Wed 30 Nov 2011
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: LIFE IN THE RAW (1933).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[3] Comments
LIFE IN THE RAW. Fox, 1933. George O’Brien, Claire Trevor, Greta Nissen, Francis Ford, Warner Richmond, Gaylord (Steve) Pendleton. Based on the story “From Missouri” by Zane Grey. Director: Louis King. Shown at Cinecon 36, Hollywood CA, Aug-Sept 2000.
In Life in the Raw, described as an “odd concoction of Western and nightclub drama with some Russian atmosphere thrown in for good measure,” Clare Trevor made her feature film debut. “The first thing I was told,” Trevor recalled, was not to fall in love with my leading man. And then I immediately fell in love with George O’Brien.”
Trevor comes out West to join her brother (Gaylord Pendleton) who, unbeknownst to her, is involved in some very shady dealings. Before things are romantically resolved, O’Brien thinks she’s a baddie, and everyone thinks he’s one.
Trevor’s role doesn’t require her to do much except look great in tight-fitting western outfits, but O’Brien gets to do some pretend romancing with Greta Nissen and carry off a rescue scam that makes the last couple of reels fun to watch.
November 30th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Another film that I have no recollection of seeing. I guess I thought it was fun and that it was Claire Trevor’s feature film debut film was worthy of note.
A typo (probably mine) is in the second paragraph, last word in the line, which should be “is” not “in.”
November 30th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
The movie does sound like fun, Walter. It’s also pretty much an unknown one, too. There’s no story line or synopsis on IMDB, nor a single commenter, and no external reviews (until this one shows up).
I’ve fixed the typo. I’ve finally got my scanner working (it’s been on the fritz since the power outage that occurred at the beginning of the month) but we can blame the error on it. And I didn’t catch it.
March 30th, 2015 at 6:27 pm
This film is unseen largely because of story rights, which reverted to Zane Grey seven years after production. Although 20th Century-Fox still controls the copyright to the film, they have no distribution rights.