Directed by Henry Hathaway from a script by Billy Wilder's frequent collaborator Charles Brackett (who produced, too), Walter Reisch, and Richard Breen, NIAGARA is a dark thriller, except in appearance. Director of Photography Joe McDonald, best known for his films noir, shot the gorgeous Niagara Falls locations in dazzling Technicolor, while still making atmospheric, suspenseful use of shadows and light. Even more dazzling is Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest star vehicles, sultry and slippery in one of her last femme fatale roles before GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES showed the world Monroe's funny side.
Despite the happy cliché of Niagara Falls being a honeymooners' paradise, NIAGARA The Movie is moody from the start as edgy George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) wanders around the Canadian side of the falls at dawn, feeling insignificant. He's a war veteran freshly released from an Army hospital, where he was treated for PTSD, or as they called it back then, "battle fatigue." He's also got a sexpot wife, Rose (Monroe), so you'd think George's life isn't that bad. :-) Ah, but Rose has thorns: a secret lover and a plot to kill George and make it look like suicide. Fate brings the Loomises together with Polly and Ray Cutler (Jean Peters and Casey Adams). Polly and Ray are at the falls for their late honeymoon, long delayed by eager-beaver Ray's demanding job as a cereal executive. Despite bringing books, Ray promises, "It'll be as good as a regular honeymoon." "It should be better," Polly replies teasingly. "I've got my union card now." They laugh and snuggle, and that's one of the few happy moments Polly and Ray have together before the Loomises make their honeymoon into a living hell.
Things get creepy, starting with small inconveniences, like our lovebirds settling for a cabin with a so-so view because Rose and the unwell George are still in the cabin Polly and Ray were supposed to have. While the Cutlers enjoy their tour of the falls, Polly spies Rose making out with her hunky hottie (Richard Allan, who serves mostly as tasty eye candy). At an outdoor party that evening, Polly all but misses a romantic moment watching the falls' light show with Ray because she's bandaging George's hand after he cuts himself breaking Rose's favorite romantic record in a rage. Rose just sits there and smirks. (Reminded me of the toga party scene in ANIMAL HOUSE when, out of nowhere, John Belushi busts up folkie Stephen Bishop's guitar, then gives it back to him with a deadpan "Sorry." :-)) Our sympathetic honeymooners get fed up as they're reluctantly pulled deeper into the Loomises' problems, not realizing Rose is setting them up as witnesses to George's increasingly shaky mental state, all the better to make his eventual death look like suicide. Like that's not enough, Ray's ridiculously jolly boss, Mr. Kettering (Don Wilson, from Jack Benny's various shows) and his wife (Lurene Tuttle) show up, eager to sightsee with the Cutlers and schmooze with Ray about giving him a raise because of his prize-winning shredded wheat promotion idea, turning the honeymoon into a busman's holiday. Oy! By now, Polly and Ray have been through the wringer because of those loony Loomises, so I had to smile and sympathize with Ray being, to quote the HIGH NOON theme song, "torn 'twixt love and duty," sincerely wanting to take care of his distraught bride, yet reluctant to nix an opportunity to score a raise that would improve their life together in myriad ways. If the 1953 economy was anything like today's economy, I can't blame Polly for agreeing to include face time with the boss as part of their honeymoon itinerary! Peters and Adams make an appealing couple, sweet with a touch of insouciant playfulness. The peripatetic Ray clearly means well and loves Polly. Heck, he doesn't even show any serious lust for the luscious Rose; he just makes good-natured wisecracks about her to Polly, and vice-versa. FTM, I liked how Polly never acted catty or jealous around Rose. Now that's self-confidence! :-) As the calculating, manipulative Rose, Monroe smolders like nobody's business, driving men mad with her careless come-hither air and her curves in, as George grouses, a dress "cut down so low in front, you can see her kneecaps." La Monroe even gets to sing "Kiss" (no, not the Prince song), that love song Rose and her secret sweetie like so much. It'll come back to haunt her later, but I don't want to give away the nifty twists! I'll only say that Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to call the bell tower scene his own (though with his taste in women, I imagine Hitch would have picked a cooler, more subtle blonde than Monroe :-)). After that, the film drifts into PERILS OF PAULINE territory, but by then I cared enough about the characters to see how it all worked out.
Cotten is at once terrifying and heartbreaking as Rose's emotionally scarred fool for love/lust, a hard-luck guy who can't seem to get out of his own way. We learn a lot about Rose and George's relationship in little scenes and throwaway lines, like George admitting he re-enlisted in the Army to show Rose he was still just as able as any young stud. Then there's the couple's short-lived jubilance the day after that literally record-breaking fight. The Loomises laugh and kiss, Rose under the covers in bed, George on top of her with the blanket between them (this was the '50s, after all :-)), talking about all the fun they'll have when they hit Chicago. "Georgie, this is quite a change," Rose purrs. "What brought this on?" George smiles. "You know what." He gives her a long kiss. "When we have a fight and make up that way, I never want to leave your side." Ooh, hot make-up sex -- a bit daring for a studio film of that era, no? :-) All told, NIAGARA is good, dark, tawdry fun.
