Untamed (1955 film)
| Untamed | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film | |
| Directed by | Henry King |
| Produced by |
William A. Bacher Bert E. Friedlob |
| Written by | Helga Moray (novel) |
| Screenplay by |
Michael Blankfort Frank Fenton William A. Bacher Talbot Jennings |
| Based on | Untamed (1950) |
| Narrated by | Susan Hayward |
| Starring |
Tyrone Power Susan Hayward Richard Egan |
| Music by | Franz Waxman |
| Cinematography | Leo Tover |
| Editing by | Barbara McLean |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
| Release dates | March 1, 1955 |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country |
 United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,560,000[1] |
| Box office | $2.5 million (US rentals)[2] |
Untamed is a 1955 CinemaScope adventure film made by Twentieth Century-Fox in DeLuxe Color. It was directed by Henry King and produced by William A. Bacher, Bert E. Friedlob and Gerd Oswald as associate producer. The screenplay was by William A. Bacher, Michael Blankfort, Frank Fenton and Talbot Jennings from a 1950 novel by Helga Moray. The music score was by Franz Waxman and the cinematography by Leo Tover.
The film stars Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward and Richard Egan with Agnes Moorehead, Rita Moreno and Hope Emerson.
Untamed was the last film edited by Barbara McLean, and her twenty-ninth with Henry King. Four of their films together were nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing.
Plot
Dutchman Paul van Riebeck (Tyrone Power) a Boer cavalry commander travels to Ireland from his native South Africa in 1847 to buy horses for his commandos back home, who need them to fight Zulu tribal warriors. He meets lovely Katie O'Neill (Susan Hayward), daughter of the man selling the horses. She falls in love, but Paul feels he must return home alone.
Squire O'Neill (Henry O'Neill) dies and a potato famine cripples the Irish people financially. Katie decides to marry Shawn Kildare (John Justin) and persuades him to move to South Africa, a place Paul has told her much about. They have a son before arriving in Cape Town, where an 800-mile trek to Hoffen Valley awaits them.
Commando leader Kurt Hout (Richard Egan) guides the wagon train and becomes fixated on Katie after the Zulu kill her husband. Paul and his other men save the settlers, and he ends up in a brutal fight against Kurt with whips.
Kurt stays behind to help Katie build and run a farm because Paul is called away to lead his men. Kurt tries to force himself on her during a storm. A tree falls, resulting in the amputation of one of his legs.
The impoverished Katie is brought a valuable diamond by a native, so she and her son return to Cape Town to buy Paul's ancestral home. She loses both her fortune and her husband, who is not pleased by the turn of events. Kurt, meantime, has become leader of a band of outlaws, and his one remaining desire is to kill Paul.
Cast
- Tyrone Power as Paul van Riebeck
- Susan Hayward as Katie O'Neill
- Richard Egan as Kurt Hout
- Agnes Moorehead as Aggie O'Toole
- Henry O'Neill as Squire O'Neill
- John Justin as Shawn Kildare
- Rita Moreno as Julia
- Hope Emerson as Maria DeGroot
- Brad Dexter as Lt. Christian
- Paul Thompson as Tschaka
References
- ↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p249
- ↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956
External links
- Untamed at the Internet Movie Database
- Untamed (1955 film) at allmovie
- Untamed (1955 film) at the TCM Movie Database
- Untamed at the American Film Institute Catalog