Cimarron

Cimarron (1931) is a sprawling Western by Wesley Ruggles, free to watch online on iFILM. It opens with the 1889 Oklahoma land rush — thousands of settlers racing wagons across open prairie to stake a claim.

Yancey Cravat can't stay put. A newspaperman, lawyer, and gunhand all at once, he founds a paper in the raw boomtown of Osage, then bolts for the next frontier and leaves his family behind. His wife Sabra is the one who actually holds it together, growing from a sheltered bride into a force who runs the business and the town. The story spans forty years, from dust and tents to oil derricks and motorcars. Richard Dix and Irene Dunne lead, with Estelle Taylor and Edna May Oliver alongside.

Adapted from Edna Ferber's novel, it was the first Western ever to take home the Best Picture Oscar — and the only one to do so until the 1990s. Modern viewers find it uneven: the epic sweep sits beside attitudes that have aged badly, which is exactly what makes it worth studying as a record of its time. Stream Cimarron (1931) online on iFILM.