Review for Wild River

‘Wild River’ Is not only a beautiful looking film, it’s a really top-notch melodrama. In fact, you could argue that it’s much more than a mere melodrama with layer upon layer of hidden depth and meaning. Whatever the case, it’s one film you’ve simply got to see and this wonderful edition is the best it’s ever looked in a home viewing.

In truth, the sheer cinematic spectacle of the film means that it should be seen on the biggest screen possible in the greatest detail and it would be great to see a print as good as the one used for this transfer in a cinema. But that’s probably a big ask. It’s one of the finest examples of CinemaScope used in non-studio environments I've seen.


Directed by Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront) this was never going to be a standard melodrama. First up, despite his known drinking problem and paralysis in the left side of his face following a drinking problem, he signed Montgomery Clift for the principal role, a sublime piece of casting and a wonderfully underplayed performance.
He then cast the beautiful Lee Remick (Anatomy of Murder) as his love interest which was equally inspired. She was perfect for the part.


The two of them are then placed in a near impossible romance in the worst of circumstances in a dramatic context of neo-realism, Kazan’s house style. It all sounds like it shouldn't work but it just does.

Set in the early 1930's against the tragic backdrop of real-life floods which cost the lives of hundreds of people, an administrator for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA ) arrives in the small town of Garthville with the business of convincing an elderly landowner to sell her land to the government. Although it sounds simple enough, his bosses don’t want a political scene and, as a man with a conscience, he doesn't want to physically force the old lady from her land. Instead he elects to try and reason with her and understand her objections to leaving her beloved ‘island’ which is shortly to be covered by the river rising.


To add complexity and romance, he falls in love with the widow’s daughter who is the mother of three now fatherless children. With few options available to her, she has conceded to marry a decent local man who is older than her but who can provide for her and the children. But she is not in love. Well, not until she meets the administrator, Chuck Glover (played by Clift).



Glover is a straight-talking, well-meaning man of few words who eventually gets the aged widow’s grudging respect – which is mutual. He also wins the heart of her daughter despite the tension this causes with the local men. Even worse is the offer of work for all the local black workers at the same rate of pay as the white workers. This causes incredible dissent among the local whites who have become used to the black residents working as their servants and labourers.


Jo Van Fleet does a brilliant job playing the weather-beaten but hardy Grandmother though was apparently only 45 at the time. That’s either great acting, great make-up, a hard-life or a combination of the three.


The film is a heady mix of politics, morality, psychology, sex and romance with several inter-playing sub-plots all working perfectly together.
The score by Kenyon Hopkins (The Hustler) is superb and totally in keeping with the sentiment and scale of the film.


Image quality is incredibly impressive with an almost flawless print looking really stunning on this transfer, despite its 55 year vintage.



Apart from a splendid 40 page booklet included in the pack which carries a new essay by Adrian Martin (far more insightful than this review!) and loads of wonderful stills.


The disc itself is light on features but does include an incredibly informative and lively commentary by US film critic Glenn Kenny and New York Post movie reviewer, Farran Smith Nehme which is well worth a listen.


It also ships with a DVD which I don’t fully follow though I guess is there to make the pack available to those who haven’t yet upgraded to Blu-Ray.
This is a spellbinding and brilliant film and a very handsome edition which, if great cinema is your thing, you’ll want to add to your collection forthwith.