Movies I Love: River Of No Return

RIVER OF NO RETURN is a western I can watch anytime - though it is hardly a Western at all, more of a Canadian ... filmed in Canada in 1954, that magic year for me - by Otto Preminger it moves along at a cracking pace, Monroe and Mitchum are great together - just like Mitch and Deborah Kerr in that 1957 John Huston classic HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON - another great Fox Scope movie (and another Movie I Love - see Mitchum label). (Apparantly Mitchum had been in the army with MM's first husband, and had seen photos of the young starlet then ...) - actually MR ALLISON is about a marine and a nun in the wilderness (or a remote tropical island), so it shares similarities with this - there they catch that unfortunate turtle, here it is a moose; plus are holed up in a cave with marauders on the loose ..
1954 was that year I began going to the movies when about 8 - JOHNNY GUITAR, DRUM BEAT, SITTING BULL, THE COMMAND - RIVER OF NO RETURN was another western that year, while Raoul Walsh was also making SASKATCHEWAN with Alan Ladd and Shelley Winters in Canada that year. (Shelley and Marilyn had of course been room-mates at one stage...). Here Marilyn is Kay, a saloon singer who is entangled with no-good Rory Calhoun who has cheated his way to a gold mine and needs to get to Carson City to file the claim. Mitchum is the farmer who comes to the tent city after a stint in prison, looking for his son - Tommy Rettig, who is friends with Kay. Later back on the farm father and son rescue Calhoun and Kay who are going downriver on a raft - but Calhoun has his own plan and takes the farmer's horse and gun, leaving them at the mercy of marauding indians, so there is nothing for it but for father, son and Kay who has stayed behind to head down the river themselves on the raft. The Canadian wilderness (Alberta and Banff area) looks great here, and I love the music for whenever the redskins appear ... it is a great soundtrack too.



Exciting fare then, and the back projections with the raft and the stunt doubles are well done. I like the sequence where Mitch takes the frozen wet Kay to a cave, wraps her in blankets and massages her back to warmth as their warring characters begin to respond to each other as the scene melts into the shot of the warm flames. MM and Mitch spar well together and she copes well with the rough stuff. I love how Marilyn looks in 1954, here and in THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS, after that break-out year 1953 for her. Her Kay is pure peaches and cream, and she sings marvellously too. She had developed so much as an actress and performer since those early small parts in 1950 just a few years earlier ...


People tend to forget what a great vocal artist she was. When I was a teenager one of the first record albums I had was "Marilyn" the soundtrack to the 1963 compilation film Fox were quick to put out about her, and it included those songs from the film on it - the theme "River of No Return", "One Single Dollar", "Down in the Meadow" and the terrific "I'm Gonna File My Claim" which she sings in the saloon to the understandably dazed audience. This film has all those Fox Monroe touches: her costumes by Travilla, choreography by Jack Cole, and the songs with lyrics by Ken Darby and music by Lionel Newman. Preminger keeps it going well - he also did CARMEN JONES the same year in that busy decade for him before his Jean Seberg films (we also like BONJOUR TRISTESSE (see Deborah Kerr label) and he finished the decade with ANATOMY OF A MURDER, before his early 60s big hitters). So, its a fun western, an enjoyable movie I can happily re-watch any time its on - I love the bit where the redskin gets onto the raft to rip her blouse off (before being despatched) so she has to face the rapids in her camisole. It may be symbolic but why at the end does she throw her red shoes away - she is going back to the burnt out cabin in the wilderness with no proper clothes or shoes!
In the Monroe filmography RIVER though is regarded as a studio programmer she had to do in 1954, but it actually stands with the best of her Fox films and Kay is one of her best roles.

