Product Description

Great Britain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD:it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ),SYNOPSIS: Filmed on location in the Tennessee Valley, Wild River is set in the early 1930s. Montgomery Clift plays an idealistic TVA agent, assigned to convince the locals to move from their property so that a beneficial dam can be built. The principal holdout is feisty octogenarian Jo Van Fleet, who refuses to budge from her land, convinced that she will die if she ever gives an inch. Her prophecy turns out to be true, as Van Fleet becomes yet another sacrifice to progress. Clift also runs into opposition because of his fair treatment of the local black population. Lee Remick costars as Van Fleet's granddaughter, who comes to love and understand the sensitive Clift. Some dated fuzzy-headed liberalism aside, Wild River is a masterful recreation of a difficult, complex period in American history. Watch for an uncredited Bruce Dern in his film debut.
SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Berlin International Film Festival,

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90133 in DVD
• Formats: Import, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Features

• THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER

Customer Reviews

A Forgotten Film
It is a shame this film has fallen into obscurity over the years. Though overshadowed by Elia Kazan's more heralded and flashier efforts, I have always found "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "Wild River" to be his best. Thanks to a scarred Montgomery Clift and a young and earthy Lee Remick, "Wild River" has a feeling of quiet reality.

Monty's genius was to be so much the person he was portraying that he seemed to disappear onscreen. Clift's sensitive performance here, coming after the accident which altered his appearance, is one of his best. It is matched by lovely Lee Remick.

Clift works for the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) and has come to Jo Van Fleet's rural home to move her off her land so room can be made for a dam. Clift is not uncaring and his sympathy for the older woman is complicated even further by his attraction to her young granddaughter, Lee Remick.

He is also unpopular because of his fair treatment of blacks whom he is employing to help build the dam. But the violence simmering just beneath the surface here is less on his mind than Remick. He cannot have her because of what he is forced to do. Yet it is torture for him.

Clift's sensitivity and Remick's heart, torn between what she knows he has to do and what she feels within for him creates a frustration for the would-be couple the viewer can really feel. One scene in particular, as Remick paces back and forth in front of a sitting Clift, reveals the ache in Clift which finally blows.

Beautiful location filming by Kazan adds a further sense of reality to this quiet yet moving film. This was one of Clift's best post-accident performances and it is sad it is only available in this region 2 format for those across the pond to enjoy. Perhaps soon it will be recognized for the quiet masterpiece it is and become available to all.

Jo Van Fleet's Supreme Moment
Jo Van Fleet earns the academy award she got for East of Eden. Her every look, every intonation is stripped bare of sentiment. She subtly creates an identification between herself and the land, the river, and its history. When the great oak tree beside her old homestead comes crashing to earth the sound itself is wrenching to us -it is like the old woman herself being ripped in two.

Ms. Van Fleet in this film gives a master-class in acting. One of the great performances.

Montgomery Clift is a complex, hurt and fascinating character and the part is infused with his compelling and yet ambiguous sexuality. Lee Remick is transcendent, her loneliness, sexual hunger and intensity could have been off-putting - she shades it so exquisitely with her wise and maternal tenderness that it works. When SHE proposes to HIM shes says more or less "in some things you are stupid and I'm not and you need me" Her boldness is so appealing.

It is worth noting that the racial tensions of the period are part of the plot BUT the poor whites of Tennessee are treated with affectionate respect and not as Hollywood stereotypes.

Never saw a sweeter movie!
I agree fully with the reviewer from Bakersfield.

Internet Movie Database provided links to a source who could give me a NTSC copy for about $50. However, with compatible software and hardware you can see this PAL version in your computer monitor. This particular PAL version is technically (color and crispness of picture) much better than what I saw on television years ago.

This PAL region 2 version (just a few copies) is available in Amazon. I am sure more copies are available somewhere else.

If you copy the DVD to your computer hard drive (it is not copy-protected) you can play it with Nero Showtime and a compatible monitor, in my case, a Viewsonic VX922.

The picture in this version is crisp and the color is gorgeous!