Cimarron is a 1931
Pre-Code Western film directed by
Wesley Ruggles, starring
Richard Dix and
Irene Dunne, and featuring
Estelle Taylor and
Roscoe Ates. The
Oscar winning script was written by
Howard Estabrook based on the
Edna Ferber novel
Cimarron. It would be
RKO's most expensive production up to that date, and its winning of the top Oscar for Best Production would be only one of two ever won by that studio. It is also one of the few Westerns to ever win the top honor at the Academy Awards. Epic in scope, spanning forty years from 1889 to 1929, it was a critical success, although it did not recoup its production costs during its initial run in 1931.