{"id":19223,"date":"2019-05-13T13:08:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T17:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=19223"},"modified":"2019-05-13T22:44:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T02:44:53","slug":"br-rivers-edge-the-1957","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=19223","title":{"rendered":"BR: River’s Edge, The (1957)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 March 19, 2019<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Film Noir \/ Suspense<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A murderous thief hires his ex-girlfriend’s husband to ferry him and a million dollars into Mexico.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>2006 Audio commentary with film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini \/ Isolated Mono Music & Effects Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to film noir historians James Ursini and Alain Silver, Allan Dwan was championed by several film journalists as an auteur \u2013 notably Peter Bogdanovich in his book Allan Dwan: The Last Pioneer<\/strong> (1971) \u2013 and the commentators cite several notable directorial touches within his best body of work (use of colour, mirrors, and strong female characters), but the paucity of accessible films makes him both an unknown to noir fans, but also a filmmaker to discover.<\/p>\n

While Fox\u2019s 2006 special edition DVD was the first time the film could be seen in its original CinemaScope ratio, a wave of titles never followed; of his estimated 400+ credits, perhaps 20 exist across Warner Archive, as grey zone releases, and a few digital editions, with the odd title getting a deluxe transfer from KINO.<\/p>\n

River\u2019s Edge<\/strong> comes near the end of his career, and formed one of ten for indie producer Benedict Bogeaus. According to Silver and Ursini, studio Fox had plans to adapt Harold Jacob Smith\u2019s novel The Highest Mountain<\/strong>, but Bogeaus nabbed the frozen property, and as was his skill, assembled a package with aging stars and a tight budget to which a studio couldn\u2019t say no \u2013 hence Fox\u2019s handling of the film with some familiar names in front of and behind the camera.<\/p>\n

Anthony Quinn had just won his first Oscar for Viva Zapata!<\/strong> (1952) and would win a second for Lust for Life<\/strong> (1957), and co-star Ray Milland nabbed a statue for The Lost Weekend<\/strong> (1945). Fox contract player Paget had made her debut in the studio\u2019s noir Cry of the City<\/strong> (1948) and later appeared in the Paramount blockbuster\u00a0The Ten Commandments<\/strong>, and had struck gold with Elvis in the classic Love Me Tender <\/strong>(both 1956). Although she plays another woman-in-peril in River\u2019s Edge<\/strong>, the role of a thief\u2019s ex-girlfriend is much deeper than her usual bank of whimpering heroines, perhaps because the script by Smith and James Leicester (and reportedly more than a bit of work from Dwan) has Margaret Fowler shift between ex-fling Nardo (Milland) and husband Ben (Quinn).<\/p>\n

The story is classic noir: a former thief with a million in cash tracks down an ex-lover, and has some fun offering cash to her new husband for safe passage through a mountain region into Mexico. Nardo is largely unaware Ben knows about his past romance with Margaret, and events during their journey cause alliances to shift, but rather than engage in hasty decisions and cheap emotional pivots, the conflict among the trio simmers as both men struggle with their emotions for a woman forced to join because her criminal past ensures she too may return to jail.<\/p>\n

The lean body of characters and quick focus on just the primary three keeps the story tight, and Nardo\u2019s cruel kills should make us hate him outright, but his own struggle with residual feelings for Margaret and an unusual finale transcend what could\u2019ve been a straightforward villain. Ben also matures from a reticent husband to one not wholly infused with jealousy, but genuine sickness and remorse when he sees his wife in pain, and proves his devotion in a hasty operation.<\/p>\n

The performances by the male leads are exceptionally good \u2013 they seemed to have realized they could have fun with their respective characters and seething conflicts. Dwan reportedly didn\u2019t like Fox\u2019s imposing Paget, but after a few silly scenes of domestic life in a shack, once Nardo appears, Margaret gets decent screen time, flowing from an unhappy marriage to the arms of an old fling, and later not knowing who to trust when each man seems more interested in the cash than her well-being.<\/p>\n

