Niagara

Rating:
Summary: "Film Noir, Meet Marilyn Monroe."
Review: Marilyn Monroe was so good at playing the ditzy, sexy blond in upbeat comedies she became typecast in those sorts of roles. Niagara was one of her rare opportunities to show she was a fine dramatic actress, as well.

This is the story of two couples. Ray Cutler (Casey Adams) and wife Polly (Jean Peters) are taking their three-years-delayed honeymoon. George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) is a stressed-out, failed businessman and war veteran, his wife Rose (Monroe), the ex-barmaid plotting with a secret lover to kill her husband. All four characters wind up at the same hotel bordering Niagara Falls.

Things go wrong for Rose when George, proving surprisingly resilient, overcomes the lover, killing him instead, and, realizing his wife set him up, fakes his own death and begins stalking her. The Cutlers, especially Polly, are drawn into the drama when George, post-murder attempt, not realizing the Cutlers have been moved into his and Rose's old cabin, breaks in, intending to stab Rose, surprising Polly instead. Now Polly knows George is alive, but due to her overbearing, not-terribly-bright husband's interference, can't convince anyone else, specifically the police, of that fact.

Jean Peters and Joseph Cotten turn in respectable performances. Casey Adams is irritating - of course, that might be because his character is a moron. For pure movie magic, Niagara belongs to Marilyn. Whenever she's on-screen, the camera loves her. The standout scene has her in a killer, shocking pink dress that does an outstanding job of emphasizing what she has so much of. When Ray sees Rose, he asks Polly (a fresh-faced girl next door type if ever there was one), "Why don't you ever get a dress like that?" Her answer: "Listen, for a dress like that you've gotta start laying plans when you're about 13." Rose has a kid at a party play a record of her favorite song ("Kiss"), then begins singing along. The look on her face then, dreamy, yearning, is mesmerizing. We get the feeling, way before we meet the lover, or even know he exists, it's not thoughts of her husband motivating that look.

Marilyn must've had a ball making Niagara. No one else has ever looked so good just lounging in bed. And when she believes her husband is dead, Rose's look of wicked delight - she has to hide her desire to laugh out loud in front of the Cutlers - is priceless. Rose is beautiful, scheming, deceitful, manipulative, cruel, sultry, and yet, paradoxically, has a sort of little girl innocence that makes you root for her to succeed in offing George - who's a serious whiner, anyway - and live happily ever after with her unnamed lover.

The only problems I had with this movie were: (a) We're never given a compelling reason why Rose plots to murder George. Sure, she wants to be free to be with her lover, but why not simply get a divorce? The motivation of a fat insurance policy, or that her husband would kill her if she tried to leave (difficult to believe in any event - he's pretty pathetic to start with), or any one of several other motives never established, would've gone a long way toward having the basic plot make sense. (b) A key scene has Rose and George locked inside a major tourist attraction after closing hours - which means the employees locked up the building without first checking to see whether anyone was still inside. Not likely.

Joe MacDonald's cinematography is excellent, the scenery - both Niagara Falls and Marilyn - stunning, and director Henry Hathaway makes the most of both. Niagara has been restored as part of the "Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection" DVD project, its colors vibrant and alive. It's deserving of this treatment, if only for Marilyn Monroe as Rose Loomis, and that it proves film noir in bright, brassy Technicolor really can work.

Rating:
Summary: Basically a waste of time
Review: Marilyn Monroe, in one of her few dramatic roles, plays a disgruntled wife, Rose Loomis, with big plans for her boyfriend to kill her husband (George Loomis) while vacationing at Niagara Falls. Jean Peters (who was married to Howard Hughes from 1957-1971) and Max Showalter play Ray and Polly Cutler, a couple on a belated honeymoon (they've been married three years) who get tangled up in the obvious marital conflict between the Loomises. After Rose Loomis's (Monroe's) plans fail and her husband actually ends up killing the boyfriend, Monroe is on the run from a ticked off hubby while he tries to remain unfound by police. Aside from a poorly played Niagara Falls metaphor, the movie is pretty straightforward. The characters play like sardines in a can--lifeless and with a certain stench. Monroe is adequate as a dramatist, and in a couple of scenes I almost believed her. Max Showalter is completely unbelievable, although his character is poorly written, which explain! s his lackluster performance. The truly great character in this movie is the falls itself. Other than that, save your money and your time. END

