Movie Review: Untamed (1929)

Synopsis: Alice "Bingo" Dowling has been raised in the South American jungle by her oil tycoon father and is free spirited as a result. When her father is murdered by one of his workers, she becomes his sole heir and travels back to New York with her "uncles," Ben and Howard. While on the ship back to the United States, she meets Andy McAllister and falls in love. However, Bingo's inexperience with men leads Ben and Howard to believe Andy is only after her money.

Who's in it? The movie stars Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Ernest Torrence, Holmes Herbert and Gwen Lee.

Review: I picked Untamed for this morning's movie because the description made it sound a bit like Tarzan, but with a female lead. As it turns out, that description of the movie wasn't even remotely accurate and I ultimately had a mixed opinion about the film.

As far as the plot goes, I thought it was OK. You have a woman, Bingo (Crawford), who is a bit unrefined because of her upbringing and basically falls in love with the first young man she meets. And while Andy (Montgomery) doesn't seem like the kind of guy who is after her money (or even knows that she has money), I could see why her father's friends/her "uncles", Ben (Torrence) and Howard (Herbert) would be protective of her.

The part about Howard having a bit of an ulterior motive for his protectiveness was a nice touch too, though also a little on the creepy side, at least by today's standards. It gave the movie a little bit of a wildcard, though not one I would say had minimal impact on the outcome.

I also thought the ending was unique, though also a bit on the weird side. The way Bingo ends up with her man in the end certainly wasn't something I saw coming though it did fit her character pretty well.

My main issue with the movie is the 86-minute runtime seemed excessive. The plot is relatively simple, and the story could easily have been told in an hour. The other 26 minutes is a lot of talk, quite a bit of singing and nothing that was necessary to the movie. This, in turn, made the film seem like it was dragging at times. It made me wonder if maybe the movie was originally intended to be a silent film and was modified into a "talkie" at the last minute.

Final Opinion: Joan Crawford is a movie legend for a reason and does an excellent job in this film. I just wish the story would have been streamlined a bit to keep the movie from seeming like it was just trying to pad the runtime.

My Grade: B-

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