River of No Return (1954)

☆ ☆ ☆

River of No Return (1954) – O. Preminger

I was curious about the combination of Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe with director Otto Preminger and in a western to boot.  It holds together okay but it does threaten to fall apart at the seams on a number of occasions. Apparently no one got along on the set (including Monroe’s acting coach) and the stars both exhibited their usual bad behaviour.  This doesn’t really show on the screen but it is a somewhat odd mix of Mitchum’s sullen bravura, Monroe’s breathy naiveté (with songs), a child actor (Tommy Rettig), angry Native Americans, and some too obvious back projection.  The plot sees Mitchum (just out of jail) as a single dad who has just reconnected with his 9-year-old son, ready to do some homesteading out west where most others are prospecting for gold (parts of the film were shot on location in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada).  Monroe is a saloon singer who is hooked up with a shady gambler (Rory Calhoun) who has won rights to a claim down river –  he steals Mitchum’s gun and horse, leaves Monroe (for the moment, or so he says), and heads off.  When the Native Americans attack and burn his house, Mitchum has to guide a raft down the rapids (with Monroe and Rettig) to catch up with Calhoun.  It’s dangerous!  Preminger may have been more comfortable with film noir (where he had used Mitchum more successfully in Angel Face, 1953) and Monroe seems out of her element but the end result is passable and probably a good example of the 1950s star vehicle.