.. this very early talking film from directory Jack Conway and MGM.
The film opens with wild child Bingo (Joan Crawford) singing and dancing with the other citizens of the Amazon. Funny that they all have western clothes and guitars. I can only imagine that they ate a visiting movie crew that was shooting a western and took their clothes and instruments afterwards. But I digress.
A man who wants Bingo for himself (John Miljan) gets into a fight with her wisp of an aged scarecrow father and stabs him to death. As a result, Bingo is "adopted" by two kindly bachelor fellows who have been friends and partners with her dad over the years - "Uncle Ben Murchison (Ernst Torrence) and "Uncle" Howard Presley (Holmes Herbert). They take her back to New York City with them, but on the way over she meets and falls in love with fellow passenger and recent college grad Andy McAllister (Robert Montgomery). Ben breaks this up in a hurry and makes Bingo promise that she will spend some time in New York with the hundreds of men her age that she will meet before she settles on Andy, who is the first civilized man she's ever seen. Andy seems somewhat relieved to have her matrimonial minded mitts off of him for a while.
Then precisely one title card announces that we should be prepared for a shock the next time we see Bingo, as well we should. Before, Bingo was ready to "sock in the nose" anybody who disagreed with her or got in her way. Now she dresses in the finest fashions and even says the word "rahther" instead of "rather". This can only be the work of the early sound film diction coaches, but again I digress. With Bingo being an heiress due to her dad's oil wells, Uncle Ben is hoping that Bingo got Andy out of her system so that she might turn her interest towards the more suitable "Uncle" Howard, Ben's longtime friend. But Bingo's love for Andy is stronger than ever and pretty soon it becomes obvious that you can take the girl out of the jungle but it is hard to take the jungle out of the girl. Complications, many of them incompatible with polite New York society, ensue.
Story wise, this film flowed pretty well for an early talkie- It didn't drag at any point. This was Joan Crawford's talkie debut, and she does great. Ernst Torrence is given a large role here because of his stage training and his absolutely wonderful Scottish accent - he steals every scene. Robert Montgomery plays Crawford's love interest, and although this website says "So This is College" preceded this film, I have to wonder if this one was shot first because Montgomery doesn't have much screen presence here. Unbelievably, he doesn't project much at all and I have a hard time believing Joan's character's obsession with him. But he improves a lot and quickly.
There are problems in several scenes when what was probably meant to be background music provided by on-set musicians nearly overcomes the actor's voices. It all looks antiquated in the extreme, but I enjoyed it the same way one enjoys seeing and hearing an antique piano played.
The film opens with wild child Bingo (Joan Crawford) singing and dancing with the other citizens of the Amazon. Funny that they all have western clothes and guitars. I can only imagine that they ate a visiting movie crew that was shooting a western and took their clothes and instruments afterwards. But I digress.
A man who wants Bingo for himself (John Miljan) gets into a fight with her wisp of an aged scarecrow father and stabs him to death. As a result, Bingo is "adopted" by two kindly bachelor fellows who have been friends and partners with her dad over the years - "Uncle Ben Murchison (Ernst Torrence) and "Uncle" Howard Presley (Holmes Herbert). They take her back to New York City with them, but on the way over she meets and falls in love with fellow passenger and recent college grad Andy McAllister (Robert Montgomery). Ben breaks this up in a hurry and makes Bingo promise that she will spend some time in New York with the hundreds of men her age that she will meet before she settles on Andy, who is the first civilized man she's ever seen. Andy seems somewhat relieved to have her matrimonial minded mitts off of him for a while.
Then precisely one title card announces that we should be prepared for a shock the next time we see Bingo, as well we should. Before, Bingo was ready to "sock in the nose" anybody who disagreed with her or got in her way. Now she dresses in the finest fashions and even says the word "rahther" instead of "rather". This can only be the work of the early sound film diction coaches, but again I digress. With Bingo being an heiress due to her dad's oil wells, Uncle Ben is hoping that Bingo got Andy out of her system so that she might turn her interest towards the more suitable "Uncle" Howard, Ben's longtime friend. But Bingo's love for Andy is stronger than ever and pretty soon it becomes obvious that you can take the girl out of the jungle but it is hard to take the jungle out of the girl. Complications, many of them incompatible with polite New York society, ensue.
Story wise, this film flowed pretty well for an early talkie- It didn't drag at any point. This was Joan Crawford's talkie debut, and she does great. Ernst Torrence is given a large role here because of his stage training and his absolutely wonderful Scottish accent - he steals every scene. Robert Montgomery plays Crawford's love interest, and although this website says "So This is College" preceded this film, I have to wonder if this one was shot first because Montgomery doesn't have much screen presence here. Unbelievably, he doesn't project much at all and I have a hard time believing Joan's character's obsession with him. But he improves a lot and quickly.
There are problems in several scenes when what was probably meant to be background music provided by on-set musicians nearly overcomes the actor's voices. It all looks antiquated in the extreme, but I enjoyed it the same way one enjoys seeing and hearing an antique piano played.