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Based on Morgan's 1947 novel which was in turn based on his own wartime experiences. Originally adapted for stage in the 1950's when it starred Paul Scofield and Virginia McKenna. The River Line has as its central theme the idea of responsibility, particularly the responsibility for action forced upon peace-loving men who find themselves living in an age of violence during the War. The name 'the River Line' was given to one of those networks of communication which enabled Allied airman to get home through Belgium, France and the Pyrenees. The organisers always feared that they might be receiving 'a false Englishman', a secret agent introduced by the enemy into the Line in order to betray it. The story is rooted in this fear. Of the group of officers, American and English, concealed in Marie Chassaigne's granary, one was killed with terrible suddenness. Who was he? Where did the responsibility lie? A young American, having played his part in the adventure, comes to England in 1947 to visit his surviving friends who shared it. As a double story of 1943 and 1947 unfolds, his discovery of the whole truth affects his relationships with two women and his understanding of himself. It seems that that the present is bound to the past in that kind of tragic entanglement which everywhere afflicts the modern conscience. The solution lies in pardon and release.

Creatives/Company

Author: Charles Morgan