Cimarron (1931)

A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century. [imdb]

Nominated for 7 Oscars:

Best Picture (WINNER)
Best Director: Wesley Ruggles
Best Actor: Richard Dix
Best Actress: Irene Dunne
Best Writing, Adaptation (WINNER)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction (WINNER)

7 nominations are a lot for those days, when there weren't that many categories. Actually the only category it wasn't nominated for was Original Writing, which couldn't have been possible. So one could say it was nominated in every category. But truth be told: the 4th Best Picture winner is not that much of a movie. :) Actually it ranks between the worst winners ever.

What starts out as a nice enjoyable western ends up as a silly, boring and cheesy drama. The last part was soooo naive and the ending so stupid :) whoever saw it knows what I mean. The leading man, Richard Dix, doesn't give a horrible performance, but he's the most annoying ass you'll ever see :D I don't know if it's him or his character, but he's so full of himself that's it hard to watch. I survived through the film by telling Irene Dunne: don't kiss him, b!tch! Slap him in the face! Can't you see how smug he is?!

This is the film that really introduced Irene Dunne to the world. Thank you for that and what a great actress she was. But not here! Yet I don't blame her, she didn't have much to do in the first place. The Art Direction win is well deserved, the writing one - not so much. Even if I haven't seen the competition, I don't think it should've won BP. It has its good moments, especially in the first part. When there's action, it's ok. When Richard Dicks starts talking, just roll your eyes! And his hair! A lot of unintentional humor.

My rating for the film: 4/10. I'm being quite generous.