sr. reluctantly telling elderly Irish Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald, that if he doesn't make his mortgage payment on St. Dominic's church soon he will have to call in the mortgage.  Ted, Jr. argues with his father to give the church a break, but his father insists.  Father Charles Francis Patrick O'Malley, played by Bing Crosby, arrives in the neighborhood with modern ways that upset the locals.  He greets Father Fitzgibbon in a sweatshirt and slacks and announces he is to be his new curate.

Father O'Malley is the new curate.

Father O'Malley visits with his childhood friend Father Timothy O'Dowd, a local priest and the only one who knows that Father O'Malley was really sent to replace Fitzgibbon at St. Dominic's, which is in financial difficulties as well as in a troubled neighborhood.  When Ted, Jr. is sent to evict Hattie Quimp, who is O'Malley's biggest detractor, O'Malley promises the church will guarantee her rent.  On his walk back to the church, O'Malley notices two young boys stealing turkeys, with which they will later escape into the church garden and then gift to Father Fitzgibbon.  O'Malley mentions the boys are in trouble, and Fitzgibbon refuses to believe it until he discovers the turkeys are stolen.  But instead of punishing the boys, O'Malley takes them to a baseball game instead.  Meanwhile, one of the local policemen brings pretty, eighteen-year-old runaway Carol James to see O'Malley after picking her up on the street.  She turns down O'Malley's offer of a job keeping house at the church, and mentions her desire to become a singer.  O'Malley tries to coach her, and then gives her $10 when she insists on leaving.

Father O'Malley talks to the boys.

Now having earned the trust of the boys in the neighborhood, O'Malley convinces them to train as the church choir.  Fitzgibbon, having had enough, goes to the bishop to ask for O'Malley's transfer, only to learn that O'Malley has been sent as his replacement.  Upset, Fitzgibbon runs away, but O'Malley's policeman friend finds him in a storm and brings him home to O'Malley and the distraught housekeeper.  O'Malley and Fitzgibbon bond over Irish whiskey and songs, and Fitzgibbon mentions his desire to see his ninety-year-old mother, who still lives in Ireland.  A little while later, O'Malley runs into an old friend and flame, Metropolitan Opera star Genevieve "Jenny" Linden, played by real-life opera star Rise Stevens, who is surprised to learn her dear friend has become a priest.

Father O'Malley sees Jenny.

Hattie Quimp, still antagonistic, informs Fitzgibbon that Carol has taken the apartment across from hers, and has no problems "paying" her rent to Ted, Jr.  O'Malley goes over to check on her, and finds that the two are in love and Ted, Jr. has let her live in a vacant apartment without telling his father.  O'Malley plays them a song, and makes them realize how serious they are about each other.  A little later, Jenny and O'Dowd visit St. Dominic's and  see the choir.  O'Dowd mentions that he has been attempting to get O'Malley's latest song, "Going My Way" published by his friend, but it has been rejected as "too schmaltzy."  Meanwhile Ted, Sr. has finally found out about Carol, and bursts into her apartment to find her in her nightgown and Ted, Jr. coming out of the bedroom.  It turns out they're married, and they blissfully ignore Ted, Sr.'s sputtering.  But just when Ted, Sr. has reached his boiling point, his son comes out in a Army Air Force uniform, and bids them both a fond farewell.

Ted, Jr. and Carol fall in love

O'Dowd has convinced his publisher friend to come see Jenny perform "Going My Way" with the St. Dominic's choir.  But while he still feels the song too corny, he accidentally catches the boys singing O'Malley's more upbeat "Swinging on a Star."  The money for the song will be used to save the church, but at O'Malley's suggestion the publishers come to church, and put the money into Fitzgibbon's collection.  Fitzgibbon is so excited, he agrees to go golfing with the other fathers, and surprises everyone with his swing.

The fathers go golfing.

But all this comes to an abrupt end when the church catches fire and burns down.  Father Fitzgibbon falls ill after trying to solicit donations in the rain.  O'Malley tells Fitzgibbon that Ted, Jr. is on his way home after a minor jeep accident, and Jenny, who is touring with the boys' choir, has sent a check for $3,500 from the proceeds.  But just as construction has begun on the new church, O'Malley is transferred to another church that needs his help.  Fitzgibbon is sad to see him go and shocked to discover the irreverent O'Dowd has become his new curate.  As Fitzgibbon gives a sermon thanking O'Malley for all he has done, Jenny brings in Fitzgibbon's elderly mother as O'Malley watches.  As Fitzgibbon tearfully embraces his mother, O'Malley walks away into the snowy night, whistling.


