The Squaw Man (1931)

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Edwin Milton Royle (play)
Lucien Hubbard (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 September 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Plot:

Jim Wyngate, an English aristocrat, comes to the American West under a cloud of suspicion for embezzlement actually committed by his cousin Lord Henry...

Plot Keywords:

Cattle | Embezzlement | Fox Hunt | Polo | Dance

Cast

Warner Baxter	...	James 'Jim' Wingate, aka Jim Carston
Lupe Velez	...	Naturich
Eleanor Boardman	...	Lady Diana Kerhill
Charles Bickford	...	Cash Hawkins
Roland Young	...	Sir John 'Johnny' Applegate
Paul Cavanagh	...	Henry, Earl of Kerhill
Raymond Hatton	...	Shorty
Julia Faye	...	Mrs. Chichester Jones
DeWitt Jennings	...	Sheriff Bud Hardy
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Big Bill (as J. Farrell McDonald)
Mitchell Lewis	...	Tabywana
Dickie Moore	...	Little Hal Carston
Victor Potel	...	Andy
Frank Rice	...	Grouchy
Eva Dennison	...	Dowager Lady Amy Kerhill, Henry's Mother
Lilian Bond	...	Babs
Luke Cosgrave	...	Shanks, Driver in Arizona
Frank Hagney	...	Deputy Clark
Lawrence Grant	...	General Stafford
Harry Northrup	...	Meadows, the Butler
Ed Brady	...	McSorley, Hawkins' Henchman
Chris-Pin Martin	...	Spanish Pete - Hawkins' Henchman (as Chrispin Martin)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kathryn Adams	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Earl Askam	...	Posseman (uncredited)
Max Barwyn	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Ben Corbett	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Herbert Evans	...	Train Conductor (uncredited)
Winifred Kingston	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Louise Mackintosh	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Pete Morrison	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Edgar Norton	...	Fox Huntsman (uncredited)
Artie Ortego	...	White Horse, Naturich's Brother (uncredited)
Desmond Roberts	...	Hardwick (uncredited)
Pat Somerset	...	Seated Officer at Party (uncredited)

Directed by
Cecil B. DeMille		(as Cecil B. De Mille)

Writing credits
Edwin Milton Royle		(play)
Lucien Hubbard		(screenplay) and
Lenore J. Coffee		(screenplay) (as Lenore Coffee)
Elsie Janis		(dialogue)

Produced by
Cecil B. DeMille	....	producer (as Cecil B. De Mille)

Cinematography by
Harold Rosson

Film Editing by
Anne Bauchens

Art Direction by
Mitchell Leisen

Costume Design by
Adrian		(gowns)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Earl Haley	....	assistant director
Mitchell Leisen	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Stunts
Audrey Scott	....	stunt double: Eleanor Boardman (uncredited)
George Sowards	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Charles Maxwell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Inc.)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1931) (USA) (theatrical)
• Forgotten Hollywood (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Forgotten Hollywood (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

The White Man (UK)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Agoura Ranch, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In his autobiography, Cecil B. DeMille wrote "I do not know whether M-G-M or I was more relieved that my contract had come to an end." The production was almost halted by the studio, but DeMille convinced them it would cost just as much to complete it as it would to stop it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (2004) (TV)

Old fashioned for Depression tastes

As all film buffs know Cecil B. DeMille's first version of The Squaw Man was the very first film done in what we now call Hollywood. He did a second silent version and for his third film on his MGM hiatus from Paramount he did it once again.

Third time was not the charm. Although the actors, especially Warner Baxter as the disgraced English Earl who goes to the American west and meets, weds, and beds an Indian maiden, Lupe Velez are competent and sincere the film is terribly dated. Depression audiences simply were not interested in a Victorian morality tale with a dose of the British stiff upper lip.

It all sounds so quaint and ridiculous. Baxter is accused of embezzlement and he knows who the culprit is, but won't inform because he doesn't want to disgrace the other guy's family. So with admirable rectitude he heads west and make a new life in America.

He also manages to make an enemy of Charles Bickford who was another rancher who covets his land. But Baxter finds love with Lupe, as did most of Hollywood in real life, and he has a son who will in fact inherit his title.

Cecil B. DeMille was a child of his time. Melodramas like The Squaw Man was the stuff that the legitimate theater did when he grew up and learned his trade from David Belasco.

But audiences weren't buying it in 1931, people had real issues about where the next meal was coming from and could they find work. A story about some Victorian honor code just wasn't marketable.

It's a sincere film though and it might be worth a look to judge what public tastes were at the turn of the last century and before the Roaring Twenties.