Call Her Savage (1932)

“I guess you know you broke up my home…”, “I didn’t know you were in a home, when did you get out?”. It’s the spatting between “Nasa” (Clara Bow) and “Sunny” (Thelma Todd) that brings this to life, and both can cat-fight with the best of them. The former hails from Texas via a fairly violent and circuitous route, is quite a street-fighter and no stranger to using her feminine wiles. Sadly for her, though, she runs out of options and ends up married to “Larry” (Monroe Owsley). The thing is, her father thinks she’s made an huge mistake and that’s proven to be correct when it swiftly emerges that he only married her because “Sunny” had spurned him. When "Nasa" has money, things go well enough, but latterly with a child in tow too, she again begins to run out of options and has to rely on long-term friend “Moonglow” (Gilbert Roland) - a man with a similarly complicated past, but an altogther more gentle character. Bow is on good form throughout this high-speed and lively melodrama, and it’s ability to reset itself regularly keeps it interesting as her self-destructive nature appears to know no bounds. Moreover, she was never one of those doey-eyed silent film stars at the best of times, and so here with lines to deliver and a characterful role to portray she mixes things up well. Though she doesn’t feature so often. Todd also puts in quite a performance, if perhaps a more demure one, and the ensemble in support offers us a glimpse of just how fickle friendships were, regardless of whether or not you were actually married or related. There’s really very little off limits in this refreshingly vibrant pre-code drama and it’s an entertaining opportunity for women to own the proceedings entirely.