There are movies that don’t quite work as well as they might, even though on paper they have a good deal going for them. I’d place River of No Return (1954) in that category, an appealing cast and a big name director working in an attractive setting but the end result being a film that falls short of expectations. While it has its moments and does entertain, it’s not entirely successful. Why should that be so? I guess it’s down to a combination of factors – a star and director who were inexperienced in the genre as well as a shoot which was reportedly challenging for them all.

In essence, River of No Return is a very simple story, an outdoors adventure with a hint of revenge and redemption caught up in the currents of the narrative. It opens in a mining camp, one of those rough and ready melting pots of the frontier where prospectors and rogues rub shoulders and fortunes may be won, lost or merely dreamed about. Widower Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum) rides into this raucous mass of humanity searching not for gold but the son he hasn’t seen for many years. The reason for this absence might be guessed at but it’s not explicitly stated until around the halfway point in the movie – it’s no spoiler to state that he killed man, shot him in the back in fact in order to save a friend. Well, he finds the boy (Tommy Rettig), who has been befriended by saloon singer Kay (Marilyn Monroe), and sets off back to his farm with him. As it happens, Kay and her gambler boyfriend Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun) also decide to pull up stakes at around the same time, in their case to file a claim for mining rights won in a card game. These two leave in a hurry though as that card game was very likely crooked and they make their way via a river raft. In a movie ripe with coincidence, it just so happens that Calder’s farm is located along the banks of that same river and Kay is unexpectedly reunited with the boy when she and Weston run into difficulties. That Weston is out for number one is rarely in doubt and this is confirmed by his decision to repay Calder’s kindness by stealing his horse and rifle, leaving him to fend for himself and the boy in an isolated spot with hostile Indians waiting in the wings. Left with no other option under the circumstances, Calder loads his son and Kay onto the raft and, as his home burns and the arrows rain down around them, heads downriver in pursuit of safety, and of Weston.

Seeing Otto Preminger’s name listed as director is typically an indication of a worthwhile movie but, initially at least, neither he nor producer Stanley Rubin were enthused by the prospect. Admittedly, this director isn’t a person who one would associate with westerns. Even so, a lack of background in the genre doesn’t necessarily equate to a lack of ability or even affinity. Still, River of No Return does not represent Preminger at his best. I don’t feel the characters are explored in the way his better films did, and the set piece action scenes which ought to serve as highlights are adequate but not much more really. On the other hand, the location work, mainly in Alberta, looks terrific, a feature which is weakened somewhat by back projection.

If Preminger wasn’t a western “name”, then the same was true of Marilyn Monroe. She was of course a big star and the kind of draw that any filmmaker would have welcomed. While I’m not sure she ever comes across as a credible western figure, she is undeniably decorative and her scenes in the saloons are memorable and well staged, as are her interactions with Rettig. She never looks all that convincing during the rafting sequences although that’s perhaps understandable and she’s not alone in that respect. Mitchum, on the other hand, was very much at home in westerns and his presence provides a solid anchor. This was his second collaboration with Preminger after Angel Face and even if the film is no match for that earlier production, he is fine alongside Monroe. However, there is one scene where, following on from some mild flirtation, his character assaults her and I find it jars no matter how often I’ve seen it – it feels out of character based on what preceded it and adds nothing to the plot either. It’s just there. Then there is that backstory to the character which is only made clear well into the movie. I recall when I first saw this film that this element seemed to be dropped in rather abruptly with little build up or foreshadowing. Of course it’s an important plot point, one which feeds into and influences the tone of the climax, but it seemed to me at the time that it was clumsily inserted, and I still feel it could have been integrated more smoothly from an earlier stage.

Rory Calhoun wasn’t as big a name as either of his co-stars, although he had had a good part alongside Monroe in the previous year’s How to Marry a Millionaire and was a lead in many lower budgeted westerns at this point in his career. When he is on screen he brings a slick charm to his part which is quite appropriate. That thing is though, he’s not on screen for all that often and is absent for the entire mid section. Like Mitchum and Monroe, the character he’s playing has a good deal of potential with allusions to greater depth but the writing allows only glimpses of that to show through. Tommy Rettig is fine too as the boy reconnecting with an absent father and having to deal with what he learns about him. There is a point to be made about needing to accept how options can be shaped and thus limited by circumstances, but the way in which this is achieved in the climactic scenes is rather brutal from the youngster’s point of view and I’m always left to wonder what effect that would have in the long run.

All told, River of No Return is a reasonably satisfying western, albeit one which is far from perfect. The visuals can veer from splendid to disappointing, even within the same shot, and the performances are pleasing without ever becoming compelling. As such, this is a slightly odd western, attractive and entertaining while coming up short with regard to all it promises. I give it a cautious recommendation. As for availability, there are DVDs from most every region freely available. I have the German Blu-ray, which I found satisfactory.

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