Wild Girl
Cast & Crew
Raoul Walsh
Charles Farrell
Joan Bennett
Ralph Bellamy
Eugene Pallette
Irving Pichel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Tomboy Salomy Jane lives with her father, Madison Clay, in Redwood City, a small town located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. One day, while Salomy shares a stagecoach ride with the lecherous Phineas Baldwin, a hypocritical member of the Purity League who is running for mayor of Redwood City, he makes a pass at her and she is forced to protect herself. Later, a man known only as "The Stranger" wanders into town looking for Baldwin to tell him what a rat he is for driving his sister to suicide. Meanwhile, at a nearby saloon, gambling men Jack Marbury and Rufe Waters play cards to decide who will have the privilege of marrying Salomy. After watching her bathe, Baldwin grabs Salomy, but she manages to escape after a struggle, and tells Rufe that if he kills Baldwin to protect her honor, she will consent to marry him. The cowardly Rufe is reluctant to accept Salomy's offer, but he eventually agrees to the assignment. When stagecoach driver Yuba Bill drives into town and announces that he has been robbed by bandits on the trail, he sends the townspeople into a frenzy. The sheriff promises to hang the thieves, and later promises a "double hanging" when he learns that Baldwin has been murdered by a stranger. The sheriff is soon convinced that local resident Red Pete was the stagecoach robber when he discovers that a bracelet which was part of the loot was given to Salomy as a gift from Red Pete's children. Salomy tries to protect the unlucky Red and his children, but the sheriff insists on bringing him to justice and sends a posse after him. While riding the trail out of town, Salomy happens upon the Stranger and immediately deduces that he is the man being sought after for Baldwin's murder. After thanking him for killing Baldwin, Salomy advises the Stranger to take refuge across the county line, which is fourteen miles away. Before he is able to reach the county line, however, the sheriff's men capture the Stranger and make preparations to hang him with Red Pete. Because the Stranger has no one to bid him farewell before he dies, Salomy volunteers to kiss him and Jack becomes jealous. Salomy leaves the scene of the execution depressed, but is later gladdened when she learns that the Stranger escaped moments before he was to be hanged. The Stranger eventually meets up with Salomy, and after they kiss, Salomy hides him in Red Pete's house and stands guard on the porch. When Rufe and Jack show up at Red Pete's to protect Salomy from the fugitive, they discover the Stranger there, and Jack pulls a gun on him. Salomy quickly explains that she loves the Stranger, and Jack lets the Stranger escape in the forest. Soon after the sheriff arrives looking for the Stranger, a shot rings out in the woods and Jess Larabie, Clay's sworn enemy, is found murdered. Realizing that Salomy's father will probably be blamed for the killing, the Stranger sacrifices himself to protect Clay. Clay takes refuge across the county line, while Salomy and the Stranger are taken back to town to face certain punishment. However, with the help of stagecoach driver Yuba, Salomy and the Stranger cross the county line and kiss to celebrate their freedom.
Director
Raoul Walsh
Cast
Charles Farrell
Joan Bennett
Ralph Bellamy
Eugene Pallette
Irving Pichel
Minna Gombell
Willard Robertson
Sarah Padden
Morgan Wallace
Ferdinand Munier
James Durkin
Murdock Macquarrie
Louise Beavers
Alphonz Ethier
Marilyn Harris
Carmencita Johnson
Delmar Watson
Gary Watson
Elaine Von
Robert Homans
Jack Loback
Buck Bucko
Roy Bucko
Stanley Blystone
Milt Brown
Robert Warren
Bill Wilson
Edmund Jones
Gordon Jones
Sam Amundsen
Edward Coxen
Chester Ryan
George Sowards
Crew
Doris Anderson
Tom Barry
Norbert Brodine
Louis De Francesco
W. F. Fitzgerald
Horace Hough
Marion Jackson
George Leverett
Earl Luick
Edwin Justus Mayer
Jack Murray
Bertrand Robinson
Adela Rogers St. Johns
George Walsh
Joseph Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to information contained in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, Wild Girl was dubbed into Spanish and released as El beso redentor (The Redeeming Kiss). A Hollywood Reporter news item indicates that a working title for this film was Salomy Jane. Other films based on the Bret Harte story include the 1914 independent film Salomy Jane, starring Beatriz Michelena and House Peters (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.3840); the 1923 Famous Players-Lasky Corp. film, also entitled Salomy Jane, directed by George Melford and starring Jacqueline Logan and George Fawcett (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.4784); and the 1938 Twentieth Century-Fox film Arizona Wildcat. According to the onscreen credits, Wild Girl was produced at the Sequioa National Park, CA.
