WILD RIVER

Elia Kazans lyrical, liberal account of Montgomery Clift as a Tennessee Valley Authority agent struggling to persuade an obstinate old woman to abandon her home before it is flooded by a new project, is one of his least theatrical and most affecting films. Partly thats because the battle lines between city and country, old and new, expediency and commitment are effectively blurred, making the conflict more dramatically complex than one might expect; but Kazans evident nostalgia for the Thirties (New Deal) setting also lends the film greater depth and scope than is usually to be found in his work. (Geoff Andrew)