Frank Borzage

The Profile

Frank Borzage (1894–1962) was an American film director known for romantic melodramas and work in the silent and early sound eras. He won Academy Awards for Best Director for 7th Heaven and Bad Girl.

The River (1929) is largely lost; a reconstructed version using surviving footage and stills was produced by the Filmmuseum Munich with Swiss and Luxembourg cinémathèques and screened in 2006 at the American Museum of the Moving Image. The River starred Charles Farrell and Mary Duncan. The review on DeBaser reproduces a 1999 assessment by Martino Breve and mentions actor Alfred (Alfredo) Sabato as appearing in the film.

The provided review discusses Frank Borzage's 1929 film The River, much of which is lost and exists today in a reconstructed form. The review praises the film's sensuality, performances (Mary Duncan, Charles Farrell) and gothic-melodramatic tone. It notes a 2006 screening of the reconstruction and highlights a reproduced 1999 review by Martino Breve. The reviewer finds the film undervalued in Borzage's homeland.