Untamed

One of the first MGM soundies full of music, dance, drama and Joan Crawford! The early Crawford personality emerges as a feisty, likable, love-of-life character and she is wonderful! She is so different from her later 50's and 60's roles. If you have not viewed any of Crawford's silent movies or the early soundies, you should consider it. You can see the emergence of her acting abilities and even peg some of her acting characteristics that she carried with her throughout her entire 50 year career. Ernest Torrence is an engaging father figure, a marvelous character actor. Robert Montgomery (who appeared with JC six times) is the love interest torn between culture and animal. Lloyd Ingraham appears as the Crawford character's father early on. A must-see for film lovers interested in viewing early sound films.

"Bingo" is exactly the word! This film hits all the right spots and its not all about Joan Crawford, who simply sparkles. I fell totally in love with her character!

It is not by accident that IMDb lists 107 films by Director Jack Conway between 1912 and 1948. This was his 72nd film according to that chronology and his expertise shows. I found it thoroughly engrossing and continuously entertaining. I laughed aloud often -- some really great gags and a fine early sit-com.

I don't know much about the writer Charles E. Scoggins, but co-writer Sivia Thalberg is credited with 15 films and is the sister of Irving Thalberg. That ought to tell you this film deserves close attention. Don't allow yourself to think of it as "cornball" and just engross yourself in it. You won't be disappointed.

Both leads were perfectly cast in the silly romance Untamed. Joan Crawford played a wild gypsy, who, after being exposed to civilization for the first time, still acts like a savage beast. Robert Montgomery plays a refined society playboy who falls for Joan's beauty and tries to kindly educate her with better manners. She tries to scare off female competition, and Bob tells her she just can't go around threatening to punch people in the nose. "Why not?" she asks.

In her early, very pretty days, Joan eats up her scenes with energy and hilarious melodrama. The film itself is very dated, so I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch it unless they're a fan of the cast. Nowadays, it's looked at as misogynistic to try and tame a woman's wild impulses and get her to act like a "lady". But in 1929, it was very funny to watch the glamorous Joan Crawford embarrass herself in polite society. Give this movie a watch if you like her early days, and you'll be rewarded with a couple of dance numbers, as well as a song from Robert Montgomery!

The first talkie for pretty much every actor or actress from this Era is either lesser known or painfully mocked. Perhaps the only actress with a lucky first talkie was Greta Garbo.

Despite this being "A Crawford film I hate" in my book, I don't technically hate it. I wouldn't watch it again, but if it were playing on TCM one day or I saw a copy in a store, I would probably watch/buy it.

Untamed does, after all, have an unfair advantage in my book by having Joan Crawford, who I like, and Robert Montgomery, who I also like. It's very creaky, and manages to be overlong despite only having a runtime of just under 90 minutes. But it's also the first talkie of both stars, and both would go onto better (and much worse) things. Joan definitely looks the part of "wild girl" when she's supposed to, blunders in society when she's supposed to, and has chemistry with Bob. Her character is definitely adorable. She also kind of looks like Gloria Swanson in the first thirty or so minutes of this film- did anyone else notice that? For someone who "couldn't act" She does a decent job. So does Robert Montgomery.

There are rather obvious fade to black scenes where you can tell that there were meant to be title cards, but hey, it was 1929. The stars get a chance to charm their way through the film, even with rather stupid dialogue (Joan's characterization is adorable, unfortunately Robert is stuck playing a cad even more caddish than his usual cad), sing off-key (far from the worst I've ever heard), mime playing a guitar romantically (not Joan), and get into a fight (looks kind of comical, but there you go- it was 1929).

Maybe it would be better if I viewed this film as a quaint little antique, but I don't like looking at films like this like that, and I don't like people who look at films like this like that.

I came for Joan, and I saw Joan, and I was satisfied, and that was all that mattered.

Who cares that the plot stunk?

From her first scenes looking bronzed as a Tahitian as she sings and dances on the beach at night, to the porcelain aristocratic beauty she presents later in the film, Joan Crawford shines in a role that she seems born to play. The film combines melodrama and comedy to bizarre contrast, and features a number of choice supporting performances (and accents!) Young and handsome Robert Montgomery plays the object of Crawford's affection, and such is the level of her love that when she is told that "the woods are full of men like him", she replies, "take me to the woods." This film also might show her earliest use of a Crawford trademark prop, the revolver.