Father O'Malley leaves.

The History
Leo McCarey, Oscar-winning director of The Awful Truth, made the success of his new film, Going My Way, seen unlikely.  It would contain a series of vignettes about a priest, have no female leads, and boast crooner Bing Crosby in the lead.  He was an unusual choice to play a priest but Crosby was already incredibly popular with audiences, especially the troops.  This, however, was the first film in which Crosby would be considered an actor, rather than a singer, and he was named the number one box office star of the year.  Crosby would go on to become one of the top stars of the decade, and he, along with his music, are still popular today.



Leo McCarey and Bing Crosby

The film was a surprising hit with audiences, with the Hollywood Reporter claiming that "it's a good bet that the McCarey-Paramount clicker may even top the Selznick-MGM big grosser [Gone with the Wind]."   Darryl F. Zanuck's pet picture, Wilson, an epic about President Woodrow Wilson,  was much more
elaborate and war conscious than Going My Way.  But while it retained some good critical reviews, Wilson flopped at the box office, and Going My Way beat it in nearly every category at the Awards.  Zanuck was so upset that he ordered his staff to never mention the movie about his favorite historical hero ever again.

Publicity still for Going My Way

Going My Way was nominated for ten awards, and won seven: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Original Story, and Song ("Swinging on a Star").  It is the first film to have both won "Best Song" and "Best Picture."  It is also the first and only film to have a single star (Barry Fitzgerald) be nominated for both actor categories for the same film.  Though he was nominated for both "Best Actor" and "Best Supporting Actor" he would only win "Best Supporting" while the "Best Actor" award would go to Bing Crosby.  Because of this, the Academy changed their rules to ensure actors could only be nominated in one category per film. 

Publicity still for Going My Way

Going My Way was followed by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's.  There would also be a short lived television show based on the film, starring Gene Kelley in 1962.  This film was the top box office grosser of 1944, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  Despite its popularity, it has since faded out of significance, in the wake of Crosby's far more popular film, White Christmas.  It is perhaps best remembered for its award-winning song, "Swinging on a Star."

Singing "Swinging on a Star."

The Academy Award Ceremony was slowly changing.  This year at the ceremony producer Mark Sandrich's behest, small clips of each nominated film would be played for each award presentation, so as not to give one award preference over another.  This would also be the first ceremony that would be broadcast nationally on the fledgling network, ABC--on the radio, of course.  Unfortunately, Mark Sandrich would not live to see the ceremony and his many changes.  He died on at the age of 34 of a heart attack, mere days before the show.

Father O'Malley and Father Fitzgibbon play golf.

A little known fact about Bing Crosby is that his favorite pastime was golf, and is now a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Aside from Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer (the man, not the drink), Crosby may be the person most responsible for popularizing the game of golf.  He was a two handicap who competed in both the British and U.S. Amateur championships.  So when March of 1945 and the Awards ceremony came around, Paramont Pictures' biggest star was to be found on the 12th hole of Lakeside golf course mere hours before the show.  When the publicity crew came to beg him to attend, Crosby shrugged them off and told them to invite his parents in his stead.  They did invite his parents, but instead Crosby's mother called her son and gave him such a scolding that he did, indeed, decide to attend.

Fitzgerald and Crosby with their Oscars

Crosby was not the only golf enthusiast in Going My Way.  Barry Fitzgerald was an avid golfer himself.  When he recieved his award and came home after a night of celebrating, he decided to practice his golf swing and decapitated his plaster Oscar statuette (the statues were made of plaster during wartime).  The studio had to pay $10 to replace the sheepish Fitzgerald's award.  So he did, in fact, win two Oscars that year.

The Verdict
What to say about this film?  It's very warm and fuzzy.  I could listen to Bing Crosby sing forever.  He and Frank Sinatra have those soothing, liquid voices that seem to seep into one's pores.  I also like the way Crosby manages to distribute advice without ever once sounding patronizing.  He makes a speech about giving back to others or following your dreams or something, and I just nod my head and say, "Yes, Bing.  You're right.  I should join a choir to save my church.  And it's normal that you just turned a street gang into a choir with little-to-no effort."  So it's completely understandable he's in almost every scene.  This movie would fall apart without him.