1954 - what a year for leading ladies: Marilyn's 2, Elizabeth Taylor's 4 including THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, Ava's THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, Audrey as SABRINA, Grace in 5 films including REAR WINDOW, THE COUNTRY GIRL and GREEN FIRE, not to mention those other busy ladies like Shelley Winters, June Allyson, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Anne Baxter etc.... and Kay Kendall in England; and in Europe: Alida Valli in SENSO, Sophia Loren in WOMAN OF THE RIVER, Silvana Mangano in MAMBO; more at 1954 label. (By 1957 the new crop like Lee Remick, Shirley McLaine, Joanne Woodward, Eva Marie Saint and the grown-up Natalie Wood had arrived, along with those second tier names like Vera Miles, Martha Hyer, Dorothy Malone and the B-girls Rhonda Fleming, Virginia Mayo, Arlene Dahl, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget ... while Ingrid Bergman was back, and the '40s gals like Lana, Rita, Susan were pretty busy too, as indeed were the '30s lot!

Eve Arnold, from A (Anouk, Antonioni) to V (Vitti)

More on the late Magnum photographer Eve Arnold - she certainly moved in the best circles, here she is with some of my favourites, showing her great eye for composition:

One of Arnold's great mid-50s Monroe shots.
Joan Crawford in 1959 in front of that marvellous 40s portrait of her.
Dirk Bogarde and Ingrid Bergman in 1964 - Ingrid was his houseguest when she did her stage run in A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY, one of the first plays I saw, in 1965.
Sophia Loren with Chaplin on the set of THE COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, 1966
(I really need to re-see that, I have totally forgotten it!).
Anouk Aimee on the set of JUSTINE, 1969.
Monica Vitti on the set of MODESTY BLAISE, 1966.
Joe Losey in Paris, with Eve's reflections in the mirror as she takes the picture.
Michelangelo Antonioni on the set of BLOW-UP, 1966, what a great shot.
- all from her terrific book "Film Journal"

Interestingly, Yul Brynner's photographs are now on exhibition and there should be a book, these fascinating candid photos of his colleagues at work and play have not been seen before. I particularly like that nice shot of Ingrid Bergman on the set of GOODBYE AGAIN. Yul always had a camera around his neck.

Eve Arnold: first R.I.P. of 2012

Eve Arnold [1912-2012], one of the first woman photojournalists to join the prestigious Magnum Photography Agency in the 1950s and had traveled the world for her work, but was best known for her candid shots of Hollywood celebrities, has died at the remarkable aged of 99; she would have been 100 in April.



Starting in 1951, when career women were a rarity, Arnold navigated distant countries and cultures for unusual photographs ranging from horse trainers in Mongolia to factory workers in China. Her photo essays appeared in feature news magazines like LIFE and in the many books she compiled, in that great age of photo-journalism. She also photographed the leading politicians of that era, including Mrs Thatcher.


She was one of the photographers assigned to the shooting of THE MISFITS in Nevada in 1960 and became friends with Marilyn Monroe who she had photographed several times before in the 50s. This later led to several books on Monroe and the shooting of that complex film. Old-timers like Crawford and Dietrich also recognised a great photograher when they saw one, and Arnold was also on the sets of various favourite 60s films of mine like JUSTINE and MODESTY BLAISE. Her book "Film Journal" covers these in detail along with interesting stories and some terrific photos like Bogarde with Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave and her daughters, Loren with Chaplin, Vitti and Stamp recording MODESTY BLAISE (above) and of course a selection of those Monroe shots. Marilyn certainly glows in Arnold's lenses.



Like that other great photographer Bob Willoughby its a great career to celebrate and any of her collections of photographs are cherishable. I love this 1956 shot of Silvana Mangano's great profile.

My Week With Marilyn - a first review, by Liz Smith

American columnist Liz Smith has given her view on MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, it has not opened here in the UK yet (next week) but I can quite agree with her individual point of view, particularly on Dominic Cooper (who is also playing Uday Hussein currently) as Milton Greene, and then there is Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller - lightweight or what? (MM was staying with Milton Greene and his wife then, he took some the best photographs of her during that time).

Here is Smith's view:

"Much has been said — mostly by the film’s star, Michelle Williams — about the difficulty of portraying the many sides of Marilyn, her variety of voices and personas. Miss Williams is a wonderful actress and no doubt she means every word she utters, but the Marilyn of her creation is a dreary, depressed, dim creature. In fact, it is the Marilyn of Arthur Miller’s “The Misfits.” (Marilyn hated her role in that film, complaining endlessly of the girl’s passivity.)