Despite the happy cliché of Niagara Falls being a honeymooners' paradise, NIAGARA The Movie is moody from the start as edgy George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) wanders around the Canadian side of the falls at dawn, feeling insignificant. He's a war veteran freshly released from an Army hospital, where he was treated for PTSD, or as they called it back then, "battle fatigue." He's also got a sexpot wife, Rose (Monroe), so you'd think George's life isn't that bad. :-) Ah, but Rose has thorns: a secret lover and a plot to kill George and make it look like suicide. Fate brings the Loomises together with Polly and Ray Cutler (Jean Peters and Casey Adams). Polly and Ray are at the falls for their late honeymoon, long delayed by eager-beaver Ray's demanding job as a cereal executive. Despite bringing books, Ray promises, "It'll be as good as a regular honeymoon." "It should be better," Polly replies teasingly. "I've got my union card now." They laugh and snuggle, and that's one of the few happy moments Polly and Ray have together before the Loomises make their honeymoon into a living hell.
Things get creepy, starting with small inconveniences, like our lovebirds settling for a cabin with a so-so view because Rose and the unwell George are still in the cabin Polly and Ray were supposed to have. While the Cutlers enjoy their tour of the falls, Polly spies Rose making out with her hunky hottie (Richard Allan, who serves mostly as tasty eye candy). At an outdoor party that evening, Polly all but misses a romantic moment watching the falls' light show with Ray because she's bandaging George's hand after he cuts himself breaking Rose's favorite romantic record in a rage. Rose just sits there and smirks. (Reminded me of the toga party scene in ANIMAL HOUSE when, out of nowhere, John Belushi busts up folkie Stephen Bishop's guitar, then gives it back to him with a deadpan "Sorry." :-)) Our sympathetic honeymooners get fed up as they're reluctantly pulled deeper into the Loomises' problems, not realizing Rose is setting them up as witnesses to George's increasingly shaky mental state, all the better to make his eventual death look like suicide. Like that's not enough, Ray's ridiculously jolly boss, Mr. Kettering (Don Wilson, from Jack Benny's various shows) and his wife (Lurene Tuttle) show up, eager to sightsee with the Cutlers and schmooze with Ray about giving him a raise because of his prize-winning shredded wheat promotion idea, turning the honeymoon into a busman's holiday. Oy! By now, Polly and Ray have been through the wringer because of those loony Loomises, so I had to smile and sympathize with Ray being, to quote the HIGH NOON theme song, "torn 'twixt love and duty," sincerely wanting to take care of his distraught bride, yet reluctant to nix an opportunity to score a raise that would improve their life together in myriad ways. If the 1953 economy was anything like today's economy, I can't blame Polly for agreeing to include face time with the boss as part of their honeymoon itinerary! Peters and Adams make an appealing couple, sweet with a touch of insouciant playfulness. The peripatetic Ray clearly means well and loves Polly. Heck, he doesn't even show any serious lust for the luscious Rose; he just makes good-natured wisecracks about her to Polly, and vice-versa. FTM, I liked how Polly never acted catty or jealous around Rose. Now that's self-confidence! :-) As the calculating, manipulative Rose, Monroe smolders like nobody's business, driving men mad with her careless come-hither air and her curves in, as George grouses, a dress "cut down so low in front, you can see her kneecaps." La Monroe even gets to sing "Kiss" (no, not the Prince song), that love song Rose and her secret sweetie like so much. It'll come back to haunt her later, but I don't want to give away the nifty twists! I'll only say that Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to call the bell tower scene his own (though with his taste in women, I imagine Hitch would have picked a cooler, more subtle blonde than Monroe :-)). After that, the film drifts into PERILS OF PAULINE territory, but by then I cared enough about the characters to see how it all worked out.
Cotten is at once terrifying and heartbreaking as Rose's emotionally scarred fool for love/lust, a hard-luck guy who can't seem to get out of his own way. We learn a lot about Rose and George's relationship in little scenes and throwaway lines, like George admitting he re-enlisted in the Army to show Rose he was still just as able as any young stud. Then there's the couple's short-lived jubilance the day after that literally record-breaking fight. The Loomises laugh and kiss, Rose under the covers in bed, George on top of her with the blanket between them (this was the '50s, after all :-)), talking about all the fun they'll have when they hit Chicago. "Georgie, this is quite a change," Rose purrs. "What brought this on?" George smiles. "You know what." He gives her a long kiss. "When we have a fight and make up that way, I never want to leave your side." Ooh, hot make-up sex -- a bit daring for a studio film of that era, no? :-) All told, NIAGARA is good, dark, tawdry fun.