Call Her Savage

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Movie
Original title Call Her Savage
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1932
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director John Francis Dillon
script Edwin Burke based on the novel of the same name by Tiffany Thayer
production Fox Film Corporation
music Louis de Francesco
camera Lee Garmes
occupation

Call Her Savage is an American drama movie starring Clara Bow and directed by John Francis Dillon from 1932. With its open portrayal of sex and violence for the time, the film is a typical example of the lax handling of the applicable censorship regulations before it came into force of the production code . It contains the first representation of a bar with predominantly homosexual guests in commercial American cinema.

action

The film begins with a flashback.

Silas, the grandfather of the heroine Nasa, murders an Indian. While he was still dying, the victim prophesied that the sins of the fathers would haunt later generations. Eighteen years later, his only child, young Ruth, who is married to a respectable businessman Pete, has a passionate affair with an Indian and runs away with him. A short time later, Ruth, who has since been abandoned by her lover, gives birth to their daughter Nasa. Everyone involved tries to cover up the matter, and Pete agrees to raise Nasa as his own child. Nasa grows up without any set rules and suffers from extreme mood swings. When Pete, now the richest man in the Midwest, sees Nasa whipping her best friend, the half-breed Moonglow, for no reason, he sends her to a boarding school in the East.

Hardly having arrived in Chicago, Nasa soon had the reputation of a tireless party girl with constantly changing lovers. All attempts by Pete to curb his daughter fail. When he finally wants to marry Nasa to a wealthy heir, the engagement party ends with a fight between Nasa and Sunny De Lane, the current lover of her fiancé. The scandal leads to a break between father and daughter. Nasa has an affair with a good-for-nothing man, marries him, wastes his fortune and is almost raped by him in the end when he is in the hospital with a venereal disease that has now attacked his mind. She knocks him down in self-defense. Nasa, who is now pregnant, gives birth to her child in the seventh month. Health care costs are ruining Nasa, which is forced to make a living on the streets. As she is returning from a suitor, the baby has died of smoke inhalation after the drunken babysitter fell asleep with a cigarette in his mouth. The desperate Nasa learns that same evening from Moonglow, who secretly loves her, that her father has died and has bequeathed her $ 100,000. Nasa takes on new courage, goes to New York and ensnares the millionaire Jay Randall. This relationship also fails in the end because of Nasa's uncontrolled temperament. In the end, Nasa returns home to her mother's deathbed, learns the whole truth about her origins and is finally happy with Moonglow.

background

Clara Bow had become one of the Paramount's highest paid stars in the late silent movie days . Her specialty was portraying easy-going young women, so-called flappers . However, with the advent of talkies , their popularity dropped rapidly. There were also significant weight problems, a mental illness and endless legal battles with her former secretary Daisy De Voe. Bow finally had a nervous breakdown in May 1931 and was released from her contract by Paramount. It was not until October 1931 that Bow was ready to continue her career. She was initially in negotiations with MGM , which she wanted to hire for Feuerkopf . The role eventually went to Jean Harlow . In the end, Bow signed a contract with the old Fox Studios, which guaranteed her a fee of $ 75,000 for ten weeks of filming, as well as a $ 25,000 bonus if Call Her Savage's box office profits exceeded $ 800,000. In return, Bow undertook to massively reduce her weight in time for filming.

Right from the start, the studio came into conflict with the responsible censorship authority, the Hays Office, which raised significant concerns about the filming of Tiffany Thayer's novel . The reservations related to the explicit portrayal of murder, violence, illegitimate pregnancy, prostitution and the sexual relationship between members of different ethnic groups. The novel also contained clear references to incest and promiscuity. The finished script left out some particularly daring situations from the original, but retained the basic structure. In this respect, the film is typical of the studios' attempt to stabilize the dramatically decreasing audience numbers in view of the global economic crisis by depicting descriptions of sex and violence as explicitly as possible. Clara Bow mostly wears low-cut dresses and her various outbreaks of violence against third parties are described in detail.

As Vito Russo explains in his book The Celluloid Closet , Call Her Savage probably contains the first scenes that take place in a gay bar. When Nasa wants to spend an exciting night with her new admirer Jay, he leads them in his own words

down in the Village where only wild poets and anarchists eat. It's pretty rough.

The following shot shows a cellar bar in which, in addition to the announced writers and revolutionaries, numerous same-sex couples are guests. Many men hug or dance together.

Later, two singers, dressed in kitchen aprons and feather dusters, appear and sing an ambiguous song:

If a sailor in pajama I should see,
I know he'll scare the life out of me.
But on a great big battle ship
We like to be working as chamber maids.

(Quote: pages 42/43)

Originally, Joel McCrea was slated for the role of Moonglow, but in the end the part went to Gilbert Roland , with whom Clara Bow had an affair a few years earlier during the filming of The Plastic Age . For Anthony Jowitt, who only got his role after Alexander Kirkland's cancellation , the studio had planned a large-scale campaign to establish him as a new star. In the end, the financial difficulties that ultimately drove the studio into bankruptcy forced those responsible to terminate the contract with the actor. The film was a huge financial hit and Clara Bow appeared to have a second career ahead of her. However, her severe mental problems forced her to retire permanently into private life after just one more film. The actress counts the film next to It and Mantrap as one of her personal favorite films.

criticism

Most reviewers praised Clara Bow, but disliked the film's absurd plot.

The Los Angeles Times said:

[Clara Bows] fame seems to have been recaptured with remarkable ease [..] Her vitality and sincerity unite [in a] likable personality that disarms criticism and wins for her the whole-hearted approval of the masses [...] Call Her Savage has been condemned by the more discriminating as a flashy, trashy, tasteless and unpleasant exhibit, but not even the most captious deny its superficial appeal to the larger public.
[Clara Bows] popularity hasn't suffered much. [..] Her zest for life and her credibility combine to form a pleasant personality who disarms any criticism and ensures her the affection of the masses. Call Her Savage is condemned by serious viewers as vulgar, tactless and awkward entertainment, but not even the most blasé can deny the film's irresistible appeal to the masses.

The New York Times was far less impressed.

The titian-haired Clara Bow [...] is the term of the film "Call Her Savage" [..] it was directed by John Francis Dillon, who is evidently no great believer in subtlety. It is scarcely an offering that can be recommended for its plausibility, but who knows but that there may be a girl somewhere like Nasa Springer. Miss Bow does quite well by the role of this fiery-tempered impulsive Nasa, but whether the flow of incidents makes for satisfactory entertainment is a matter of opinion.
The titian blonde Clara Bow […] is a true Xanthippe in "Call Her Savage" [The director] John Francis Dillon is apparently no supporter of restraint. The film can hardly be recommended based on its credibility and logic, but who knows, maybe there is actually a girl like Nasa Springer out there. Miss Bow copes quite well with the role of the hot-blooded, impulsive NASA, but the judgment as to whether the never-ending stream of events is actually good entertainment in the end is left to the viewer.

Web links

Sources and further literature on pre-code films