The River on AllMovie

This Fox part-talkie reunited Charlie Farrell and Frank Borzage, respectively the star and director of the enormously successful Seventh Heaven. Farrell is cast as virile outdoorsman Allen John Pender, while Mary Duncan co-stars as Pender's haughty society sweetheart Rosalee. At first, Rosalee is resistant to Pender's Spartan lifestyle, but he wins her over by singing a thrilling romantic ballad. The title is somewhat allegorical -- "love is like a river," and all that -- while the plot is inconsequential, merely an excuse to display the cinematic expertise of "schmaltz" expert Borzage. The River was based on a novel by Tristam Tupper.