The Conquerors: A long, dusty trip through banking history

So, The Conquerors. You have to be in a specific mood for this one. It's the kind of movie that thinks it’s telling the story of America itself, but mostly it’s just a lot of people talking about money in rooms with very heavy curtains. If you enjoy watching a couple try to survive the frontier only to get bogged down in the minutiae of interest rates, you’ll probably find this charming. If you’re looking for a thrill ride, you are going to be bored out of your mind within twenty minutes.

The pacing is… well, it’s a marathon. They pack so many decades into the runtime that characters sometimes seem to age about fifteen years between cuts. There’s a scene where they’re dealing with the fallout of a financial panic, and the sheer amount of panicked shouting in the bank lobby felt like it went on for three days. It’s exhausting, but in a way that feels almost intentional. Like they wanted you to feel the weight of the gold standard or something.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Conquerors (1932) through its definitive frames.

Richard Dix is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. He’s got that stern, jaw-clenched look that says "I’m building a nation" even when he’s just sitting at a desk. It reminds me a bit of the heavy gravity you see in La muerte civil, where everyone is carrying the weight of their own choices. Not that they’re the same movie, obviously, but the vibe of "everything is very serious and very final" is definitely there.

There’s this one moment where they’re crossing the plains, and the camera lingers on the dust and the wheels turning. It’s quiet. For a second, you forget about the banking stuff and it feels like an actual movie about people. Then they arrive at the town and the dialogue starts back up again, and it’s right back to business. It’s a shame, because those quiet, dusty bits were actually the most interesting parts.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Conquerors (1932) through its definitive frames.

Things I noticed:

• The mustaches in this movie deserve their own billing. They are truly massive.
• There’s a background extra in the bank scene who clearly has no idea what he’s doing with his ledger. He just keeps flipping the pages back and forth.
• The transition between the young, hopeful couple and the older, wealthy couple is so jarring it almost made me laugh out loud.
• The lighting in the final act makes everyone look like they’re being haunted by their own ledgers.

It’s not a bad film, just a very dense one. It feels like the filmmakers were terrified of leaving any part of the story out. Sometimes, less is more, you know? But I suppose they were going for "epic." It definitely hits that mark, even if it feels a little bit like reading a very long, very dry textbook at times. 🤠

If you liked the slow-burn historical tension of something like Hamlet, you might appreciate the way this one takes its time. Just don't go in expecting a quick watch. It's a sit-down-with-a-pot-of-coffee kind of movie.