Untamed

Untamed (1955)

It's AFRICOLOSSAL! in CINEMASCOPE

When the great potato famine hits Ireland, the diaspora begins as thousands emigrate. Among those leaving the Emerald Isle is Katie O'Neill and her husband, who decide that the promised land is South Africa and make their way there. Once there, they discover the hardships that are the reality of the homesteader experience.

Date of release
1955-03-01
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (16)
Runtime
1h 51m
Genres
Adventure, Drama, Romance
Director
Henry King

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $3.6M
  • Filmed in: South Africa

Untamed is a 1955 American CinemaScope adventure Western film, directed by Henry King and starring: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward and Richard Egan, with Agnes Moorehead, Rita Moreno and Hope Emerson. It was made by Twentieth Century-Fox in DeLuxe Color. The screenplay was by: William A. Bacher, Michael Blankfort, Frank Fenton and Talbot Jennings from a 1950 novel by Helga Moray. The music score was by Franz Waxman and the cinematography by Leo Tover.

Production

The film was based on a novel, by Helga Moray, who was born in South Africa in 1917, and was married to director Tay Garnett; the story is based on the adventures of Moray's Irish grandmother in South Africa. Producer William Bacher became aware of it in 1945, when it was only a 17-page story with the working title Katie Called Katje.

The novel was published in 1950. The Washington Post called it a "trifle indigestible" although "ready for filming." William Bacher announced he wanted Glenn Ford to star in the film version.

No movie resulted. Bacher teamed with Bert Freidlob and in 1953 managed to sell the project to Fox, who were looking for projects to make that would exploit their new CinemaScope technique. Talbot Jennings was hired to write the script. Freidlob wanted Jean Simmons, Susan Hayward or Eleanor Parker for the female lead and Gregory Peck or Tyrone Power for the male lead.

Eventually Henry King was signed to direct, and Susan Hayward to star.

King and Hayward left for Africa to film background footage in March 1954. In April he went to Ireland for some additional filming.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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