This is Mary Pickford's attempt to star in a "Cimarron" saga that unfortunately falls flat due to three separate stories (plus an uncomfortable epilogue) about the same two characters that just doesn't build to anything nearing the success of that 1931 Academy Award winning epic. Starting off in the late 1800s, Mary Pickford and Leslie Howard play young lovers who run away from her wealthy family and end up with hardships in the old west, facing tragedy and later on, political scandal when he ends up being unfaithful, and all of a sudden a cute elderly couple standing up to their children and telling them that they're going to continue to live their lives as they seem fit.
There's great promise that never comes to fruition unfortunately because the script and structure is so disjointed that it feels like the two actors play four completely different sets of characters. In fact, it could be closer to the same years "Cavalcade" then "Cimarrron". another issue is that basically, they really do not have any chemistry and Pickford seems to be walking her way through her part, much like she did in her undeserved Academy award-winning performance in "Coquette". While there are interesting elements of each of the four parts (even the last one at only 5 minutes is mildly amusing), there is really never enough time other than the middle western section to understand completely what is happening, and that only comes because of the range war that has a violent and shocking twist.
The first part features as Pickford's parents the commanding C. Aubrey Smith (badly coiffed in a black toupee) as her overly possessive father (and Howard's employer) who completely objects to the romance and Blanche Fredrici as her more understanding mother. However, Doris Lloyd, as Pickford's companion, basically steals the thunder from every one of the actors with her comical performance. Unfortunately, she disappears even though she could have been the equivalent of the Edna May Oliver character from "Cimarron". Frank Borzage, a classic director of the silent and early sound eta, does his best with what he has to work with, but must have missed the deficiencies of the script when getting it all together.
There's great promise that never comes to fruition unfortunately because the script and structure is so disjointed that it feels like the two actors play four completely different sets of characters. In fact, it could be closer to the same years "Cavalcade" then "Cimarrron". another issue is that basically, they really do not have any chemistry and Pickford seems to be walking her way through her part, much like she did in her undeserved Academy award-winning performance in "Coquette". While there are interesting elements of each of the four parts (even the last one at only 5 minutes is mildly amusing), there is really never enough time other than the middle western section to understand completely what is happening, and that only comes because of the range war that has a violent and shocking twist.
The first part features as Pickford's parents the commanding C. Aubrey Smith (badly coiffed in a black toupee) as her overly possessive father (and Howard's employer) who completely objects to the romance and Blanche Fredrici as her more understanding mother. However, Doris Lloyd, as Pickford's companion, basically steals the thunder from every one of the actors with her comical performance. Unfortunately, she disappears even though she could have been the equivalent of the Edna May Oliver character from "Cimarron". Frank Borzage, a classic director of the silent and early sound eta, does his best with what he has to work with, but must have missed the deficiencies of the script when getting it all together.