Rating:
Summary: Niagra
Review: NEED INFO PLEASE....I liked this movie, but then again I like all Marilyn Monroe movies. I just wish they hadnt killed her off in the movie. I thought for a moment that she would get involved with the other husband. ?????I would like to know if anyone knows what cabins they actually used for the filming for instance what the actual name was and if they are still in existence for you to stay at by the Falls, I know that it was filmed on location but that is all I know, so if anyone has info please email me at [e-mail]. thanks

Rating:
Summary: Underated masterpiece
Review: NIAGARA (finally out on DVD) is a real underated masterpiece. Filming is outstanding as is the entire cast (except for maybe Casey Admas). Monroe is quite wonderful in her only ... role. She really delivers. Sorry she has less screen time than her co-stars. I know several of her best scenes were cut. Why? What were they? Too bad they weren't kept and included in the DVD. The film is very much like a Hitchcock endeaver (wonder how it would have turned out if he had directed). Monroe would have been brilliant in his VERTIGO. Anyway, this film is a must for mystery and Monroe fans alike. Just wonder if anyones alive who has the privy on those cut scenes.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Marilyn
Review: NIAGARA is truly a tense and haunting film. Could have been made by the master himself (Hitchcock). Marilyns role is relativley small,but she packs a wallop. When I first viewed the film I always thought something was missing from the time the Marilyn character enters the Hospital til she escapes. In reading several accounts of the film I find that several scenes (most notably Marilyns) were deleted by the very tight fisted Zanack, head of 20th Century Fox. Wish I could view them as then Niagara might make more sense in the time element. Hard to know which day is which. Still, this is a gripping film with a great score.

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn Monroe: The ultimate temptress
Review: Niagra is a nail biting,classic female fatale' movie of the 50's area. Monroe was at here height beauty wise, and developing a unique talent for acting.Her sexy betrayal of Rosa leaves you wondering,"Is Monroe acting."Her betrayal of this character seems so real.Monroe makes being dangerous, yet extremely sexy;desirable.I love how she out shines boring plain Jean Peters.The clothing style in which Monroe wears makes her even more beautiful.I own every movie Monroe has done.This is a must have Monroe movie. I even have had tailored clothes to match Marilyn's style inn this certain film.Don't hesitate to buy this movie, and other great films by Americas #1 sex symbol of all time.Help keep Marilyn alive through supporting her wonderful films.

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn Monroe is the best
Review: Niagra was a great movie. I love Marilyn Monroe so much and she is such a good actor. Niagra kept me into the t.v. the whole time. I liked it alot.

Rating:
Summary: A fly in the amber ...
Review: Ok....
The scenery is magificent,as is the cinematography{I love recurring monolith-like shots of the bell tower}.Marylin is perfection in every sense of the word.Josepth Cotton is brilliant as the tortured schizophreniac.Jean Peters is fine.The fat guy from the Jack Benny show is a bit over the top,but is mercifully inflicted upon us in small doses.Hey,even the grumpy guy from The Andy Griffith Show is cool......
But...there is a dead rabbit at this picnic in the form of one CASEY ADAMS.This person is possibly the most irritating human to have ever plagued this blue earth.I could give a list of ten of the most UNLIKELY actors for his role{i.e. Walter Brennan,Don Knotts,Harpo Marx,etc},and I promise you that they would have shone supernova-like compared to Adams.The film begins and ends with his ultra-moronic grin.Egad.
Ultimately,buy this DVD.But I promise you that you will never develope a tolerance for the hapless Casey Adams.
God bless Marylin Monroe.

Rating:
Summary: MM sizzles to the detrimental of the rest of the movie
Review: On a much delayed honeymoon, Ray and Polly Cutler stay at the Rainbow Cabins overlooking the falls. They seem to be a nice couple in contrast with the Loomises. The brooding George has just gotten out of Letterman, which is a military hospital dealing with mental cases. Indeed, George's stint and discharge in the Korean War is only the latest series of setback life has given him. Lady luck clearly does not favour him. His wife Rose, played by--three guesses and two don't count-- is more alive, outgoing, but as Polly discovers when Ray is about to take her picture outside the Scenic Tunnel, she sees Rose with "an armful of groceries", read, a lover named Ted.

