East Of The River is your typical Warner Brothers urban drama which that studio had down as a formula. Though the plot might not be recognizable at first, it's taken from The Charge Of The Light Brigade where Olivia DeHavilland switches her affections from Errol Flynn to younger brother Patric Knowles. More than any other major studio, Warner Brothers was big on recycling stories if they worked.
The two brothers are John Garfield and William Lundigan. As no one would believe these two are blood kin, there is a prologue where the orphan who grows up to be Lundigan is placed in the care of Marjorie Rambeau the Italian immigrant mother and she raises him as her own. Lundigan turns out to be a real straight arrow, college degree and all. Garfield however continues in his hoodlum from childhood and he's just getting out of prison on the West Coast when he goes east to see Lundigan graduate from college and he takes his moll Brenda Marshall with him.
Garfield also has a score to settle with Douglas Fowley and Jack LaRue who framed him into the joint though the film ain't real clear on how they did it. The fact he's losing Marshall to Lundigan cramps his style though.
Of course it all works out in the end and East Of The River doesn't exactly break any new ground. James Cagney passed on this one, he'd done it all before and Garfield was only in his third year at Warner Brothers.
Both Marjorie Rambeau and George Tobias played all kinds of ethnic characters in their careers and they do well in their silver screen Italian parts. Marshall does well also as the girl reaching for something a lot better than Garfield can give her.
John Garfield's most devoted fans won't rate East Of The River as one of his top performances, but the film does showcase Garfield at his urban best.