This movie is based on the highly suspect memoirs of Colin Clark, a lowly go-fer on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl,” which was filmed in London, in 1956. Colin and Monroe became “close” he averred. The characterization offers nothing of Monroe’s wit, humor, intelligence or — and this is vital — her anger. Her reactions to events were not always a depressed collapse. She was capable of intense, extraordinary rages. She had a sharp tongue. She could fight back, and she did. But “My Week With Marilyn” presents nothing but her fears. Or a perceived stupidity. Williams has to utter lines like, “Gee, I wish I could read all these books” when entering a library, or, “I met the Queen. She said my dress was pretty.”

Worse, all the other characters in the film — Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike, Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh, Eddie Redmayne as Colin — are compelled to say how “extraordinary” Monroe is, despite her neurotic behavior. Then we see Miss Williams enacting various scenes from “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Problem? She is not Marilyn Monroe. And so, she does not seem extraordinary at all. I admire Miss Williams for her efforts and sincerity, but in the end, she has given one more imperfect impersonation of Marilyn.

HOWEVER, the worst served by “My Week With Marilyn” is the late photographer Milton Greene. This man admired and loved Marilyn, encouraged her ambitions, supported her financially during her year-long strike against 20th Century Fox. He co-produced “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Their partnership ended badly, but he never spoke ill of her, never exploited their relationship or her image. Dominic Cooper plays Milton like a foul-mouthed NYC gangster, just another user. One wonders what Amy Greene, Milton’s ex-wife, who lived through The Marilyn Years with Milton, would think of this portrayal. (I ran into Amy Greene by chance, just last year. Still razor-sharp, she spoke lovingly of both Marilyn and Milton, “That was their golden time,” she said.)

You know what? Just check out “The Prince and the Showgirl” the next time Turner Classic Movies runs it. It is a testament to the talents of Monroe and Milton Greene.

No more pretty blonde ladies playing dress up, pretending to be Marilyn. It just doesn’t work. Sorry, Michelle."

Now let's see how the English critics respond! As I have said before here, Jack Cardiff who photographed THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL caught Marilyn at her loveliest, he liked her a lot and has a very perceptive chapter on her in his essential autobiography MAGIC HOUR which renders all those other MM books redundant.

Showpeople: Stars at shows

When in London in 1956 for THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL Monroe and Miller attended the opening of his play A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE at the Comedy Theatre, causing a commotion. They also attended that historic first production of John Osbourne's LOOK BACK IN ANGER at the Royal Court - I saw the photo in some Marilyn book, or maybe an Arthur Miller book? but I can't find it now.










Also at the Royal Court, in 1959, were Kay Kendall and Lauren Bacall - I wonder what they were seeing? They don't seem to be enjoying it ...

I did see Arthur Miller in his later years when he was signing a new book of his at Hatchards bookshop in 1995. There was of course a huge crowd and we were instructed not to speak to him or ask him any questions, but I got a signed copy of "Plain Girl"!

A movie I loved: The Misfits

Let's go back to the early '60s, that great era of black and white pictures and intense dramas (DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, THE MIRACLE WORKER, ALL FALL DOWN, LOLITA etc) - few generated such interest as the shoot for THE MISFITS in Reno, Nevada back in 1960, I would have been 14 and remember reading various location reports, it seemed like every journalist and magazine was covering it. The film when it appeared in 1961 seemed too downbeat to be a popular success - maybe it was not what was expected from a Marilyn Monroe film, and Gable looking old at 59 had just died; then with Monroe's death in '62 and Clift's in '66, by the end of the '60s onwards the film was a ghostly elegy for a vanished Hollywood era. Its been marvellous though seeing Wallach now still acting in his 90s.

