Susan Hayward
Cherokee Lansing
Subtitles off by default
YouTube may apply your personal preferences. If needed, select your language under CC / Settings. YouTube controls playback availability, which may vary by region.
Audience rating
Loading ratings…
Synopsis
After an oil-field disaster kills her father, Cherokee Lansing sets out to challenge the company responsible. Her own wells bring success, but revenge begins to turn into a hunger for power. A geologist and a childhood friend push her to consider what the boom is doing to the land and to the people around her.
Cast
DirectorsStuart Heisler
Historical context
Oil wealth is both the attraction and the danger in this Oklahoma story. The drama links personal ambition to conservation, making the consequences of extraction part of its romantic and industrial spectacle.
Reception and legacy
Its commercial life was less triumphant than its expansive production suggests: the film's recorded earnings did not cover its costs. That contrast between lavish spectacle and financial disappointment is part of its place in postwar Hollywood.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Susan Hayward — 20th Century Fox · Public domain
- Robert Preston — Unknown photographer · Public domain
- Pedro Armendáriz — None visible, probably Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer · Public domain
