River of No Return

Cinemascope was at the height of popularity when Fox decided to cast Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum in a story set against the scenic splendor of the Rockies. Marilyn even gets to sing a few fetching song numbers (her saloon song atop a bar is a standout and she delivers a totally professional job). Sleepy-eyed Mitchum makes a good partner for Monroe and little Tommy Rettig scores as the adoring little boy who watches wistfully as Monroe strums a song on her guitar.

Into the story, slight as it is, is an Indian attack while Mitchum and Monroe battle the rapids. It's all very routine going, for the most part, but the chance to see Monroe strut her stuff in a tight pair of jeans and Mitchum give a sturdy, likeable performance is enough to make the movie a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

Nothing great here, but a very satisfying performance by Marilyn who does a more than competent job on her less than inspired songs. And the scenery helps.

Otto Preminger's direction is not as taut as it should have been for a tale of this sort--in fact, the whole film has a lumbering pace that seems to make some parts of the story seem more like filler material than anything else. And poor Rory Calhoun has little to do.

Otto Preminger's "River of No Return" is set in Northwest Canada, in savage Indian territory, in the gold rush days... The plot is weak but the scenery is spectacular and the action of the river dramatically powerful... Otto Preminger knew how to create tension and threat in the grandeur and menace of the Canadian Rockies…

The film opens in the 1875 with widower Matt Calder (Mitchum), coming to town, where his ten-year-old son Mark (Tommy Rettig) is waiting for him... He has served a term in prison for shooting a man in the back, even though he shot the man only to keep him from murdering a friend... Mark has now been sent to join his father, who has bought a farm for them...

Mark has made the acquaintance of Kay (Marilyn Monroe), a saloon singer, while waiting for his father.... Calder thanks Kay for her kindness to his boy, and father and son depart for their farm...

One day, Calder sees Kay and gambler Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun) in trouble on a raft in the river near his home... He helps them ashore and learns that Watson is in a hurry to get to town to register a gold claim... So eager is he that he steals his rescuer's only horse, and leaving his girl behind as well, rides away...

The predicament of those left is deepened by the fact that Indians are on a rampage and are due to attack the farm at any moment... The only way left to get to town is by a wild river...

Photographed in Technicolor and CinemaScope, the film is designed to exploit the splendors of the mountains, trees and rapid rivers plus the magnetic pleasant figure of Marilyn who is the only charming woman surrounded by two handsome men and a charming kid...

Marilyn sings 4 numbers in the film: "One Silver Dollar," "I'm Gonna File My Claim," "Down in the Meadow," and "The River of No Return." The little boy, Tommy Rettig, played another big-scale Western, Delmer Daves' "The Last Wagon," with Richard Widmark, Felicia Farr, and Susan Kohner...

I just love this movie, except for that one scene (everybody knows which one). It's a very good venue for Mitchum and perhaps the best Monroe ever had. Really great actors make you forget that they are either actors or stars. These two do that quite well in spite of a loosely written script and a bit too much sweetness in the person of the boy. I think I love this movie as much for the fact that someone finally let Monroe act as I do for the fun of watching it. She did a good job of bringing her character, rather than Marilyn, to the screen. I enjoyed the scenes between her and the boy. She was very believable as a nurturing, protective figure. She would have done well as an actress. This movie is just a small sample.. Lonestar

Of all of Marilyn Monroe's leading men, Robert Mitchum was the only one who knew her back when. In 1941 before he made his screen debut in a Hopalong Cassidy film, Mitchum was among other things an aircraft factory worker and one of his friends was one James Daugherty. Of course Jim had a wife Norma Jean at the time and Bob and Dorothy occasionally socialized.

He knew all about her psychological problems and when it came time to do a film with her when both became screen legends, Mitchum was not about to get himself involved. That probably helped because during the shooting Marilyn and director Otto Preminger stopped speaking and would only communicate through Mitchum.

Marilyn's a saloon gal involved with a no good gambler/drifter in Rory Calhoun. Calhoun and Monroe nearly drown on a river when Mitchum rescues them and their raft. No good deed goes unpunished so Calhoun takes Mitchum's horse and Mitchum, Monroe, and Mitchum's son Tommy Rettig use the raft to go after him. They're kind of forced to because the Indians are on the warpath.

She's certainly quite a distraction for a man on a mission and at one point Mitchum does give into lust ever so briefly. Which does make River of No Return one of the more realistic westerns ever done.

Twentieth Century Fox decided to go whole hog on this one, shooting the film up in Banff. But with Marilyn and Otto feuding it was not a happy set. Otto walked off the picture and Jean Negulesco finished it out. Joe DiMaggio flew up to the set because of rumors of Mitchum and Marilyn, that were completely unfounded, but Joe was the jealous type. As for Mitchum legend has it that he and another legendary drinker, Murvyn Vye, killed many a bottle during the long evenings.

Done in cinemascope and 3-D, River of No Return should be seen on the big screen. Not even a letterbox DVD does it justice. And 3-D was definitely the medium for Monroe. Marilyn even has some nice songs to sing in this one.

It's not a great western, still it's entertaining enough especially in those rafting sequences. But it was a film Otto Preminger shuddered about when recalling.

You won't waste your time watching Robert Mitchum in any movie as he has proved himself to be an actor to take note of. In this movie, he gives a stable performance as a rugged pioneer type adventurer and good father who is trying to make a go farming in the wilderness. If things aren't hard enough, Indians harass, strangers become unpredictable and the work does not become easier. The rafting scenes remain fake but the real life shots of the river remain beautiful. Monroe detracts from the picture as being too much when she should be just a little however that is the part they wanted her to play. Unfortunately they like selling her as a sex object first and an actor second which comes through in some scenes almost like they were afraid the picture wouldn't do well and needed some additional assurance. The fact is it did do well and in no small part to Preminger's directing while filled with criticism still delivered a watchable entertaining film. Behind the scenes there was much ego and unprofessional conduct which reminds us all that wherever we go and whatever we do the people add or detract from the experiences. This film could have used more specific emphasis on the area and when it took place as that is always interesting history. Instead, they made it more for the actors than the viewers is how it came across. Good movie to snack by with a tasty drink and just enjoy watching a piece of movie making history with times gone by...