Marilyn and Clift on location:

But since then this John Huston production took on a life of its own, as that Monroe cult took root and grew as the '60s progressed. We had to have those early MM books picturing her as a tortured genius or damaged goddess, like "Marilyn The Tragic Venus" (I liked the red cover), or Fred Guiles "Norma Jean" with that silver Cecil Beaton shot on the cover, and of course "The Films of Marilyn Monroe", and all the other books focusing on her 20th Century Fox period, Marilyn in New York, every photograher of the time seemed to have their own collection of Marilyn photos (Bob Willoughby, Sam Shaw etc and those terrific pictures by Milton Greene, and Cecil Beaton - and of course Eve Arnold of Magnum who covered the making of THE MISFITS and knew Marilyn and had taken some great shots of her, as featured in several of Arnold's books [right]. Then of course came the sensational Norman Mailer volume in 1973 highlighting those late great photo sessions by George Barris and Bert Stern, cementing Marilyn's legend. Throughout all this THE MISFITS was the movie MM buffs had to keep returning to, watching it every time it screened on televsion or at a revival house, in that pre-video age. (The later books of course sought to portray her as a murder victim, we got the morgue shot, finally Spoto's tome seemed to portray what really happened....)

I over-dosed on it myself, and knew every frame of it so well, this odd, haunting tale of lost people trying to connect in that divorce town Reno - Roslyn Taber awaiting her divorce, a lost soul, rooming at Thelma Ritter's (who has some lovely moments here), Gable as Gay Langland the ageing cowboy, Perce the rootless rodeo player (Montgomery Clift), Guido (Eli Wallach) resentful that his wife died and his uncompleted house, he also desires Roslyn as she and Gay drift together. Those moments like Roslyn hugging the tree in the moonlight, and the party at Guido's unfinished house. Then (what must have attracted Huston to the concept) the scenes of hunting the wild horses which will be used for dogfood, and Roslyn's disgust and making the men face up to themselves. Then we are so involved as the horses are freed and Gay and Roslyn drive home - that fadeout for two of Hollywood's greats... it got me every time, so much so that once when I and my then partner were going away for the weekend in a motor caravan and the BBC was screening THE MISFITS I had to take a portable televison with me, to watch it once again. Russell Metty's photography, particularly the climactic scenes with the horses, is so brilliant, and of course Arthur Miller's screenplay. Stories from the location became legend, the breakdown of the Miller-Monroe marriage, her trouble getting to the set, and so on.

I used to have this quad poster framed on my wall back in the 70s and 80s, and still have the poster now.

Over the years one's fascination with THE MISFITS waned, as one returned to Marilyn the comedienne and those Fox movies like NIAGRA, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE and I particularly like how she looked and sang in those 2 1954 films where she glows and which cemented her stardom: THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS and RIVER OF NO RETURN. After THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH and BUS STOP there was that new Marilyn who never looked lovelier (as shot by Jack Cardiff) in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL, and then the legendardy shoot for SOME LIKE IT HOT (still only the best comedy ever) and then her return to Fox for the damp squib of LET'S MAKE LOVE and that new look early '60s Marilyn for SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE - as per other posts on her at the Marilyn link. We will always though have THE MISFITS, even if I don't need to see it again. It is a key Huston film too of couse, fitting in with that great run he had in the late '50s/early '60s: HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON, THE UNFORGIVEN, THE MISFITS and NIGHT OF THE IGUANA. And now we have Michelle Williams' take on Marilyn in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, where it seems she is capturing the essence of MM ?

My week with Marilyn ?

This is going to be one fascinating movie - but will it work? Michelle Williams who was so great in MEEK'S CUTOFF (review at Westerns label) is hardly one's first choice as Marilyn, but judging by the clips she somehow seems to convey the essence of MM without impersonating her. All the other girls who played Marilyn (ususally in cheesy telemovies) were of course hilariously awful, this though could be interesting. Some unusual casting too - Kenneth Branagh should be able to suggest Olivier, and Judi Dench Dame Sybil Thorndike - but Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller?

It is of couse based on the book by Colin Clark and captures Monroe at an interesting juncture. She has been tired of being the 20th Century Fox sex symbol and had moved to New York where her friend Milton Greene and others had taken some wonderful studies of her and then they set up this filmTHE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL to be made in England and directed by Laurence Olivier who also stars, and photographed by ace cameraman Jack Cardiff, who liked her a lot, as per his book MAGIC HOUR. It was of course a legendary troubled shoot, as detailed in all those Monroe books, but did she ever look lovelier even crammed into that tight dress? We will always have the film, I saw it again a while back, not entirely successful but it has some lovely moments [review at MM, Cardiff labels]. It should be fascinating then to see how it is presented here ....

