Call Her Savage

On the face of it, 'Call Her Savage' has all the element needed for a smash hit and a pre-code classic. It is sexy, shows things designed to shock audiences (such as a drag act in a bar) and does not shrink from addressing issues such as prostitution. More importantly, it is also well-acted throughout, with Clara Bow deserving special praise. She displays a range of emotions rarely seen in one actress in one and the same film, and she does so absolutely convincingly: from boisterous fun to despair, it is all there. Still, the film is today almost forgotten: 29 user reviews on this site and on the date I am writing mine is not a lot. Why? I believe there are two reasons. First, the plot is pretty episodic and jumps from one setting to the next - from the ranch in Texas to Chicago, to New York, New Orleans etc. Etc. The episodes are linked by the character played by Bow and by a few minor figures who appear in several of them, but they are so disparate that the audience has no chance to get into the mood of the film, so to say. A secondary issue that is jarring at least for modern audiences is the blatantly racist message of 'Call Her Savage'. Bow's character literally is a 'savage'; her lack of self control and bouts of violence are explained with her Indian ancestry (rather than for example with her father having neglected her). She is a half-blood. The film thus denounces indigeneous Americans as unfit for civilised society, and what is worse, unfit not for cultural but for biological reasons. Hard to stomach. I am rating 'Call Her Savage' seven stars in recognition mainly of Bow's performance.

Clara Bow gives one of the greatest performances of any actress of the early 1930s. She's a million miles away from the iconic flapper of the 20s which made her famous. In this masterpiece, she brings to life a role you'd expect to find someone like Barbara Stanwyck playing - astonishingly, Clara Bow is easily as good.

If Clara Bow conjures up the image of a good time girl, a saucy sexpot, Betty Boop or the epitome of The Jazz Age, then like me you will be blown away by this. Just how good an actress she is, is a complete revelation of Road to Damascus proportions. Sadly dealing with her own troubled life was more important to her than acting so despite some very lucrative offers from the big studios, she retired from acting shortly after making this. It was a sad loss to the industry because on the basis of this, you can imagine that if she'd carried on, she'd be remembered as someone like Bette Davis, Greta Garbo etc

As Hitchcock said, you can't make a good film unless you've got a good story and this is certainly a good story. It's heavily imbued with moral righteousness but it's thoroughly engrossing. In reality it's probably unlikely that so much bad fortune could befall one person but the brilliant way this is made makes this most melodramatic of all melodramas utterly believable.

Director John Francis Dillon is virtually unknown not just now but even back then. Unfortunately for cinema, he died young so never became famous which, from the evidence here, he was destined to be. This obviously big budget production isn't just magnificently directed, it's beautifully and imaginatively photographed as well. The guy behind the camera was one of the superstar cinematographers of the 30s, Lee Garmes so you know you're going to see something excellent if it's associated with him.

Perhaps what makes this story so relatable to a modern audience is that Clara Bow's character Nasa, seems so normal to us now. OK, she's got an uncontrollable temper but she's very much like any normal girl you'd find anywhere today. Her sense of independence, her crazy notion that a woman is not simply a possession of a man and that a woman can make her own decisions seemed outrageous in 1932: that was not just a different time but a whole different world.

What a film! Daring to tackle issues few films would even look at today. Stunningly photographed and directed, and with greater style than many early talkies. And at its heart is one of the best film performances ever - Clara Bow proves herself to be a magnificent actress in a role that demands she go through every possible emotion. What a loss it was to cinema when she retired, as great a loss as Garbo. Please MOMA get that restored print out on DVD, so that this great classic can be seen in all its glory!

It is sad that the demons in Clara Bow's life curtailed a career in talking motion pictures that would have seemed promising. She positively sizzles in Call Her Savage.

The film has Clara cast as one wild child Texas heiress, granddaughter of Willard Robertson and daughter of Estelle Taylor. Robertson has his hands filled with her and finally sends her off to school in Chicago.

After that the post flapper era men just flock to her. But Clara sets her sights on dissolute playboy Monroe Owsley, taking him away from Thelma Todd. Owsley is brutally frank about his male privilege telling Todd in no uncertain terms as he's allowed to stray because after all he pays the bills. The chick fight that Bow and Todd engage is one for the books, much better than Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel in Destry Rides Again.

Clara's ride goes up and down from the wild child to the degradation of prostitution to back up on top again. Through it all the reason for her wildness is given in the explanation of her heritage. Her one true friend in the end is grandfather's faithful ranch hand Gilbert Roland and what they have in common.

I agree with another reviewer that the film is both sexist and racist and glories in it. It's also brutally frank and no wonder Joseph Breen and his crowd got such fits over films like Call Her Savage.

A great before the Code film and a sad reminder in what we lost when Clara Bow couldn't make more films like this.

CALL HER SAVAGE concerns the tumultuous adventures of a tempestuous, rebellious girl named Nasa Springer (Clara Bow). It is definitely not a film for everyone, as it contains some perverse elements such as a whipping scene. Indeed, CALL HER SAVAGE sometimes approaches high camp, such as in the film's prologue.

Despite the film's rambling storyline, however, it is never dull. This is chiefly due to Clara Bow's remarkable performance. CALL HER SAVAGE is proof that the silent star could easily handle talking films, using a low, throaty voice that matches the sensuality of her looks. Bow runs a gamut of emotions from anger to tenderness to elation to self-pity, and always with passionate conviction. Her performance conveys a well-rounded character who elicits the audience's sympathy and always remains credible, even if the scenario sometimes isn't. CALL HER SAVAGE is a must for Clara Bow fans.

*** out of ****