Tant que soufflera la tempête

I have no idea what anyone was thinking when this film was done. I am a huge fan of Tyrone Power but I can't say he was very good in this. I honestly don't think it was his fault. The script was rotten.

First of all, the beginning scenes, showing the romance between Katie and Paul, seemed totally like they were from another film and just slapped on at the beginning. Incredibly disjointed. I could never figure Katie out, nor did I want to. People compare the role to Scarlett O'Hara, and I guess there were similarities.

I think one of the problems is that we didn't see enough of their characters before they hit South Africa so the love story could really develop for the audience. He kissed her on the staircase. Okay, so what then? "Was I just some girl you kiss and leave?" she asks. Is that all he did? Or did he have sex with her and leave? Hello, it makes a big difference.

It seemed to me that all she did was throw herself at him, and I never got the impression that he loved her. Good case in point was the scene where her neck and shoulders were sore and she was stretching, etc. It took him about an hour to take the hint.

Her abuse of the Richard Egan character was ridiculous. One ends up losing respect for both of them.

Henry King usually does a great job, and of course, the action scenes are very stirring, but the characters all seemed remote.

It's possible Fox did this movie to use blocked funds in Africa. I can't think of any other reason. I read on this board that Victor Mature was supposed to play Kurt. Well, Robert Mitchum was supposed to play Paul, but he wisely never showed up and the studio got Power, who was in a hurry to finish up his contract with that place. Filming had already started.

Mitchum would have seemed even less interested in Katie, and Victor Mature would have come off as even more of a fool, so it probably worked out for the best. Well, it did for those actors, anyway.

Some rugged pioneer adventurers, headed by TYRONE POWER, SUSAN HAYWARD, JOHN JUSTIN and RICHARD EGAN, end up in South Africa fighting Zulus after fleeing Ireland because of the potato famine. This is one of those big sprawling Technicolor epics designed to lure patrons away from their TV sets in the mid '50s to watch spectacular action unfold against handsome landscapes.

Susan Hayward is the feisty Irish heroine who marries John Justin but has her eyes set on following her true love--Tyrone Power--to South Africa. When hubby Justin is killed in a Zulu attack, she sets her mind on winning Tyrone's hand in marriage. She has to cope with Richard Egan, who is also lusting after her. There's a very realistically staged fight with a bull whip between Power and Egan--and you know who wins. But the script has her mistreating both men, enough so to make you wonder what makes her tick. It's an oddly defined role.

The story is a sprawling one and Henry King has directed some of it with his usual skill. The supporting cast includes HOPE EMERSON and AGNES MOOREHEAD, so obviously the studio treated this one as a big epic adventure story that would look handsomely rugged on the big screen.

Hayward faces all her hardships in Scarlett O'Hara manner. "Then we'll plough and seed. And then we'll come back," she says at one point to Agnes Moorehead after the latest catastrophe. Tyrone Power spends much of his time off camera but you know he's going to be the hero who returns to help her begin a new life. She becomes a wealthy woman after bartering with a native for a hefty diamond, and meets Power again years later at the Governor's Ball. But she and Power have another stormy disagreement and the story goes on and on.

It's basically an unrewarding mixture of adventure and romance with poor character motivations and a muddled script that lacks a strong focus. Hayward does some extravagant overacting as the ill-tempered heroine, Egan has the strongest male role and Power is totally wasted.

20Th Century Fox produced and released some epic motion pictures in Delux Color and CinemaScope in the 1950's such as The Robe, The Egyptian.Untamed was one such movie with would be advertised as monumental and sweeping in it's scope.. The story of a young women named Katie O'Neill Kildare born of the Irish landed gentry who loses everything in the Irish Potato Famine of 1847. She and husband Sean migrate to South Africa and join Boar pioneers to become part of the Great Trek and help settle the Orange Free State.

Susan Hayward was queen of the 20TH Century Lot at that time and got first pick of any of the roles that the studio had available. She hoped Untamed would be her Gone With the Wind and any resemblance between Katie and Scarlett O'Hara is purely intentional.Fox matinée idol Tyrone Power is Boar military commander Paul Van Riebeck who is sort the Ashley Wilkes of this tale and Katie pursues him as Scarlett pursues Ashley.Richard Egan portrays Kurt Hout a Boar settler who is in lust with Katie and is always more then willing to play the chump for her. Agnes Moorehead and Hope Emerson were two of my favorite Hollywood...er.. ah...actresses and their involvement in any film always upgraded it's quality.

Veteran director Henry King was 20TH Century Foxes top drawer helmsman and a personal friend of Powers. He ha also directed Hayward in several of her best films.King kept the story very visual.

Untamed starts out with a bang.Paul Van Riebeck comes to the O'Neill Estates in Ireland to purchases horses from Squire O'Neill , Katie's father.Paul and Katie dislike each other at first so you know that they will soon passionately in love with each other. Paul can't let his feelings for Katie interfere with his duty to his cause so he returns to South Africa to resume his mission, leaving Katie heartbroken. Like Scarlet, Katie just isn't used to being dumped by a man.So it's not surprising that when the opportunity presents itself shes off to South Africa with her husband and child in tow to... start anew.

For me the best part of Untamed is the trek and the Zulu attack. This segment is dramatic, exciting and beautify filmed. After the Commando's rescue of the wagon train,however, the story slides into soap opera and becomes fairly predicable. A good film for Hayward and Henry King fans with one of Egan;'s better performances and of course Agnes Moorehead and Hope Emerson.

For some unknown reason, Susan Hayward falls in love with Tyrone Power, but he's in love with South Africa. He has the beautiful, incredible Susan Hayward in his arms and he wants to leave for South Africa? In any case, he feels his calling, and he plans to travel there from Ireland. She declares her love and says she'll marry him and go with him. The next day, he leaves without her. How mean and hurtful! How are we supposed to root for him?

Years later, Susan is seen sailing into South Africa, married and with a child. This was her great plan: to marry someone else, bear his child, and then reunite with Tyrone to prove how much she's loved him all these years? How are we supposed to root for her? Neither of the leads are nice people, and their motivations are really tough to get behind. It's clear someone wanted this movie to be a lush, love triangle epic, but the end result hardly succeeded. Try Elephant Walk if you want a similar setting with better characters.

Farmers throughout Europe, unsuccessful with their returns, journey to South Africa to take advantage of the free and fertile land, but must pass through hostile Zulu territory first. The wagon train sequence will be familiar to any western fan: it's the Settlers versus the Indians all over again, with the Zulu tribe on the attack and out for blood (we don't even know why they are so hungry for war). Susan Hayward plays a farmer's wife from Ireland who ends up widowed and caught between two men who desire her, Tyrone Power's leader of the Boer Fighter Commandos and Richard Egan's hot-blooded homesteader. Four screenwriters adapted Helga Moray's novel, but none were able to lift this one out its vat of musty clichés. The picture does look good in widescreen and vivid color, yet the characters are neither likable, sympathetic, nor interesting. ** from ****