Polly and Ray Cutler (Jean Peters and Max Showalter, credited as Casey Adams) head to the scenic Canadian side of Niagara Falls for a delayed honeymoon. At the motel they meet troubled couple Rose and George Loomis (Monroe and Joseph Cotten). George has spent time at an army mental hospital and remains agitated. Rose is bored with her husband and has no hesitation flaunting her sexuality.
As the Cutlers enjoy the local tourist attractions they stumble upon Rose carrying on an illicit affair with the hunky Patrick (Richard Allan). Polly feels sorry for George and reaches out to offer support. Rose has a nefarious plan in mind to move on with her life, but her plot will unexpectedly unravel, leaving Polly in the middle of churning danger.
The first film to feature Marilyn Monroe as the primary star name, Niagara shamelessly showcases both the famous falls and Ms. Monroe's figure. The murder-most-foul plot does contain intriguing nuggets including unresolved mental health and infatuation issues. But the narrative takes a back seat as director Henry Hathaway is preoccupied with finding the best angles to capture the forceful waterfalls and his force-of-nature star.
This includes celebrating her derriere and hip-swaying walk in a famous scene that lingers as Monroe sashays away from the camera. Hathaway also dresses - and undresses - his star in a series of legendary outfits, pushing 1953 cinematic boundaries and cannonballing Monroe into superstardom as the world's premier sex symbol.
With attention focused elsewhere, the real shadow falls on the wholesome characters of Polly and Ray. Supposedly the entryway into the story, they are reduced to passive observers as the plot unfolds. Ray is a dorky businessman oblivious to the evil brewing in the cabin next door, and he mainly represents the red-blooded male exhibiting helpless tongue-hanging-out lust at Monroe's sensuality. Meanwhile the attempts to insert Polly into the swirl of tension are only partially successful, and she also has to tolerate Ray's infantile attempts to overtly glamourize her once he's exposed to the Rose calibre of sexuality.
The conniving Rose and troubled George are by far the more interesting characters, but they are not provided sufficient context to harbour sympathy. The background of George's mental health troubles deserved a deeper dive than afforded in the script co-written by producer Charles Brackett.
Hathaway's best Hitchcockian sequence comes courtesy of a bell tower and a suspenseful chase up the stairs serving as a build-up to an act of sorrowful revenge followed by unexpected entrapment. Niagara is frustratingly sprinkled with moments of promise, but drenched by a near-exploitive yet star-making agenda.
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I love this movie and keep going back to CD to view it and listen to that bell tower (Carilion). There are some distractions. What did Ray Cutler say when comparing the age of the walkway to the current year? Rose's lover asks Rose if she could get him there. She says she could get him to do anything. I think that is what she says or implies on the phone. But she is with the Cutlers when her song is played. She was nowhere near the incident with the wrench and not involved in getting him near her lover. How did her lover get George near the falls where there was a struggle? When George kills that lover, instead of the reverse, how did George get the shoe ticket from the man he killed--Rose's lover in order to swap the shoes filed (stored) away behind the counter? How did Polly arrive at the hospital and get back to the cabin? The policeman didn't take her, because she told him she had brought to the hospital what Rose might need. She arrived after the policeman, so they hadn't gone together in his car. And, again, Ray had the couple's car. So, how did Polly get from the hospital to the cabin? If the policeman had driven her back to the cabin then she would have left her transportation back at the hospital. But Ray had their car. Finally, it took several viewings to understand that the bell tower was on the Canadian side. Oh, why did the fishing lodge owner not do the obvious and first look at the horn button at the steering wheel rather than open the auto's bonnet?
ReplyDeleteAll good points. The filmmakers were probably more concerned with capturing visuals and star appeal, and paid less attention to closing plot gaps.
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