UNTAMED

US, 1955, 111 minutes, Colour.
Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Richard Egan, John Justin, Rita Moreno, Agnes Moorhead, Hope Emerson.
Directed by Henry King.

Untamed was one of the earliest Cinemascope films. It is a star vehicle for Tyrone Power, very popular at this time (King of the Khyber Rifles) and, especially, for Susan Hayward. Somebody remarked that this is a kind of Scarlet O’ Hara across the South African veldt. Susan Hayward is a very strong screen presence and gets a chance to strut her stuff in this film. There is support from Richard Egan with whom she is in love and from Agnes Moorhead.

The film is interesting in terms of the history of South Africa as presented on-screen – especially in the perspective of Hollywood of the 1950s. It shows the 19th century with the Irish leaving Ireland because of the Potato Famine and trying to have some kind of settlement in the New World. As might be expected, there is a battle with the Zulus which is quite spectacular for Cinemascope at the time.

The director is Henry King, a veteran of many films at 20th Century Fox which were quite varied and included The Sun Also Rises, Carousel, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, O. Henry’s Full House, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and David and Bathsheba.

1. The tone of the title, the quality of the adventure story? Did it have the right adventure ingredients? Was it matinee material or was it good adult adventure material? Did it have too much cliche or did it have some originality? An American version of South Africa?

2. How well portrayed were the adventure ingredients? The use of Cinemascope, colour, locations, the popular elements for popular audience consumption?

3. How well did the film convey the South African background? The nature of South Africa and its history, the nature of its pioneering, the dangers, the courage needed, the quality of the exploration? The picturesque aspects of South Africa, animals, scenery? The people who made the treks? The background of modern South Africa?

4. How important were the social and race questions? The importance for South African history? history of the Zulus? The battles of the settlers with the Zulus? The pros and cons? Or did the film tend to bypass these?

5. How did the film show the settling down of the settlers so that they became sedate South African citizens? Cape Town society? The explorers out on the land? Gold and diamonds? The pros and cons of the settlement background?

6. How attractive were the opening Irish sequences? a sample giving background to African settlers?

7. How real was the romance between Paul and Kate? Was it just contrived for the film? The fact that Kate married Sean? Paul's disappearance? The nature of the trek, Sean's death, Paul's sustaining Kate? The importance of the child? Paul's decision to go with the commandos, its affect on Kate? Paul's using Katy's influence for later parliamentary proceedings? The happy ending, was it appropriate? The amount of time lost? The values portrayed by each of these characters? The nature of their clashes, the emotional reality of their relationship?

8. Comment on the film's use of the various phases in Katy's life? Ireland, her response to the trek, her response to settling the land, her response to Kurt, to her wealth, to her loss of wealth, to diamond exploration, the phases of South Africa's history?

9. How ugly a villain was Kurt? his role on the trek? His relationship with Katy, his helping her, turning against her, the importance of the accident? The climax when he was a ruffian leading a mob? The clash with Paul?

10. How enjoyable was this adventure? How human was it? How much a popular exploration of the values of courage, daring, love, pioneering?