Jean Negulesco

Off on the Titanic, 1953: Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, Thelma Ritter...
and those MILLIONAIRE gals!

Jean Negulesco – a director whose life [which spanned the 20th century] is more interesting than any film! Born in Romania in 1900 he died in Marbella, Spain aged 93, in 1993 and was a director of note in the 1940s and 1950s, providing us with some interesting ‘40s noirs and those polished star-studded entertainments of the ‘50s. (Right, Negulesco with Sophia Loren and her stand-in Scilla Gabel, in 1957 on BOY ON A DOLPHIN, one of the first movies set in Greece - I love that little Greek travelogue at the start .... Greece was so undiscovered then!).

It reads like something devised by Hemingway, or as colorful as Hawks or Huston: He left home at 12, washed dishes in Paris, and worked in a field hospital on the Western Front in World War I. Then he returned to Paris and his art studies becoming an accomplished painter.

In the ‘20s he travelled across the United States, financing himself by selling his paintings and then he arrived in Hollywood and was soon at work in the movie industry as a sketch artist and technical advisor. He worked up to assistant director on movies like CAPTAIN BLOOD and signed a contract with Warners in 1940. His first feature was THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS in ’44 with Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Negulesco's experience as an artist had provided him with a keen eye for effective shots and the ability to set a scene to create atmosphere. His HUMORESQUE was another vivid hit (a triumph of style over content) with great roles for Joan Crawford (one of her greatest) and John Garfield. He also directed Jane Wyman’s award-winning role in JOHNNY BELINDA, 1948.



He then became a contract director at 20th Century Fox – ROADHOUSE is a terrific little noir, which I first saw at a Sunday matinee sometime in the '50s and it remained a key movie for me, Ida Lupino is terrific as the hard-boiled chanteuse who is hired by the deranged Jefty (Widmark) to sing at his roadhouse, but once she falls for Cornel Wilde, it gets very tense indeed. He directed THE MUDLARK in England, and then that early TITANIC in ’53 with Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner and Thelma Ritter. He then reinvented himself as the director for glossy entertainments, mainly Fox’s “3 girls sharing an apartment and looking for love” movies.



Like Rex Harrison with Mankiewicz, Clifton Webb was the ideal actor for Negulesco. He leads the cast in THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, a massive hit in 1954 – but before that was HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, one of the first CinemaScope movies and a super hit cementing Marilyn Monroe as the new Fox star, and she proves a delightful comedienne here - MM in that red swimsuit was my first introduction to her. Then of course WOMAN’S WORLD in ’54, with Webb again leading a terrific cast [see next item]. I didn’t care for DADDY LONG LEGS, but simply love BOY ON A DOLPHIN, one of my key 1957 movies, where Sophia Loren dazzles as Phadrea – her scenes with Clifton as Mr Parmalee, the millionaire who wants the statue show them both to good effect. I first saw this when I was 12... a lot more on these are at MM, Loren, Bacall, 1957 labels..




A big hit in 1959 was THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, also written about here previously, as labels, with those 3 girls (originally 4 - Martha Hyer was almost snipped out) in the '50s Manhattan publishing world, with Joan Crawford "as Amanda Farrow" terrorising the typists in the typing pool. I love those moments with Hope Lange and Suzy Parker and those CinemaScope images....its a lush soaper on the level of IMITATION OF LIFE or A SUMMER PLACE.


His later films are best forgotten; he had moved to Spain in the '60s, to paint and collect art. THE PLEASURE SEEKERS (Ann-Margret, Pamea Tiffin, Carol Lynley and a reappearance by Gene Tierney) was his last interesting film in '64. Right: Carol Lynley & Gardner McKay. Other credits include JESSICA, A CERTAIN SMILE, COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR - the Lana Turner/Burton one.

His biography “Things I did and things I think I did” in ’84 should be an interesting read - and I have just ordered it!