Allan Dwan's - The Rivers Edge Ray Milland Anthony Quinn

Directed by Allan Dwan
USA 1957

Deep in the lonely New Mexico desert, Ben Cameron (Anthony Quinn) and his wife Meg (Debra Paget) struggle to build their small ranch. But the arrival of the charming but deadly trickster Nardo Denning (Ray Milland) could tear apart more than their homkestead. With a gun in his hand and a secret about Meg’s past in his heart, Denning forces Ben to guide him safely to Mexico with his stolen fortune. As they navigate the dangerous terrain, each man struggles to gain the upper hand for survival – and for Meg – in this tense and gripping Western.

***

Low-budget, yet surprisingly effective off-beat western from veteran director Dwan. Quinn is a rancher whose embittered wife (Paget) is the ex-mistress of a killer (Milland at his very nastiest) who takes them both hostage in order to get himself and some stolen loot over the border to Mexico. Along the way, they burn some money to keep warm and the extent of Milland's fiendish plot to get his ex back is revealed.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE.

Poster

Theatrical Release: April 11th, 1957

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DVD Review: 20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	20th Century Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:27:09
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.11 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Mono), DUB: Spanish (Mono)
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Audio commentary by James Ursini and Alain Silver • Stills Gallery • Trailer • 2 other Fox Classic trailers DVD Release Date: July 11th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 20

Comments:

This is at the high standard of other Fox Classic releases. There is a very slight greenish/yellow haze over some of the indoor scenes, but it is not overly noticeable during normal viewing. Detail is strong and the anamorphic, progressive image is tight to the frame edges. The cinemascope ratio looks grand - there are optional English and Spanish subtitles and an audio choice of mono or stereo and a Spanish dub.

I was very pleased with the Ursini/Silver commentary. They seem to improve (or perhaps get more comfortable) with each DVD release that they are part of.

The film is by no means a masterpiece but it has something going for it - even beyond the star performances. Dwan could always set a great atmosphere and The River's Edge includes at least a couple. I see it is being touted as a western, which may be fair, but it also has some noir elements to it. Regardless I think this is a just choice for a 'Fox Classic' and the DVD value (price) can't be beat.

Gary W. Tooze

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