Untamed (1955) Reviews

• Splendid African Adventure

  jpdoherty2010-01-26

  Fox's UNTAMED (1955) is a splendid romantic adventure story set in 1850's Africa. Beautifully photographed in Cinemascope and DeLuxe colour by Leo Tover it was nicely written for the screen by Talbot Jennings, Frank Fenton and Michael Blankfort and was based on the novel by Helga Moray. Tyrone Power was the star and once again was directed by his favourite director and friend Henry King. Co-starring, in the pivotal female lead, was the lovely Susan Hayward. And rounding out the fine cast was Richard Egan (never better), Agnes Moorhead, Brad Dexter, John Justin and Hope Emerson. Although he was the star in two Cinemascope productions for Columbia Pictures - "The Long Grey Long" (1955) and "The Eddie Duchin Story" (1956) UNTAMED was just one of only three Cinemascope pictures Tyrone Power would appear in for 20th Century Fox, his home studio for more than 15 years. The others being "King Of The Khyber Rifles" (1953)and "The Sun Also Rises" (1957). The latter being the only one to be released on DVD. Quite unbelievably neither "Khyber" nor UNTAMED have ever been issued in any format whatsoever! WHY? Time and place is immediately established by Susan Hayward's voice-over at the opening of UNTAMED as she informs us "This is County Limerick Ireland - the year is 1847". Hayward is Katie O'Neill the spirited daughter of rich land owner and horse breeder Squire O'Neill (Henry O'Neill). A Boer leader Paul Von Riebeck (Power) arrives from South Africa to buy some horses and after Katie causes him to be unseated from his horse during a Fox hunt ("I came to Ireland to buy horses - not to be killed by one") the two fall in love. But love isn't strong enough to hold Von Riebeck in Ireland and as a Dutch Free State commander must return to Africa to build up his country. Heartbroken, Katie later marries neighbour Sean Kildare (John Justin) and the following year when the potato famine ravages and decimates Ireland Katie and her family, along with the thousands of Irish, emigrate to Africa to start a new life. After the movie's excellent set piece of a Zulu attack on their settler's wagon train in which Katie's husband is killed she meets up again with Von Riebeck and after many eventualities, including a well staged Bullwhip fight between Paul and rival Kurt (Richard Egan), Katie and Paul finally come together for a happy ending. Complimenting the picture throughout is the lavish music score by the great Franz Waxman.There is a rich full orchestral romantic main theme heard first under the titles and given different treatments as the story demands. Also there is a ravishing love theme for the tender scenes with Katie and Paul. Augmented by biting brass figures the Zulu attack on the settler's wagons is scored for an array of African percussion instruments and is rousingly and dramatically rhythmic. Waxman's evocative music perfectly captures the movie's complex moods of adventure, love, pathos, bitterness and jealousy. Alongside "Prince Valiant" (1954) UNTAMED is Waxman's finest adventure score! UNTAMED is a somewhat forgotten minor epic and is possibly so because of its unavailability on either disc or tape which is something of a shame on the part of Fox Home Entertainment. But for those who are familiar with it it remains a memorable, enjoyable and colourful Cinemascope romance with two great stars in a picture that should be appreciated more and better known than it is.

• Taming the Veldt

  bkoganbing2005-12-23

  With the end of the South African apartheid government and the events leading to that end of the past 50 years or so, Untamed was consigned to the 20th Century Fox vaults and has rarely been seen for a generation. Not that it was anything all that great to begin with. Taken on its own terms and divorced from racial politics, Untamed is a sprawling Edna Ferber like saga of the founding of the Orange Free State and the journey of that group of Dutch settlers called Voortrekkers that made it happen. Tyrone Power is the leader of this group who has dreams of an empire. Dreams so big that Susan Hayward and their romance come in a definite second. Power meets Hayward in Ireland where he's come to buy horses and the sparks fly at first sight. But he returns to South Africa and Susan marries good old reliable John Justin. Later after the potato famine hits Ireland, the great Irish diaspora occurs and the Irish scatter throughout the globe. John and Susan go to South Africa and Sue not only meets Power again, but she also comes under the lustful eye of Richard Egan. Justin is killed, Sue wants Ty, Richard wants Sue, but Sue can't see him for beans. I get the impression that there is a lot more to the original novel than what is shown here, but the story is poorly adapted. Using the comparison to Ferber, Richard Egan plays the Jett Rink part here. It's as though Jett Rink was crushing out on Scarlett O'Hara. Maybe they should have gotten Edna Ferber herself to adapt this work by another author, Helga Moray. The action sequences are done well however. The Zulu attack on the laager is as well staged as in any John Ford western and the final battle between Power's commandos and Egan's outlaws is also exciting. By the way the word laager is the South African term they gave for the circle of wagons that the voortrekkers made when camping for the night. We've seen many a western where they circled the wagons, but in South Africa they had a name for it. Voortrekker is the name of the Dutch pioneers who made the journey. If you are a fan of the two leads as I am, make every effort to catch Untamed in the infrequent times it is shown.

