''The World Changes'' is a 1933 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. During the 1930s, he was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Bros., Warner Brothers studios, ...

and starring

Paul Muni Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895 – August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor from Chicago. He started his acting career in the Yiddish theater and during the 1930s, he was considered one of ...

as an ambitious farm boy who becomes rich, but does not handle success well.

Aline MacMahon Aline Laveen MacMahon (May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991) was an American actress. Her Broadway stage career began under producer Edgar Selwyn in ''The Mirage'' during 1920. She made her screen debut in 1931, and worked extensively in film, the ...

and

Mary Astor Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...

play his mother and wife, respectively.

Plot

In the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

in 1856, pregnant Anna Nordholm and her husband Orin build a cabin for a simple farm life. Orin plows the fields, and Anna chops wood; Orin Jr. is an infant. They see another family moving west to California to live off the land and raise a family. They become neighbors, and Anna thinks that they will live there forever. Orin dreams of a town with hundreds of families, and Orinville is established. Eleven years later, Orin says at a wedding that he hopes Orin Jr. will marry his childhood friend Selma. Orin Jr. speaks with a gambler in 1877 about money to be made driving steers north from Texas, but his parents disapprove. He sneaks out of the house in the middle of the night, leaving a letter that he will drive steers and Selma will understand. During the drive, he encounters a river, thunderstorms, and bandits who frighten his cattle. Orin goes to Omaha, where James Clafflin is a businessman. James talks Orin into driving the cattle to Chicago, and Orin returns home to tell his parents and Selma. Orin Sr. asks why he cannot stay in Orinville, but thinks that what drove him and Anna west is what drives his son to Chicago. Orin asks Selma to leave with him, but she refuses. James' daughter, Ginny, visits and meets Orin; they marry in 1879. When James dies in 1881, Ginny is distraught that everyone at his funeral is from the stockyard. Other cattlemen complain that Orin is too ruthless, and pressure the bank to not renew his loan. Orin tells the bank to invest in his meat-freezing equipment instead. He spends all his money on development, and his secretary says, "If only we could put ice boxes on wheels." This gives Orin an idea. He lives on a palatial estate in 1893 with Ginny and their sons, Richard and John. Orin is upset to read that Anna will not visit them. He and Ginny quarrel about the boys visiting stockyards. She has a breakdown, and locks herself in their bedroom. In 1904, Ginny is excited that the Clintons, an old eastern family, will visit from New York. Orin thinks that they are trying to take his company, and does not want to spend money on a party. Ginny wants Richard to marry Jennifer Clinton. Ginny announces at the party that Orin is retiring and establishing an art gallery, and his company's stock falls. Orin rages against Wall Street, and wants the family to stay in Chicago. Ginny becomes ill; Orin wants to care for her, but there is a run on the company's stock. When Orin returns home, Ginny has a psychotic break, collapses and dies. Richard and John blame Orin for her death, and he says that he will sell the company. Orin reads at his club during the 1920s that his granddaughter will marry English nobleman Philip Ivor. He and his grandson, Orin III, are upset; Jennifer Clinton says that the younger Orin is like his grandfather. Richard is a Wall Street banker, funded by Orin. Philip visits Orin Jr., who tells Richard that he is making a mistake by letting Natalie marry him. Jennifer orders him out of their house. Orin III reads that Anna, almost 90, will visit New York. He is excited because he has never met his great-grandmother, but Orin Jr. does not want his mother to know about his family's troubles. Anna is dismayed to learn that the family lives on his money. In late October 1929, the stock market crashes and Richard and his son Paul face prison. Orin Jr. will not bail them out; he is happy to see Orin III and young Selma, and leaves him all his assets to start a new life in South Dakota. Paul runs away to avoid prison. Richard learns that Jennifer has been having an affair with Ogden, who stole money, and kills himself in front of her. Orin Jr. sees Richard's body, flashes back to Ginny, falls down the stairs and dies. Orin III and young Selma return to Orinville with Anna to start a new life.

Cast

as Orin Nordholm Jr. *

as Anna Nordholm *

as Virginia Clafflin Nordholm * Donald Cook as Richard Nordholm *

Jean Muir Jean Elizabeth Muir ( ; 17 July 1928 – 28 May 1995) was a British fashion designer. Early life and career Jean Muir was born in London, the daughter of Cyril Muir, a draper's floor superintendent, and his wife, Phyllis Coy. Her father was ...

as Selma Peterson II *

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

as Otto Peterson as a Child *

Guy Kibbee Guy Bridges Kibbee (March 6, 1882 – May 24, 1956) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Kibbee was born in El Paso, Texas. His father was editor of the ''El Paso Herald-Post'' newspaper, and Kibbee learned how to set type at age ...

as James Clafflin *

Patricia Ellis Patricia Ellis (born Patricia Gene O'Brien; May 20, 1918 – March 26, 1970) was an American film actress from 1932 to 1939, who then had a brief singing career until 1941. Early years Born in Birmingham, Michigan, in 1918 (although she gave he ...

as Natalie Clinton Nordholm * Theodore Newton as Paul Nordholm *

Margaret Lindsay Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies; September 19, 1910 – May 9, 1981) was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in successf ...

as Jennifer Clinton Nordholm *

Gordon Westcott Gordon Westcott (born Myrthus Hansen Hickman; November 6, 1903Parish, James Robert (1979). Hollywood Character Actors'. Carlstadt, N.J.: Rainbow Books. p. 519. . – October 30, 1935) was an American film actor. Biography Westcott studi ...

as John Nordholm *

Alan Dinehart Mason Alan Dinehart Sr. (born Harold Alan Dinehart; October 3, 1889 – July 18, 1944) was an American actor, director, writer, and stage manager. Biography Dinehart initially studied to be a priest, but he turned to the theater instead. ...

as Ogden Jarrett *

William Janney William Janney (born Russell Dixon Janney, February 15, 1908 – December 22, 1992) was an American actor who appeared in 39 films between 1929 and 1937. He was the son of author and theatrical producer Russell Janney,(28 December 1940)William ...

as Orin Nordholm III * Charles Middleton as Wild Bill Hickok *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the television ...

as Piano Player *

Henry O'Neill Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles on film during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life Henry O'Neill was born in Orange, New J ...

as Orin Nordholm

Box office

According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $376,000 domestically and $305,000 internationally.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:World Changes, The 1933 films 1933 drama films Films set in 1856 Films set in 1867 Films set in 1877 Films set in 1879 Films set in 1881 Films set in 1893 Films set in 1904 Films set in 1929 American business films American drama films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy First National Pictures films 1930s business films Films produced by Robert Lord (screenwriter) Warner Bros. films 1930s American films Films scored by Bernhard Kaun Cultural depictions of Buffalo Bill Films about adultery in the United States English-language drama films