1931 was one of the worst years in Clara Bow's life - a damaging court case, gambling woes and nervous breakdowns. After being replaced in "City Streets" (Sylvia Sidney), "The Secret Call" (Peggy Shannon) and "Manhandled" (Claudette Colbert), Clara was let go by Paramount. People in the know felt she would never make another movie. After an extensive rest (she had married Rex Bell and "retired" to his ranch), who would have thought the next year would be so bright career wise? She came back to Hollywood as a Fox star and selected Tiffany Thayer's novel "Call Her Savage" for her Fox debut. She looked extremely pretty and played with much vitality. "Call Her Savage" was very popular and promised a bright future.
There is definitely enough plot for 3 movies and it is all sensational!!! Nasa is a wildcat and after a few hair-raising incidents - whipping a rattlesnake to death and then turning on her chum, Moonglow (Gilbert Roland) and whipping him in a frenzied attack - her father decides to send her to a finishing school in Chicago but her antics don't stop there and she is frequently the subject of lurid gossip columns. When her father arranges a marriage between her and a dull college boy she rebels and elopes with womanizer Lawrence Crosby (Monroe Owsley)- after a knock down, drag 'em out fight between Nasa and Sunny (a dynamic Thelma Todd) Crosby's unfaithful mistress - it's a Wow!! Before the night is over her father has washed his hands of her and Crosby deserts her for Sunny (he had only married Nasa to make Sunny jealous). After a whirlwind few months she spends spending and gambling, her husband asks to see her - he is in a hospital suffering from insanity !!! and after almost being raped by him - she escapes to New Orleans (where else) to have her baby in peace. When she has to turn to prostitution to help pay for her baby's medicine, the boarding house where she lives burns down (something Clara experienced as a child) and her child dies. Moonglow then turns up to tell her of her inheritance - $100,000 left to her by her grandfather. Wealthy again, she returns to New York, where she hires Jay Randall (Anthony Jowitt), a wealthy young man posing as a worker, to show her the city - they even go to a "gay bar". Incredibly, while at dinner, she runs into a now recovered Crosby who is back with Sunny and the evening concludes with yet another fight between Nasa and Sunny (you just don't see this one). Just as she is about to hit the bottle again, word comes to her that her mother is dying and Nasa finally learns about her true heritage (Nasa's birth is the result of an affair between her mother and an Indian Chief). She then decides to stay with the only man who has ever shown her true affection - the half caste Moonglow.
I wonder if this was the real Clara - so vibrant, high spirited and absolutely adorable. Clara claimed this was one of her favourite films - if only her other talkies had been up to this standard. This film is a definite pre-coder and not a pretender. It is right up there with "Three on a Match" (1932) and "Baby Face" (1933).
Highly, Highly Recommended.
There is definitely enough plot for 3 movies and it is all sensational!!! Nasa is a wildcat and after a few hair-raising incidents - whipping a rattlesnake to death and then turning on her chum, Moonglow (Gilbert Roland) and whipping him in a frenzied attack - her father decides to send her to a finishing school in Chicago but her antics don't stop there and she is frequently the subject of lurid gossip columns. When her father arranges a marriage between her and a dull college boy she rebels and elopes with womanizer Lawrence Crosby (Monroe Owsley)- after a knock down, drag 'em out fight between Nasa and Sunny (a dynamic Thelma Todd) Crosby's unfaithful mistress - it's a Wow!! Before the night is over her father has washed his hands of her and Crosby deserts her for Sunny (he had only married Nasa to make Sunny jealous). After a whirlwind few months she spends spending and gambling, her husband asks to see her - he is in a hospital suffering from insanity !!! and after almost being raped by him - she escapes to New Orleans (where else) to have her baby in peace. When she has to turn to prostitution to help pay for her baby's medicine, the boarding house where she lives burns down (something Clara experienced as a child) and her child dies. Moonglow then turns up to tell her of her inheritance - $100,000 left to her by her grandfather. Wealthy again, she returns to New York, where she hires Jay Randall (Anthony Jowitt), a wealthy young man posing as a worker, to show her the city - they even go to a "gay bar". Incredibly, while at dinner, she runs into a now recovered Crosby who is back with Sunny and the evening concludes with yet another fight between Nasa and Sunny (you just don't see this one). Just as she is about to hit the bottle again, word comes to her that her mother is dying and Nasa finally learns about her true heritage (Nasa's birth is the result of an affair between her mother and an Indian Chief). She then decides to stay with the only man who has ever shown her true affection - the half caste Moonglow.
I wonder if this was the real Clara - so vibrant, high spirited and absolutely adorable. Clara claimed this was one of her favourite films - if only her other talkies had been up to this standard. This film is a definite pre-coder and not a pretender. It is right up there with "Three on a Match" (1932) and "Baby Face" (1933).
Highly, Highly Recommended.