"One thing about this, the longer you last the less you care."

CinemaScope brought a whole new form of filmmaking to Fox. It was not a better brand of filmmaking either. With the new aspect ratio studio heads figured they could pack in more scenery that would impress audiences. This of course detracted from the story, but the studio bosses figured audiences would pay money for just about anything. One such example of a movie that stresses scenery over acting and story is River of No Return (1954).

River of No Return is probably one of the most frustrating movies to watch. There are talented people associated with it, but the story is severely lacking. The scenery looks nice though.

The movie was directed by Otto Preminger. He was a talented director, but it was the last movie he had to make on his contract with Fox. It looked like he was just going through the motions. There were no interesting camera movements, it was basically shot from as far away as possible thanks to the bulky CinemaScope cameras that made it hard to shoot close-ups.

Marilyn Monroe stars in the movie and if there is one thing you want with Marilyn Monroe it is close-ups. She plays Kay, a saloon singer in the Old West around 1875. She befriends a young boy, Mark. Mark’s father, Matt, played by Robert Mitchum, arrives in the small town Kay sings in to claim his son after spending a year in jail for shooting a man. Now the names Mark and Matt should tell you that the screenwriters were lazy. It is hard to tell either name apart because they are so similar. For those watching the movie they know the little boy’s name starts with an M and his father’s name starts with an M, but they don’t know who is Mark or who is Matt.

Anyway, Mitchum brings his son to live on a ranch down river that he has. Father and son get along well. Mitchum tells the boy that he will teach him to do many things, like hunt, that the boy has always wanted to learn.

Things look good for the two until a troubled raft comes downstream. Mitchum and the boy rescue the raft’s contents – Kay and her would be husband Harry. Apparently Harry has won some money downriver and has to go to the town to claim it. The raft has been totaled and he needs a gun for protection, just in case the man doesn’t want give him the money. He tries to go for Mitchum’s gun, but Mitchum says he needs it to fight Indians.

Well, the two get in a fight and Harry wins. Kay is so upset at seeing the little boy cry over his injured father that she tells Harry to go on without her. He does and she nurses Mitchum back to health. Lo and behold Indians come by and torch the ranch. With no gun, the party of Kay, Mark and Matt have to escape on the river.

What follows is a trip down a river that is supposed to be unmanageable. So the movie is a bit like The African Queen (1951), only it is much worse.

In the end, Mitchum gets his gun back. Harry losses Kay and Kay and Mitchum gain a better respect for each other. Most importantly for the heads at Fox, the scenery looked great.