PRE-United: From "Rivers" to the "Island."

Longtime readers here know of my basically lifelong love of Eleanor Parker. She was one of the movie stars who led me into the once-unknown-to-me realm of "classic movies" (i.e. - anything made before I was a teen!) I made it a goal to see everything she did and, thanks to old cable channels like TNT and AMC, etc... I came very close. The first time I saw Many Rivers to Cross (1955) was in the early-1990s and I didn't care much for it. I don't think I was ready for the glamorous Baroness Schraeder to be cavorting around in buckskin. On a whim, I checked it out last night and found it more accessible.  

The stars, Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker, had been paired in 1952's Above and Beyond. It was financially successful and was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Story and Score.

They were re-teamed in 1954 for Valley of the Kings, made at a time when Hollywood was catering to an Egypt-crazed public. Although it was filmed partly on location, it often felt studio bound and didn't make all of its cost back. Nonetheless, Taylor and Parker had developed chemistry and, at least on Parker's part, a strong affection. 

Thus, MGM went to the well one more time with this 1955 release. As I say, I had no use for it the first time I viewed it, but that was so long ago, with the Cinemascope picture cropped and blurry. So I gave it a go once more. One thing that struck me this time was noting how many names I now recognize in the supporting cast, some of who went on to success with television.

An early scene examines the relationship between young Darryl Hickman (older brother of Dwayne) and Betty Lynn. Lynn later became known for playing Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show. 

Set in late-1700s Kentucky, the principle story line involves lone-wolf trapper Taylor running into trouble in the wilderness with some Indians and being rescued by tomboy Parker. In time, she'll create as much or more trouble for him than the natives who just tried to kill him!

She takes him home to rest up with her sizeable family; her parents and her four brothers. 

One brother is played by Russell Johnson while her Scottish father is enacted by Voctor McLaglen. 

The eldest brother is played by John Hudson (WHO?!), an actor who enjoyed a reasonably long career spent mostly under the radar. 

The other two brothers are played by young Russ Tamblyn and Jeff Richards. 

These two had just portrayed close siblings in the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. So this was something of a reunion for them. 

Parker's mother was played by stage actress and longtime movie character performer Josephine Hutchinson. 

Things take an interesting turn when Parker's brother Tamblyn is brought home one evening with a split lip by a local man who has his eye on her. 

The brawny, unrefined would-be fiancee is played by Alan Hale Jr. Why is that interesting? 

Because Russell Johnson (top-left) and Hale would find themselves placed together nine years later in roles that would utterly define their careers. 

Yes, it's Skipper and The Professor, working alongside one another in the same film nearly a decade prior to Gilligan's Island. 

These seven castaways (I LOVE this portrait of them, by the way) would hit the network airwaves in 1964 and, thanks to reruns, never leave them again. The indelible roles made it difficult for viewers to ever see them as anything other than the parts they played on the broadly comic show. 

Johnson is given a couple of closeups during a shooting competition.

Hale, despite a featured (and colorful) role never warrants such treatment. He's mostly seen in profile and in medium or group shots. 

At one point, he and Taylor square off and you can see the body language emerging which would later become stock in trade for Skipper. 

This skirmish becomes a public brawl. 

At far-right you can see Johnson egging the two men on. 

They don't really share dialogue together, but they are occasionally in the same shots with one another. Little did they know that within a decade they would be sharing countless hours on set together. 

Another soon-to-be TV icon shows up late in the proceedings and that is towering James Arness, who became a household name playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. 

I can imagine all sorts of pearl-clutching amongst today's audiences if they should happen upon this film for a variety of reasons. There's Parker desperately wanting/needing a man. 

The two of them (in a wild and woolly climax) basically prove to each other how worthy they are by showing who is best at doing away with Indians!

If you can think of these as elements of the time and "teachable moments," then you may take to the rollicking romance more easily. (It took the comments of another viewer to make me realize that it's something of a pioneer western rip-off of The Quiet Man!)

The two did have strong chemistry and though Taylor was with Ursula Thiess the entire time he and Parker worked on their three movies. In fact, he and Thiess were together on their honeymoon during the location shooting of Many Rivers.  

Whatever the case might be between them, I don't think it took much for Parker to enact longing towards her costar. And there were sly little bits along the way, such as having her churn butter rhythmically while looking him up and down as he chats with her father. Oh, and if you think I have glossed over that shirtless artwork of Taylor in one of the promotional cards above, I didn't!

Early in the movie, in what had to be some chilly waters, Taylor is taking a bath when he realizes he's not alone...!

He asks her how long she's been up there watching and she happily replies, in a phrase that can be considered a double entendre, "Long enough!'

Taylor, who was surely wearing some flesh-toned briefs, keeps the water swirling in front of him to ensure we can never see too much. 

Somehow it struck me funny and made me recall the infamous opening that was crafted for 1977's The Richard Pryor Show. 

See what I mean, Vern?

Till Next Time!