Rare footage of Marilyn shooting River of No Return in Canada has emerged. Periscope Film, a Los Angeles-based company specialising in restoring stock footage, posted this extraordinary video to their YouTube channel on June 1st, 2024 – which would have been Marilyn’s 98th birthday – as part of their ‘Reel Discovery‘ series.
The full, 16-minute film was posted here a year ago, and consists of a family travelogue shot during the summer of 1953, following a middle-aged woman and a younger man (perhaps her son or nephew) on a vacation in the Canadian Rockies.
The amateur filmmakers recorded filming of the ‘rafting scene’ from River of No Return, where Marilyn rescues Robert Mitchum from the rapids, with child actor Tommy Rettig and make-up artist Allan ‘Whitey’ Snyder also visible among the film crew. (This segment begins at approximately 8:30, ending at 11:00.)
Interestingly, some of the holidaymakers’ other activities in Banff, Alberta also mirror Marilyn’s – including a cable-car trip later revisited with photographer John Vachon for a magazine layout. His photos showed Marilyn on crutches, having slipped on the rocks and sprained her ankle while filming the river scenes.
And finally, the Banff Springs Hotel (where Marilyn stayed) is shown near the end of the rediscovered home movie.
The Marilyn Report 