Dwan\u2019s early work stemmed back to D.W. Griffith\u2019s Birth of a Nation <\/strong>(1915) and Intolerance<\/strong> (1916), but part of the reason River\u2019s Edge<\/strong> feels so strange are the moments of glaring technical faults which seem to exist due to lazy quality control. Ursini and Silver suggest the bad day-for-night cinematography and jarring edits in action scenes are due to the budget just not allowing for more time, and barely any stunt performers: a steer trampling Ben is never seen, and Nardo\u2019s running over a highway patrolman and attempted mowing over Margaret are very weirdly shot & edited, and goosed with a truly strange engine wheezing.<\/p>\n

Given the otherwise classic use of colours and fine compositions by Harold Lipstein (The Adventures of Hajji Baba<\/a><\/strong>, A Man Called Peter<\/strong>, and Pal Joey<\/a><\/strong>) and straightforward editing by co-writer James Leicester, maybe the technical and continuity flaws are tied to Bogeaus\u2019 tight purse, and Dwan\u2019s disliking of location shooting; the fight scenes in obvious studio sets are quite fluid, the script as a whole is sound, and the finale is quite unusual in having each character earn a small measure of redemption.<\/p>\n

Louis Forbes\u2019 score isn\u2019t especially unique \u2013 the title song features ridiculous lyrics, and early scenes at Ben’s ranch seem to have stock \u2018western\u2019 tracks than an original cue \u2013 but there\u2019s effective interpolations of the classic \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Know,\u201d which is the song that links Margaret and Ben\u2019s otherwise destructive relationship. (Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray features a mono music & effects track.)<\/p>\n

The mono 2.0 track has a bit more depth than the original 1.0 mix, but it sounds like the faux re-channeled mixes which Fox passed off as \u201cstereo\u201d on their DVDs; in almost all cases, the \u201crestored mono\u201d mixes were overwhelming superior.<\/p>\n

In her appreciative liner notes, Julie Kirgo lauds Dwan\u2019s work in silent and sound films, and his versatility in genres, which may have had studios regard the veteran as stylistically inconsistent; there\u2019s a worthy theory to test whether being hugely prolific with a massive filmography caused many skilled directors to remain trapped in B films because to major studio execs Volume +Fast Turnover = Hack. Dwan seemed to admit to Bogdanovich that he may have jumped the gun and signed too many contracts, but the challenge to make a decent film from cheap elements was a peculiar draw.<\/p>\n

Allan Dwan\u2019s films with Benedict Bogeaus including Cattle Queen of Montana<\/strong> (1954), Passion<\/strong> (1954), The Silver Lode <\/strong>(1954), Escape to Burma<\/a><\/strong> (1955), Pearl of the South Pacific<\/strong> (1955), Tennessee\u2019s Partner <\/strong>(1955), Slightly Scarlet <\/strong>(1956), The River\u2019s Edge <\/strong>(1957), Typee<\/strong> (1958), and The Most Dangerous Man Alive<\/strong> (1961), which also co-starred Paget, and was the last film for the producer.<\/p>\n

At 76, Dwan retired from directing after 1961, perhaps due to Bogeaus trying to con the cast into believing they were making a TV pilot for lower pay. Debra Paget also appeared in Bogeaus\u2019 problem-plagued From the Earth to the Moon<\/a><\/strong> (1958), which lost scenes and retained glaring contiguity blunders as studio RKO was in its death throes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2019 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amazon Canada<\/a>\"\"\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon USA<\/a>\"\"\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon UK<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The River\u2019s Edge comes near the end of Allan Dwan’s career, and formed one of ten for indie producer Benedict Bogeaus. According to Silver and Ursini, studio Fox had plans to adapt Harold Jacob Smith\u2019s novel The Highest Mountain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[5018,3296,3664,367,1657,352,3663,6135],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-503","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19223"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19242,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223\/revisions\/19242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}