Untamed (1955) – Nostalgia Central

Nary a dull frame in this colourful knees-up from 20th Century-Fox about the hardy Dutch settlers in South Africa who founded the Boer-free state and put down those pesky Zulus.

It might be unpalatable had not Tyrone Power met flaming Irish colleen, Susan Hayward, from which moment on we are safely in Never-Never land.

The story begins in Ireland in 1847 during the devastating potato famine. Katie O’Neill (Hayward), the fierce daughter of a wealthy horse breeder, falls in love with Paul Van Riebeck (Power), a visiting South African Boer leader.

Paul must return home to lead his people, leaving a heartbroken Katie behind.

Desperate to escape the famine, Katie marries Shawn Kildare (John Justin) and emigrates to the rugged frontier of South Africa as homesteaders.

While travelling in a wagon train, Kildare is killed in a Zulu attack, and Katie is rescued by a Boer cavalry unit led – coincidentally – by Paul Van Riebeck

Katie’s lingering feelings complicate her life further, sparking a dramatic saga of survival and romance across the African veldt.

Also travelling in the wagon train is Kurt Hout (Richard Egan), a wealthy Dutch farmer who has moved to Africa intending to control the region’s diamond trade, resorting to banditry if necessary.

Van Riebeck is determined to stop Hout and find happiness with Katie.

The magnificent Cinemascope cinematography and thrilling action sequences make for a stunning visual spectacle, particularly the dramatic Zulu attack scenes (2,500 of them were used as extras).

Sadly, Untamed has aged badly, and modern film critics and audiences broadly consider the film to be a deeply racist and colonialist film, validating the violent displacement of South Africa’s indigenous populations.

Just imagine Tyrone Power is Davy Crockett instead of Paul Van Riebeck and you’ll have qualm-free viewing,

Paul Van Riebeck
Tyrone Power
Katie O’Neill Kildare
Susan Hayward
Kurt Hout
Richard Egan
Shawn Kildare
John Justin
Aggie
Agnes Moorehead
Julia
Rita Moreno
Maria DeGroot
Hope Emerson
Lt. Christian
Brad Dexter
Squire O’Neill
Henry O’Neill
Tschaka
Paul Thompson
York
Robert Adler
Lady Vernon
Eleanor Audley
Bani
Louis Polliman Brown
Cornelius
John Carlyle
Young Paul
Kevin Corcoran
Capt. Richard Eaton
John Dodsworth

Director
Henry King

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