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Polly (Jean Peters) and Ray (Casey Adams) go on their delayed honeymoon
to the Niagara Falls, but right from the beginning, their trip seems a bit
doomed: First Ray learns the man (Don Wilson) he desperately wanted to
meet at the Falls is out of town, and then they learn that the cabin they
have rented - with a beautiful view over the falls - is still occuppied by
its former occupants, Rose (Marilyn Monroe) and George (Joseph Cotten)
Loomis, because according to Rose George has been taken sick, and is in a
bad mental condition ever since returning from the Korean War.
Now even that wouldn't be too bad, but somehow the Loomis drag Ray and
especially Polly into their marital problems: It all starts when Polly
sees Rose sharing a passionate kiss with another man, Ted (Richard Allan),
later they become witnesses of a fight between George and Rose, including
a mental breakdown by George ...
But all that's just for starters, because what Polly and Ray don't know
is that Rose and Ted plan to murder George, somewhere along the Falls.
Soon enough, Rose has lured George into taking a scenic tour of the falls,
and like planned, he doesn't return. Rose plays the desperate wife and
reports it to the police, and soon enough, a corpse is found which is
thought to be her husband ... but she's in for a shocking surprise, as the
dead body is Ted's - which first makes her faint (without actually
identifying the body, so the police still thinks it's her husband) and
once she regains consciousness, she escapes from the hospital she was at
so her thought-to-be-dead hubby can't find her and take revenge.
George meanwhile really wants to take revenge, but all he does is to
scare the shit out of Polly - who has since moved into his old appartment.
Yet when Polly tries to report to the police he's still alive, nobody will
believe her, and - somewhere at the Falls, George begs her to not betray
him and give him a chance to start a new life, without Rose.
Half-heartedly, Polly even agrees ...
But George really wants revenge on Rose, so soon enough he lures her to
the local belltower with the famous carillon (which was prominently
featured earlier in the film), chases her up the tower and strangles her
...
George now knows he has reached the end of the line, and he tries to
make a daring getaway stealing a boat ... but unfortunately it was the
boat that Ray and Polly were planning to rent, and somehow Polly got on
board with him ... and then the boat runs out of gas and is caught in the
currents leading to the Horseshoe Falls, where they are beyond saving,
where even the coast guard, now hot on George's trail, has to turn back.
In a desperate last effort to repent for his sins, George manages to drop
Polly off at a small rock along the way to the falls, from where she can
be saved, he himself goes down the falls in the boat ...
Despite the scenic settings and the use of Technicolor - both very
un-noirish elements -, and despite of telling not too original a story, Niagara
is a milestone film noir ...
Wha the film works quite so well is thanks to three reasons: First off,
the story is full of ambiguity and doesn't allow an easy distingtion
between good and bad. Secondly, veteran director Henry Hathaway shows the
Falls as a force of nature rather than using them as a picture-perfect
backdrop, and he effortlessly incorporates the falls into scene after
scene of suspense (which justifies the film's title). And then of course,
the film's cast is near perfection: Joseph Cotten delivers a performance
that is great even by his standards, Marilyn Monroe seems to be perfect as
the cheating and plotting wife and gives her best performance next to Misfits
- while looking ravishing in a series of tioght and revealing dresses
-, and Jean Peters - who is the actual lead of the film - as the
wholesome, pretty but a tad dull all-American girl is a great contrast to
her.
Highest recommendation.
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