When the government opens up the Oklahoma territory for settlement, restless Yancey Cravat claims a plot of the free land for himself and moves his family there from Wichita. A newspaperman, lawyer, and just about everything else, Cravat soon becomes a leading citizen of the boom town of Osage. Once the town is established, however, he begins to feel confined once again, and heads for the Cherokee Strip, leaving his family behind. During this and other absences, his wife Sabra must learn to take care of herself and soon becomes prominent in her own right.
Production
The 1893 land rush set piece—still staggering scale
Acting
Irene Dunne aging 40 years with zero vanity
Costume
Sabra's transformation from prairie frump to power suit
Director
Wesley Ruggles
Richard Dix
Yancey Cravat
Irene Dunne
Sabra Cravat
Estelle Taylor
Dixie Lee
Nance O'Neil
Felice Venable
William Collier Jr.
The Kid
Roscoe Ates
Jesse Rickey (as Rosco Ates)
George E. Stone
Sol Levy
Stanley Fields
Les Yountis
Robert McWade
Louis Hefner
Edna May Oliver
Mrs. Tracy Wyatt
Judith Barrett
Donna Cravat (as Nancy Dover)
Eugene Jackson
Isaiah
Max Barwyn
Sabra's Luncheon Greeter (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin
(uncredited)
Edith Fellows
(uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the first Westerns to win Best Picture, it helped cement the genre's obsession with 'opening' land that was already inhabited. The Osage are literally scenery.
Irene Dunne hated the script and fought to make Sabra less of a doormat. Her performance is basically a coded critique.
US
