Wendy (Gloria Jean) is a teenage girl who lives with her kindly Uncle Bill (John Qualen), owner of a curio shop. He has sheltered her from life by instilling a belief in fairy tales and make-believe. Uncle Bill buys a violin from shady character Peg Leg (Sheldon Leonard). Johnny (Keefe Brasselle), ringleader of a local street gang, connects the violin with the theft of a Stradivarius from a murdered composer. Thugs kidnap Johnny, and Peg Leg is killed by the boss of the crime ring, a masked man known as Raincoat. The mysterious Raincoat tortures Johnny to make him reveal his own gang's activities. Meanwhile, Wendy discovers the identity of Raincoat. She confronts her fear of the outside world and joins Johnny's street gang to rescue Johnny and capture the criminals.
The project was originally conceived as Fairy Tale Murder, a vehicle for Universal's singing star Deanna Durbin, then abandoning frothy musicals for grittier dramatic roles. When Durbin rejected the script, it was adapted as a tough-teen drama along the lines of Universal's Little Tough Guys action pictures. Replacing Durbin was the studio's teenage singing star Gloria Jean, who was nearing the end of her contract. Universal used this production toward fulfilling Gloria Jean's remaining contractual obligations. She left the studio at the end of 1944, but Fairy Tale Murder was shelved for almost a year. It finally reached theaters in late 1945, with the title changed to River Gang.[4] For theaters outside the United States, the film retained the Fairy Tale Murder title.
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