Wendy is a teenage girl who lives with her kindly uncle Bill, owner of a curio shop. He has sheltered her from life by instilling in her a belief in fantasy and fairy tales. After Uncle Bill buys a violin from shady character Peg Leg, street-gang leader Johnny 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 force him to 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, who had been abandoning frothy musicals for grittier dramatic roles. When Durbin rejected the script, it was adapted as a tough teen drama similar to Universal's Little Tough Guys action films. The studio's teenage singing star Gloria Jean took the role intended for Durbin. As Gloria Jean was nearing the end of her contract, Universal used the production, among others, to fulfill her 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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