Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the Bengal river around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation.
Nora Swinburne
as The Mother
Esmond Knight
as The Father
Arthur Shields
as Mr. John
Suprova Mukerjee
as Nan
Thomas E. Breen
as Capt. John
Patricia Walters
as Harriet
Radha Burnier
as Melanie
Adrienne Corri
as Valerie
June Tripp
as Narrator (voice)
Nimai Barik
as Kanu (uncredited)
CinemaSerf
I found there to be something of the beauty of one of novelist Rumor Godden's other novels - "Black Narcussus" (1947) in this gorgeously photographed tale of three young women growing up with the Ganges river providing a constant in their lives. Our story is narrated, in part, by "Harriet" (Patricia...