Father O'Malley in his neighborhood.

Not to say that I didn't enjoy the rest of the cast.  It's always fun to watch Barry Fitzgerald of How Green Was My Valley  and The Quiet Man play an irascible old Irishman.  Partially because I think he was an irascible old Irishman.  And Rise Stevens was a real-life opera star, so her voice is very nice to listen to.  But while this movie is fun to watch, it is basically unremarkable.

I find two things interesting about this film.  The first is the original movie poster, replicated again above.  Rise Stevens is a minor character in the film who only appears half-way in.  She is holding hands on the poster with Bing Crosby, whose priest collar has almost disappeared from sight.  This completely downplays the entire plot of the film.  Were the advertisers afraid that by both making the main character a priest and having no female lead the film would do poorly?  Stevens is also in the corner in an Opera costume she never wears in the film.  Barry Fitzgerald and the choir are almost non-existent in the corner.  I don't know quite what to make of this, but it bears noting.

Carol bids Ted, Jr. goodbye.

And lastly, perhaps because of the last few films I've watched, the war element in this film, again, is fascinating to me.  In fact, my favorite subplot was that of Carol and Ted, Jr., especially in the scene when he goes off to war.  Now unlike Mrs. Miniver and Casablanca, there is nothing in this film that is about war.  But this small scene shows how omnipresent war was in the society of 1944.  And how awesome nightgowns were.

Ted, Jr. shakes hands with his father.

No matter what type of film it is, (and the last three films differed greatly) each somehow reflect the realty of war lurking in the background of ordinary lives.  In this film it is a small enough thing, but just seeing Ted, Jr. put on a uniform and leave his young bride sent a chill down my spine.  That would never occur in today's films.  In fact, I would hazard to guess that in no time period since has such a type of film existed.  Because of the nature of World War II, war itself has become a background element to all films during this time period.  This film may be saccharine and childish, but Ted is still going to fight a war.  He even becomes injured, though not badly.  It is the contrast between the smiling, all-American men and women in these films and the constant threat of war that gets to me.  Ted shakes his fathers hand and leaves with a smile on his face.  It is a scene that we will never see since.  Not with Vietnam, and certainly not with 9/11.  With the era of World War II America coming to an end, I find myself struck by how strange it must have felt to live under the constant shadow of a real world war.  I imagine it felt something like this scene.  Only not nearly as nice and smiley. 

Father Fitzgibbon hugs his mother.

Cimarron

"I'll show them first crack that the Oklahoma Wigwam prints all the news all the time - knowing no law except the law of God and the government of the United States. Say, that's a pretty good slogan! Top of the page - just ahead of the editorial column!" -Yancey Cravat in Cimarron (1931)

I'll admit it, I was definitely putting this one off.  This was the first movie I had seen before, and also the first movie to make me want to abandon the project all those years ago.  But when I finally did force myself to sit down and watch it, it was not nearly as bad as I thought.  Don't get me wrong--it was bad.  It was also probably one of the most bizarrely racist films I have ever seen.  However it is much easier to stomach this film in the context of the films I've already watched.  It fits into the category of uncomfortable early films by directors still trying to find their feet.

The Plot

It's 1889, and President Harrison has opened Oklahoma territory for settlement.  Yancey Cravat, played by Richard Dix, leaves his wife, Sabra, and young son, Cimarron, at home with her high society family in Wichita, Kansas, in order to secure a homestead in the new territory.  He is tricked by hussie Dixie Lee, played by Estelle Taylor, who then takes his land instead.  Returning home empty handed, his wife still decides to defy her family and join him in his quest to settle in the new town of Osage, Oklahoma.

