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Gasp! James asks Ella to leave Wyoming to escape the coming danger! She’s not having a bar of it. That river is really loud. It looks tranquil but it’s obscenely noisy. Why wasn’t it turned down? Surely someone in the crew could have found the volume knob on the riverbed. It was probably under a rock or reed. I’m sure the river wouldn’t have minded. It could have even been asked to turn itself down. Water is rarely grumpy and nine times out of ten happy to help. You will from time to time cop a stroppy river who will tell you to go sod-off if you request it takes its babbling down a few decibels.
The last thing you want on any shoot is a stroppy river. During filming of Bridge on the River Kwai, Alec Guinness commented the river wasn’t as wet as he’d expected. It upset the water so much, that it left for the entire afternoon to calm down. It reportedly went to market to browse for crafts.
Australian Film Review 