Fluss ohne Wiederkehr (River of No Return)

After several years in prison, Matt Calder ventures a fresh start as a farmer and wants to bring his son to live with him; the boy has been looked after in the meantime by Kay, a saloon singer. Meanwhile, her fiancé has won a gold mine through gambling and, together with Kay, gets into trouble on a rafting trip very close to Calder’s farm … Uncontrollable nature, existential uncertainty and an involuntary community: this milestone, set in an exciting and colourful widescreen landscape, celebrates the Canadian mountain scenery at least as much as the beauty of its leading lady – of whom Otto ‘the terrible’ Preminger was not at all fond. All the more impressive is the result: a Western as a survival drama.
(Florian Widegger)