A conversation between the two clearly has them in cahoots to get rid of George. Rose gets his jealousy up so he follows her to a gift shop adjacent to the changing room with the raincoats. He goes in the elevator leading to the changing room, and so does Ted. The rest of the movie turns into a police drama when George is missing, complete with a chase scene at the end.

While it's true that Marilyn sizzles onscreen in the movie that made her big, it's pretty clear her character Rose is moral garbage. Ray's remark to get out the firehose is not out of place when she emerges from her cabin wearing the pinkish dress. After George smashes her record in a jealous rage, he tells Polly of his wife: "parading around showing herself in that dress cut so low in front you can see her kneecaps." She's quite the exhibitionist, it seems. Marilyn's famous undulating walk is seen twice, once when she goes out ostensibly to get groceries, the other more famous one when she leaves the Cutlers in their car, the camera lingering on her derriere. Rumour had it that she had one of her heels made slightly shorter, but no, the walk is hers alone without artificial assistance.

There is a dialogue goof later in the movie. Polly tells the detective that she saw Ray Loomis. Presumably Jean Peters got the name of the husbands mixed up, as it should've been George Loomis. She does well in this movie, lending a more at first sympathetic rapport with the brooding George. Casey Adams's portrayal of Ray as a bit too chirpy and bright-eyed guy does get a bit annoying at times. But Joseph Cotten is clearly the star here as the mentally tormented George Loomis, to wit: "Why should the falls drag me down here at five o'clock in the morning? To show me how big they are and how small I am? To remind me they can get along without any help? All right, so they've proved it. But why not? They've had 10,000 years to get independent. What's so wonderful about that? I suppose I could too, only it might take a little more time."

George Loomis's opening thoughts as he stares at Niagara Falls sets the theme for this movie, how man is indeed small compared to nature, which can be beautiful yet cruel and destructive, exactly like his wife Rose. The comparative analogy of life and the falls also comes into play when he tells Polly: "don't let it get out of hand like those Falls. Like the river up about the Falls. You throw in a log and it floats around. Let it move a little further down and it goes a little faster, hits some rocks, and in a minute it's in the lower rapids, and nothing in the world including God himself, I suppose can stop it from going over the edge. It just goes."

Polly tells him that she's one of the logs that just stays around in the calm, which seems to be a good sort of life to lead. Her beauty's more natural and restrained rather than the light-bulb Rose is--"I'm not a kneecap girl" she tells George.

The stunning on-location work is grand, but due to Monroe's sultry screen presence, everything else is thrown out of kilter.
Not too bad a movie given the underlying themes, but as for the murder plot, Hitchcock could've done this way better.

Rating:
Summary: Sensual, unforgettable Monroe. Made her a star.
Review: One of the best projects Marilyn was associated with. I didn't like Niagara the first time i saw it, because i thought Marilyn was only good for comedy. But this role as the sensual, unfaithful wife of Joseph Cotton's (superbly performed) troubled war veteran is one of her most memorable roles. Pleanty of indelible Marilyn images come from here: Marilyn lying seemingly naked with legs apart under bed in hotel room, purple dress standing against cabin in grammophone scene, and the entire grammophone scene. Pleanty of location shooting made good use of the beautiful location, and the motif of the song the lovers sing to each other is a beautiful touch. The suspense develops well, but i suppose it depends on what you're expecting. I found it a great sensual thriller, but this movie lives and dies with Monroe. She is captivating in every scene, and looks stunning. The belltower climax of the movie is very fine indeed, one of the best scenes she ever played in. Nods to director Hathaway for camera placement in this scene.

Best line:

(Monroe has just done a sensual walk to the grammophone and had them put it on, then had a virtual standing orgasm listening to it, and spent an entire minute of close-up singing along to it, and the happy-go-lucky honeymooner character says to her)

Honeymooner: You seem to really like this song, Mrs Loomis."

Marilyn: "There isn't any other song," she says. But its all in her face - it always was. One of the best moments in her career.