[The River] makes it clear that we should accept Renoir for what he is—an imperfectionist, with talent great enough to contain the kind of faults that few directors today would dare to commit….

[The River] shows Renoir's talent in full flower, the film of a humanist and a poet, and in its tender intuition, affectionate understanding, follows the line of his most memorable work. As in his best American films he absorbed and reflected a new locale, so here—with more leisure, more freedom—he creates, with evident fascination, an Indian background….

The slightness of the story is filled out by the richness of the background, and a constant series of events, some everyday, some important…. (p. 123)

It is, deliberately, a westerner's view. Renoir communicates landscapes and customs as a charmed outsider, and reinforces this impression by using the English girl as narrator…. Against this background Renoir...