The World Changes

On the wagon trail in Dakota Territory 1856 (Indian territory).

A pregnant woman exits a wagon and digs her hands into the soil. She and her husband decide to stop there to build a settlement cabin for simple farm life. Orin, the father, plows fields while Anna, the Mother chops wood. Another wagon family is spotted. Orin Jr. is an infant. That family is also moving West (California) to live off the land and raise a peaceful family. Orin Sr. welcomes them to become neighbors. Anna muses that they will live there forever. Orin Sr speculates they will build a town with hundreds of families moving in. Orinville is established

1867

A Wedding celebration in the town of Orinville. Orin Sr. gives a speech and mentions that he hopes Orin Jr. (now 11 years old) will marry his childhood friend, Selma. Colonel Custer (Clay Clement) arrives and announces, "The war is over". With surprise, Orin's mother (Aline MacMahon) proclaims that no one in the town had any idea that the American Civil War had been raging for the past four years.

1877

Orin Jr. (Paul Muni) speaks with a Gambler, implied to be Buffalo Bill Cody (Douglass Dumbrille), about the money to be made driving steer from Texas northward, though Orin Sr. and Anna disapprove. Orin sneaks out of the house in the middle of the night. Leaving a letter that he will drive steer and that Selma will understand. On the cattle drive, he runs into trouble. River, Thunderstorms, and threats from bandits who shoot at and scare his cattle. But, Orin goes them into Omaha, where Wild Bill Hickok is the sheriff and a businessman, James Clafflin, who turned him down earlier, is impressed. James talks Orin into driving the cattle into Chicago. He returns home to tell his parents and Selma. Orin Sr. asks why he can't stay in Orinville but relents to his son's wishes because he believes that what drove him and Anna out West is the same thing that drives Orin Jr. to Chicago. Anna muses that she wishes it was, but sadly it is not. Orin asks Selma (Jean Muir) to leave with him, but she turns him down.

In Chicago, James Claffin's daughter Ginny (Mary Astor) is visiting after finishing school back East and meets Orin Jr. They married in 1879. When her father died in 1881, Ginny was distraught to see that everyone at the funeral was from the stockyard business, with no other friends or family present. Other cattle businessmen are complaining that Orin Nordholm is too ruthless as he is always experimenting and making money in every way possible. They pressure Orin Jr.'s lender not to renew his note. Orin Jr. tells the bank to invest in the invention rather than continue the note. Nordholm Co. is working on an invention to move frozen beef rather than always transporting live cattle. Orin Jr. spent all his money trying to make the invention. In a throwaway line, Fred - the secretary, says, "If only we could put ice boxes on wheels." Orin later has an epiphany, repeating the phrase "ice boxes on wheels".

1893

Nordhold now lives in a palatial estate with Ginny and their children. At dinner, Orin Jr. is upset that his mother sent a letter that she will not visit. He laments that his mother lives alone on a farm in South Dakota. Orin and Ginny get into a fight. First about his mother, but subsequently makeup, only to get into a fight about their children visiting stockyards. Ginny has a breakdown of meat and the stockyards. A distraught Orin chases after Ginny, who locks herself in their bedroom, before spotting his sons exchanging money with their butler.

1904

Ginny is excited the Randolph Clintons from New York will be visiting (one of the oldest families from the East). Orin Jr. is ornery, and they are trying to take his company away. He also does not want to spend money on a lavish party. Richard and John are now grown, and Ginny wants Richard to marry Jennifer Clinton (Margaret Lindsay). John speaks with an English accent after attending Oxford and begs everyone for money. Ginny makes a huge announcement at the party. She claims her husband Orin Nordholm is retiring and establishing an art gallery. Businessmen begin dumping shares in Nordholm and Co. Chicago. An upset Orin Rages against Wall Street and wants the family to stay in Chicago in a speech akin to his mother's. Virginia goes unconscious. Orin is informed that Ginny is in cerebral shock. He does not take the news well. He wants to take care of her, but there is a run on Nordholm's company at the Chicago Board of Trade and Wall Street. Shares are rapidly dropping. $68 -> $28 -> $17. Employees of Nordholm Co come through. They turn in their savings and mortgage their homes to help save companies. Orin Jr. screams they will not sell out and buys 100,000 shares at $100 right before 3:00 PM when the exchange closes. When Orin returns home, he attempts to check on and calm Ginny. She suffers a psychotic break, screaming, "Butcher, blood on your clothes", and then collapses. She dies, and Richard and John blame Orin for her death. Orin says he will sell the company.

1920s

An older Nordholm reads a newspaper in a wealthy club that his granddaughter will marry an English nobleman, Sir Philip Ivor. He is extremely upset, as is his grandson, Orin Nordholm III. Jennifer Clinton says he is like his grandfather. Richard Nordholm is a banker on Wall Street banker in New York City. John reveals Richard's Wall Street success is because Orin entirely funded it. Ivor visits Orin Jr. only to be thrown out. Orin Jr. tells Richard he is making a huge mistake in letting Natalie marry Philip Ivor. Jennifer Clinton yells at him to get out of Richard's house. Richard does nothing. Orin Jr.'s mother is with a young woman named Selma, who could have been his granddaughter. Orin III brings a letter that Orin Jr.'s mother will visit NYC. She is almost 90. He is excited because he has never met his great-grandmother, but Orin Jr. does not want his mother to know about his family troubles. Orin Jr., Orin III, and Anna have a nice taxi ride. However, extreme awkwardness and family fighting ensues when Anna discovers that nearly the entire family lives on Orin Jr.'s money.

10/23/1929 - 10/24/1929

Richard and his son, Paul Nordholm, are having a breakdown as the stock market crashes, and they are facing prison time. Orin Jr. will not bail them out and rails against bankers once again. He is happy to see Orin III and the young Selma. He bequeaths all his money and assets to his grandson, Orin III, so he may start a new life in South Dakota with young Selma. His grandson, Paul, leaves a letter that he is running away to avoid prison time. Richard finds out his wife, Jennifer Clinton, has been having an affair for several years with Ogden, who stole money. He proceeds to commit suicide in front of her. John gets drunk at the wedding because Richard's trust has gone bankrupt. He tells Sir Philip Ivor, who then stands up to Natalie Nordholm at the wedding because her family is no longer wealthy. Orin Jr. sees the body of Richard and gets flashbacks of Ginny. Dismayed, Orin Jr. collapses down the stairs, presumably from a heart attack brought on by stress, and dies.

Orin III and young Selma return to Orinville with Anna, his great-grandmother, to start a new life.

• Paul Muni as Orin Nordholm Jr.
• Aline MacMahon as Anna Nordholm
• Mary Astor as Virginia Clafflin Nordholm
• Donald Cook as Richard Nordholm
• Jean Muir as Selma Peterson II
• Mickey Rooney as Otto Peterson as a Child
• Guy Kibbee as James Clafflin
• Patricia Ellis as Natalie Clinton Nordholm
• Theodore Newton as Paul Nordholm
• Margaret Lindsay as Jennifer Clinton Nordholm
• Gordon Westcott as John Nordholm
• Alan Dinehart as Ogden Jarrett
• William Janney as Orin Nordholm III
• Charles Middleton as Wild Bill Hickok
• George Chandler as Piano Player
• Henry O'Neill as Orin Nordholm

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $376,000 domestically and $305,000 internationally.[1]

• The World Changes at the TCM Movie Database
• The World Changes at IMDb
• The World Changes at AllMovie
• The World Changes at the American Film Institute Catalog