The Squaw Man (1931)

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

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

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

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)

Repeating Mistakes

Is she brown? Lupe Velez isn't an aborigine of the United States. Here, Velez even wears traditional Mexican-looking clothes. I would overlook the racism in this film, cloaked in the selling point of miscegenation, if there were anything worth my attention in it. Cecil B. DeMille was shot at while making the 1914 version of the hackneyed stage melodrama, and this time he lost his job. If anyone finds the 1918 version, I'll pass. Why did DeMille bother? In 1914, he was learning the craft; by 1931, he was a competent filmmaker, who had since surrendered his ambitions for artistic innovation in favour of lowbrow commercialism. I suppose, then, that it made sense for DeMille to try a talkie remake of his first box-office success. The plot is slightly more coherent this outing, but remains very contrived. The acting and dialogue are atrocious. There's also a scene where Velez undresses.