LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

aaronlromano We can all agree on two things at least: 1) Renoir is a genius and 2) This film has some stunning visuals with excellent uses of color etc. Those two things being said, I think - no I honestly believe - that this film has received so high a rating here on IMDb simply because it is by Renoir, and people fear that if they express distaste in Renoir, they make themselves appear foolish and uncultured. Thus, this film has an unjustly high rating. I only rated it as high as I did because of the stunning visuals, but the fact of the matter is even a master like Renoir can produce a dud. He's not the only one; Hitchcock directed Under Capricorn, Faulkner penned Mosquitoes, and Gary Oldman allows himself to be used in countless terrible movies - as Vonnegut says: "So it goes." The sad fact is that this film falls flat on glorious Technicolor face. The acting is wooden to the point of being nonexistent and the screenplay is horrible to the point of being cacophonous. I do not feel that it deserves the distinction of a Criterion release as a so-called "Important Classic Film" and I recommend, even as a personal fan of Renoir, that you pass on this one.

bobsgrock Only Jean Renoir could make a film like The River simply because of the way it is photographed. As the son of a famous impressionist painter, Renoir's eye is so keen in capturing the exotic beauty so foreign and yet so attractive to Westerners, both European and American. Perhaps the most amazing element about this film is the way in which it accepts and acknowledges many beliefs the Indians hold to and the parallels they have to our own western traditions. The cyclical nature of life and death is ever prevalent here as is conflicting feelings between desire and duty. Every character here is conflicted over something, which allows for great insight through dialogue and that wonderful narration. Above all, Renoir captures the audience's full attention and understanding of this far away land that may not be as different from our own as we think. In much the same way as us, they desire health, safety, love and tranquility. For those who have never seen a film about India that doesn't lower itself to the traditional stereotypes of dirty animals, impoverished streets and dangerous situations, here is a film that showcases its beautiful eccentricities and how people are generally the same everywhere. It is also one of the most beautiful color films ever made. Of course it is. After all, it is a Renoir.

Claudio Carvalho In Bengal, India, the teenager Harriet (Patricia Walters) is the oldest daughter of a British family composed by her father (Esmond Knight) that lost one eye in the war and is the manager of a jute factory; her mother (Nora Swinburne) that is pregnant; and her four younger sisters and one little brother. They have a quiet and comfortable life living in a big house nearby the Ganges River. Valerie (Adrienne Corri) is the teenage daughter the owner of the jute factory where Harriet's father works that spends most of her time with Harriet. Melanie is the British-Indian daughter of Harriet's neighbor Mr. John (Arthur Shields) that has just returned from an education in England. When the young American Captain John (Thomas E. Breen) that lost one of his legs in the war comes to Bengal to visit his cousin Mr. John, the three teenagers fall in love for him. "The River" is a story of first love in the exotic India and metaphorically compares the Ganges River with the flow of life with the lead character leaving her childhood and becoming an adolescent. The screenplay of this romance has many beautiful quotes, but excessive narrative from a grown-up Harriet. The cinematography is stunning, with the use of bright colors in the environment of India. Thomas E. Breen performs an outcast character that has a great complex due to the loss of one of his legs but he does not transmit this feeling to the audience. The red-haired Adrienne Corri is a very beautiful young woman that gives credibility to her sixteen year-old character. The Brazilian DVD was released by Continental Distributor. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Rio Sagrado" ("The Sacred River")

Robert Bloom In Jean Renoir's introduction to this film the great master cites Rumer Godden's book The River as the greatest work of literature about English colonialism in India. I can think of at least two books that are greater, E.M. Forster's A Passage to India, and George Orwell's Burmese Days, two works of literature which seem to indicate that Britain's endeavors in India produced more harm than a few damaged human relations among the English.Never the less, Jean Renoir brings unbelievable beauty to this film, which was his first attempt at full Technicolor, and it's a glorious attempt, called the most beautiful color film (along with Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes) by Martin Scorsese.The color has a warm subtlety and grace which can only be described as characteristic as his father's paintings, cheap as that sounds.Is The River the Rules of the Game of Renoir's color period, as Andre Bazin claims? No, I'm afraid no movie is as good as The Rules of the Game, yet this is a wonderful and important work all the same.