Jon D. (January 2006)
Rating:
(of 5)
This film should definitely lay to rest claims that Crawford could not play comedy--she is hilarious, cute, and laugh-out-loud funny throughout! In her first "talky," Crawford plays Bingo, a girl brought up in South America who inherits three million dollars when her dad dies. She moves to NYC by cruise ship, and meets a young man played by Robert Montgomery (in his first role as leading man!).
Since both Crawford and Montgomery were very young when the film was made, it is a joy to watch. All the actors give spirited performances; Crawford and Montgomery are incredibly cute together, and are funnier than I have seen them in any other film! The theme song from the film, "Chant of the Jungle" (sung by Joan Crawford in the film), was a hit in 1929, when the film was made, and you'll be sure to get it stuck in your head even after the movie is over.
The plot of the film was also quite good, surprisingly. Robert Montgomery and Crawford's characters love each other, but because she is rich and he has little money, he is afraid to marry her because of what people might think. Bingo's uncle Ben also discourages the relationship and offers Montgomery money to leave her! Of course, everything goes astray and uncle Ben's plans fall through in a hilarious fashion. The film offers a fairly intelligent view of such a situation, as well.
Definitely a treat for classic film fans! This gem hopefully will continue to sparkle for a long time, with more airings on TCM and video release!
Darwin (January 2006)
I recently saw “Untamed” on TCM and aside from it being one of the few Crawford movies I haven’t seen, it was one I knew little about, other than it was her first official "talkie.” And maybe because I was not expecting much from it, I was pleasantly surprised.
Joan plays Alice “Bingo” Dowling, who has grown up with her father on a South Pacific Island and is pretty much “untamed” as the title suggests. Her father dies and she is left in the custodial care of a family friend, who informs her that she because of her father’s oil wells, she is a very rich woman. He then takes her to New York and on the ocean voyage home, she meets Robert Montgomery, who she immediately falls in love with, but who is unable to support her and makes a deal with her “uncle” to let the romance cool down and see what happens back in New York. You can guess the rest but the plot is not the star of this show, Joan is, and I have never seen her so uninhibited and loose on screen. She really does seem like a girl who was raised in the Jungle, going by just her base instincts. Now, this is a raw Joan that very few people have seen and she has an unbridled naïve sexuality that is almost shocking.
True to the nature of the role, Joan’s acting is also very raw and untamed. Whether this is deliberate or just the bi-product of her acting experience at the time is up to the viewer, but I found her fascinating. At one point, she is in Robert Montgomery’s cabin and she is desperately trying to captivate him and have 100% of his attention. He has cut himself shaving and is going about fixing it while she is about to tell a story. All of a sudden and without a minute's thought, Joan stops telling the story, goes around him and squeezes under his arm to get as close to him as possible and then starts the story again without a minute's hesitation or acknowledgement of what she has just done. It is a charming and funny moment that really made me appreciate the younger Joan more than I already had.