They finally reach the town, filled with dreams of a new frontier.  Instead, Sabra Cravat, played by Irene Dunne, enters into a lawless town that is still in the first stages of being built.  She wants to go home right away, but Yancey hugs her, calls her sugar, and tells her it is an adventure.  They set up their home and business, a combination newspaper/law office, as Yancey is both an attorney and a newspaper man.  Yancey starts a crusade against the local gunslinger gang, eventually calling out the man who had killed the last newspaper editor and shooting him while he is supposed to be running the town's first "church" meeting. Dixie Lee has also come to town with a group of loose women. Over the next year, however, Sabra comes to love the little town.  She has a daughter, Donna, starts a women's club, and leads the way in fashion.  Right when Donna is born, however, Yancey ends up in a shoot out with a former friend, now a wanted felon.  Isaiah, the young black servant boy who stowed away with them when they left Wichita, (and who is mostly shown whistling and shining shoes) runs out after Cimarron, only to get shot in an attempt to rescue him.  Sabra fusses over Yancey, who nicked his arm a little bit.  Yancey claims he will not accept any of the reward money for shooting a friend.  Neither of them expresses any concern over Isaiah until finally their printer brings back his body.  One day, Yancey discovers that new territory is opening up in Oklaholma, and tells Sabra that they should head out together to claim it.  Sabra is finally starting to like her life in Osage, and tells him she doesn't want to go out into the wilderness with two small children.  Yancey doesn't seem too concerned with this, kisses his wife, and tell her that he'll be back soon.

Five years later, Sabra still hasn't heard from Yancey.  She runs the newspaper, is involved with local organizations, and is raising her children.  She's replaced Isaiah with a young Native American girl, Ruby.  She remains fiercely racist against "dirty Indians" but is accepting of her friend Sol Levy, the Jewish man who owns the local store.  Sabra is getting ready to go to the trial of Dixie Lee for public indecency.  As they sit down to dinner, Yancey arrives home.  He hugs his kids, kisses his wife, and Sabra falls into his arms without asking too many questions.  But upon hearing of Dixie Lee's trial, he goes out to defend her.  At first Sabra is furious that he would embarrass her like this, but upon hearing Dixie's sad story, Sabra's heart goes out to her and she learns to be more tolerant.

It's ten years later, the world's focus has shifted from gold to oil, and Osage is now a booming city.  Both Cravat children have grown.  Donna has been going to a boarding school for girls in New York, and is upset at having to wear unfashionable clothes and live in Oklahoma, which is now a state.  She storms out of the house and declares she will find the richest man in town and marry him.  Cimarron declares he is going onto the Reservation to be an engineer, and he is going to marry their old servant, Ruby.  When she protests, Cimarron reminds his mother than Ruby is the daughter of an Indian chief, and then informs her that Yancey approves.  Yancey ignores Sabra's concerns (he usually does), and then lets her know that he is going to publish an inflammatory piece in the newspaper on Native American rights, the language of which will destroy his campaign for governor.  Sabra cares about his campaign much more than Yancey, who is more concerned with human rights than politics.

It is 1929, twenty-two years later.  The title cards tell us that Yancey has gone off again, and Sabra yet again has no idea where he is.  She has built the newspaper into a thriving business, but has still kept Yancey's name at the top.  Rather than think him dead, she knows he is still out there somewhere, and waits for him to return to her.  In her old age, Sabra is elected congresswoman to Oklahoma, and at a banquet in her honor acknowledges both children, finally accepting Ruby in front of everyone as "a chief's daughter."  Donna has married the richest (and possibly oldest) man in town.  And though Sabra is happy about her new office, she wishes that her husband were not "out of the city" as she knows he would be proud.  She leaves, only to be stopped by a young man in search of an ambulance.  A drifter, "Old Yance," has thrown himself in front of an oil torpedo, saving everyone in the nearby area.  Sabra, hearing his name, runs to him and holds him in her arms as he dies.  His final words are "wife and mother, stainless woman, hide me, hide me in your love."  The movie ends on a shot of a new statue, a pioneer similar to Yancey in all his glory.

