MovieChat Forums > The River (1951) Discussion > Capt. John's letters

Capt. John's letters

posted 18 years ago by devaughn_05
8 replies | jump to latest

What are we to believe about Capt. John's letters at the end of the film? I watched that scene twice, and I cannot quite figure it out.

[–] kvyas 18 years ago

When the father says, "Semper fidelis" obviously Capt. John couldn't possibly join the Marines given his handicap but that John was in the army and liked women. That is why he writes to all three girls. The filmmaker couldn't include John kissing Melanie because Hollywood couldn't accept an American kissing an Indian and so John "kisses" Valerie and Harriet only because these girls were Caucasian. John probably went back to American and was with some other girl for the narrator mentions that earlier while John is lying in bed that he gets paraded and kissed by girls. That is why the father said John was "keeping the apple" and is probably tempted by some other girl. That is why Melanie and Valerie look up and appear sad after reading their respective letters.

[–] overseer-3 16 years ago

The main part of that sequence to notice is that all the girls drop their letters from him as soon as they hear the baby cry. Life renewing itself and the girls growing up and leaving immaturity behind. The letters are no longer important, they're now just from some impotent man who wasn't strong enough to choose between any of them, so he skedaddled out of India. What's really important is the future and the family and the indolent beauty of their lives by the river in India.

[–] pan-10 15 years ago

I thought that part where the girls all dropped their letters in unison was way too contrived and stagy, but I loved the movie.

[–] pontifikator 13 years ago

That was my take on it, especially as they dropped the letters in unison on the cue of the baby's cry. It's a statement that the river has flowed on, what is past has passed, and life has begun anew, even for the three who thought they loved the Captain.

[–] pan-10 11 years ago

Very good analysis, Overseer-3.

[–] kgolsan 14 years ago

this is an interesting comment regarding censorship--are you positive of this? Would like to know where this is in the code. Also, there may be a greater caution on his part with Melanie because she is an extremely powerful figure in her philosophical and cultural stance.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Local Hero 14 years ago

I agree with some of what has been said in response, but certainly not other remarks. (Capt. John is not too "impotent" to choose between the three girls; he, too, grows immensely in wisdom by the film's end, and all the younger people seem to learn the same lessons of life as an endless flow of birth, death and re-birth.)

I thought that Capt. John wrote warm, comforting letters to all three young girls, each of which has a wistful look of yearning and love on her face, and not just sadness. This is essentially the last throes of this stage of their youth, as the birth of the baby and the dropping of the letters signals a new end and beginning in life.