• Sprawling adventure epic has too much of everything and not enough solid drama...

  Doylenf2009-09-11

  Some rugged pioneer adventurers, headed by TYRONE POWER, SUSAN HAYWARD, JOHN JUSTIN and RICHARD EGAN, end up in South Africa fighting Zulus after fleeing Ireland because of the potato famine. This is one of those big sprawling Technicolor epics designed to lure patrons away from their TV sets in the mid '50s to watch spectacular action unfold against handsome landscapes. Susan Hayward is the feisty Irish heroine who marries John Justin but has her eyes set on following her true love--Tyrone Power--to South Africa. When hubby Justin is killed in a Zulu attack, she sets her mind on winning Tyrone's hand in marriage. She has to cope with Richard Egan, who is also lusting after her. There's a very realistically staged fight with a bull whip between Power and Egan--and you know who wins. But the script has her mistreating both men, enough so to make you wonder what makes her tick. It's an oddly defined role. The story is a sprawling one and Henry King has directed some of it with his usual skill. The supporting cast includes HOPE EMERSON and AGNES MOOREHEAD, so obviously the studio treated this one as a big epic adventure story that would look handsomely rugged on the big screen. Hayward faces all her hardships in Scarlett O'Hara manner. "Then we'll plough and seed. And then we'll come back," she says at one point to Agnes Moorehead after the latest catastrophe. Tyrone Power spends much of his time off camera but you know he's going to be the hero who returns to help her begin a new life. She becomes a wealthy woman after bartering with a native for a hefty diamond, and meets Power again years later at the Governor's Ball. But she and Power have another stormy disagreement and the story goes on and on. It's basically an unrewarding mixture of adventure and romance with poor character motivations and a muddled script that lacks a strong focus. Hayward does some extravagant overacting as the ill-tempered heroine, Egan has the strongest male role and Power is totally wasted.

• Romantic action melodrama, short in action and long on romance...

  Nazi_Fighter_David1999-08-08

  Katie O'Neill (Susan Hayward) first meet Paul Van Riebeck (Tyrone Power), a leader of the South African Boers, when he comes to Ireland on a horse-buying trip... The two fall in love, but Paul, intent on establishing a Dutch Free State back home, has no time to settle down and refuses to marry her while he has this commitment... Several years pass and Katie has wed Shawn Kildare (John Justin). When the great potato famine of the 1850s strikes Ireland, Katie, still in love with Paul, persuades Shawn that they should go to South Africa to start a new life... They sail with their infant son and his nurse, Aggie (Agnes Moorehead), and in Capetown, join a group of homesteaders on a trek to the interior, where en route, Katie catches the eye of handsome Kurt Hout (Richard Egan), leader of a band of outriders... A surprise Zulu attack on the wagon train is broken up by the timely appearance of Paul Van Riebeck and his men, but during the fighting, Shawn is killed... Paul does what he can to comfort Katie but finds that Kurt Hout, an old friend, already has made clear his interest in the newly widowed homesteader... When the wagon train finally reaches its destination, Hoffen Valley, Katie convinces Paul to settle down with her, but their happiness is short-lived... Paul leaves to continue his work with the Free State movement, unaware that Katie is carrying his child... Kurt, very upset for not being desired, becomes a dangerous outlaw, enemy of the authority... Rita Moreno plays his mistress... Katie is the example of the brave intelligent, ambitious, lucky lady... She proves her courage, persistence and full determination to win as a wife, a mother, and a woman in love... Filmed in the "grandeur" of CinemaScope, "Untamed" is a romantic action melodrama, short in action and long on romance... The role of Kurt Hout was originally intended for Victor Mature, but he was replaces by Richard Egan...

• Katie O'Neill is a very unsatisfying character

  romarub2005-12-23

  I was amazed that Katie (Susan Hayward) could be such a bitch - so self-centered, so arrogant, so unappreciative, and so willfully embroiling Paul (Tyrone Power) and Kurt (Richard Egan) in a contest over her affections - and not be justifiably rewarded, even a little, by film's end. She slaps Paul in the face, teases and flirts, then rejects, then accepts Kurt, all while being in love (?) with Paul. I found it most incredible that Paul could lower himself to the point of actually pursuing (let alone ending up with) her after she tells him that she'd married her husband and had a child with him, watched him die (without a twinge of emotion) defending her and the wagon train, and came to South Africa in the first place just so she could be near him, Paul! This woman is unscrupulous to the nth degree, and that she could avoid any degree of lasting hellfire, and could repeatedly twist the two male love interests (Paul and Kurt) around her little finger throughout the film, was wholly unsatisfying. Kurt was somewhat hotheaded, and I'd have expected him to come to the end he does. But Paul seemed more rational, and should have disassociated himself from this woman as soon as he got that slap - but didn't. Life may be unjust, but in the movies we expect to see villainy uncovered and subject to its own reward. Not only was Katie not so repaid, but the male leads looked stupid in the process for not seeing who and what she really was. Thumbs down, all around!