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Two hands wrap around a cold hand in a close view.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

Romantic drama

The River

RomanticBleak Best saved for later · For patient viewers Romantic drama

A young man tending an isolated river property meets a woman bound to an absent lover, and winter turns their encounter into dependence.

Year
1929
Director
Frank Borzage
Country
United States
Length
84 min
Language
English

What to expect

Borzage uses water, snow, enclosure, and bodily care to give romance an elemental pressure. The film survives incompletely, so its emotional force reaches us through fragments and reconstruction as well as original design.

How to ease in

Accept the surviving presentation as incomplete. Focus on Allen, Rosalee, and the changing river landscape; atmosphere carries connections that missing material can no longer explain.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Survives in incomplete form and may vary by presentation. Includes sexual coercion, violence, isolation, illness, death, and emotional distress.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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The missing sections make the river feel even less containable: the film reaches us after part of its course has disappeared. I hold on to the gestures of warmth that remain.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Version map

AFI 84-minute release record84 min84 minutes is attached only to the named AFI 84-minute release record. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred.Source: American Film Institute — The RiverRuntime reference · Checked 2026-08-22

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