The History

Cimarron is based on a novel by the same name written by Edna Ferber in 1929.  She was a well-known author at time, and many of her novels have been made into musicals, most notably Show Boat. When the now defunct RKO decided decided to produce this picture, movie studios were desperately trying to dig themselves out of the worst of the great depression.  Cimarron had a massive budget, but despite rave critical reviews and three Academy Awards, the film managed to lose $5.5 million by the end of 1931.  Cimarron was nominated for more than six awards and won for "Best Picture," "Best Art Direction," and "Best Adapted Screenplay."  The director, Wesley Ruggles, felt he had been shortchanged, claiming, "I wonder where I was when the picture was made as it was given the award for set, production, and adaptation, which possibly I had something to do with."  The film has now largely faded into obscurity, particularly because of its dated racial views.  Most notably, this film helped to kick off the career of famed actress, Irene Dunne.  A western would not win an Academy Award again for "Best Picture" until Dances with Wolves in 1990.  It currently has the lowest IMDb rating of all the "Best Picture" winners.

interestingly, these Academy Award ceremonies were notable for how extremely boring they were.  They were poorly planned, overly ambitious, and far too long.  Louis B. Mayer had been put in charge of the guest list, which included the unpopular Republican Vice President, Charles Curtis.  His speech was so boring that the guests filtered into the lobby to watch comedian Roscoe Ates perform his routine.  These guests had to be begged to return to the ballroom in order to applaud the end of the Vice President's speech.  They did not even begin to give out the awards until midnight, at which point 10-year-old "Best Actor" nominee Jackie Cooper had already fallen asleep on "Best Actress" winner Marie Dressler.  The Daily Variety called the affair "a long winded, verbose, political and dull evening of a nature which will repel many a Hollywoodian next year (unless memories dim and time makes 'em forget)."  Clearly, Mayer should not have been put in charge of the guest list.

The Verdict?
My first impression of this movie has still stuck with me today.  This is that if my husband had ditched me without even a letter with two small children in the middle of nowhere for five years I would have hit him over the head with a skillet and locked him out of the house.  And then filed for divorce.  Are you kidding me, Sabra?  She bugs me in a big way.  Almost as much as the holier-than-thou pontificating that Yancey gets up to in this film.  I'll blame his rise from silent movies for the way he consistently over-dramatizes his part.  Or maybe it's the way he completely ignores pretty much anything she says and always responds with something along the lines of "don't worry your pretty little head about it, sugar."

This film's values are bizarre.  On the one hand, Sabra becomes a leader in her community.  She shows that a woman can single-handedly run a newspaper, raise her children, and become a congresswoman.  She is a progressive pioneer woman, a beacon for women's rights.  On the other hand, she lets her idiot husband leave her again and again, call her sugar and ignore her concerns, and basically treat her like she doesn't matter.  He calls her Penelope, and like Odysseus's wife she waits patiently, never judging, for him to come home.

Like its attitude toward women, this film is also extremely confused by its attitude toward minorities.  Sabra treats Native Americans with disdain, calling them "dirty, filthy Indians," and refusing to allow her son to marry Ruby, the daughter of a local Indian chief.  Yancey, however, is a strong advocate for their rights, defending Native Americans both physically and in his paper.  In the end, Sabra realizes the error of her ways and accepts Ruby, although it is unclear whether should would have done this if Ruby hadn't been, in some way, royalty.  Sol Levy is knocked around by the townsfolk for being a Jew, but both Sabra and Yancey defend him.  His character, however, is an extreme Jewish stereotype for the entire film.  Isaiah's portrayal is probably the worst.  From beginning to end he is a glaring example of Hollywood's worst racial stereotypes.  He whistles, shines shoes, and calls Yancey "Massa."  About half-way through the film Isaiah is shot in an attempt to rescue Cimarron.  No one seems to notice or care and in fact Yancey walks right past him as Isaiah writhes in pain and call out to him.  A scant minute or so is reserved for his death, before the film moves on.

I believe that this film attempts to be progressive and show that all people are created equal.  But because of the existing racial stereotypes of 1931, they are not quite able to do so.  It is the conflict between the ideals of the film and the stereotypes of the day that cause the disjointed feel.  The one thing I will say is that the costume, set design, and most importantly make-up, were very well done.  This film shows an age progression of 40 years, both of the characters and the town of Osage.  For 1931, the make-up is incredible.

In this film, it is said that Cimarron is the name of the new territory they are attempting to settle and means "wild and unruly."  Yancey names his son this, and the movie concentrates on looking forward toward taming this new land and claiming a spot in history.  Ironically, I believe this movie is better left in the past.  Despite some attempt at progressive thinking, the blatant racism and sexism is just too jarring for the modern viewer.  This film is dated, and belongs as a piece of history rather than as a film still relevant to today.