Polly: "Didn't do any good to fix that hand, you like to suffer."By Henry Hathaway
With Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten and Jean Peters
The first reason I got interested in seeing Niagara is because it features Marilyn Monroe, her aura and fame is still important and the fact that I haven't seen much of her work always makes me feel impaired. The second reason is because although it is listed as a Film-Noir, surprisingly, it is in colors and I think it might be the first Film-Noir I see that isn't in black and white.
The movie starts at the Niagara falls, where George Loomis, obviously troubled by something, is walking alongside the falls and going back to his hotel room where his wife, Rose Loomis, pretends to be asleep. At the same time, the happy couple, Polly and Ray Cutler, cross the border and arrive at the same hotel. The Loomis' are in their room and when the manager tries to tell them that they should have left a couple of days ago, Rose Loomis uses her husband's mental condition to have the Cutler move to another room. While the Cutler proceed to do all the touristic rituals around the falls they see Rose Loomis kissing another man. The same night, the Cutler are enjoying the evening at the hotel around a record player when Rose comes in and plays the song "Kiss", prompting her husband to come out of the room in full rage and break the record. The trap is set and murder can dance with accidents so close to the falls.
It is always amazing to see lead actresses from the 50's oozing with so much charm, and even though Marilyn Monroe is indeed a queen of glamour and proves it again here, I was personally stunned with Jean Peters. The men are do not disappoint with Joseph Cotten (of Citizen Kane (1941) and particularly The Third Man (1949) fame) playing the foolishly in love, yet mentally unstable George very convincingly and Max Showalter being an over the top happy camper who becomes fed up with his honeymoon. And while at some point I thought that Marilyn Monroe would once again be reduced to this curvaceous brainless blonde but the fact that the character had such a double personality gave depth to the role.
However, the story line is interesting at best, as it is not particularly original--depicting a rather typical concoction of jealousy, love affairs and a murder-accident. One of the reasons that the movie works out despite that is the setting, I personally have never been to the Niagara Falls but the shots here really give a lovely view. It seems almost like they are showing off the recent acquisition of colors in films by displaying rainbows around the falls. The fact that Niagara Falls constitutes the border between USA and Canada also adds an interesting element when it comes to escaping charges and fleeing the country. I'd go as far as to say that the movie wouldn't have worked if it was set anywhere else, which gives the title its full meaning.
The analogy between the falls are legion and actually work very well all in all, as one of the tagline stated : "A raging torrent of emotion that even nature can't control!". The flow of the movie is also similar in that after the calm the movie really accelerated before the fall(s). Although it has some convenient plot helpers, the movie does not become typical and the bell tower and falls scenes are worth watching in themselves.
I disliked: Quite simple story. The twist that happens in the middle is quite predictable.
74/100
I am no Marilyn Monroe expert but I'd recommend this one, also if you enjoy Film-Noir intrigues but like your films in colors.
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