The It Girl was on a steep downhill by the time she made this one-off for Fox, based on a scandalous novel and directed by the reliably dullard John Francis Dillon. As a willful spoiled girl who can't figure out what she wants, Clara gets into girl-fights, goes braless, almost conceals her Brooklyn accent, and gamely rides the not very credible episodic plot. But she's unrestrained and interesting, and most interesting when in repose; all that silent acting paid off, and her many close-ups show a lot of expressiveness. Gilbert Roland is the too-good-to-be-true half- breed who loves her, and Monroe Owsley, in a role he practically patented, is the wastrel Lothario who exploits her. Their financial ups and downs are not explained; one minute she's a rich heiress, the next she's walking the streets and living in a New Orleans tenement. But logic isn't the point, nor is the now-repugnant races-shouldn't-mix morality. The point is, she's fun to watch, and capable in quieter moments of subtlety and even some depth.
Review of Call Her Savage
