Wonderful classic movie
Added 10/17/2009
I loved the movie, and Mrs. Monroe shone in it. The only problem I had was with the DVD quality. The colours were occasionally blurred, which really distracted from the experience of watching. Sometimes, I think, colourizing a classic is not the best option. Otherwise, I recommend this movie highly - very enjoyable!
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(Niagara w/Marilyn Monroe)
Added 7/12/2009
I have seen the movie Niagara on tv. It is a great movie with
suspense and unexpected twists. The background of beautiful Niagara
Falls adds to the enjoyment of this movie. I would recommend this
movie to anyone who likes old movies, suspense (not gore), and/or
Marilyn Monroe. (Please note that I never received the dvd from the seller.)
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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56 YEAR OLD FILM STILL ENTERTAINS!
Added 5/14/2009
Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten do a good job holding our interest in this Hitchcock-style thriller.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Fun, Fifties Technicolor Noir
Added 3/11/2009
I liked this film but I'm not sure it was for good reasons. I went to Niagara Falls with my parents sometime in the fifties or sixties and this brought back happy memories. The shots of the Falls and the sound of the pounding water are wonderful. I loved all the tourist stuff--the log cabins, the yellow slickers and boots, the trip underneath the falls, and the gift shop!
As for a more "objective" review of the film: Marilyn Monroe does her sexy thing here. I noticed that a lot of the reviews by men were more flattering than the ones by women. Marilyn was a beautiful woman and a beautiful person, I think, but her pseudo-sexy routine was sort of pathetic, in my humble, female opinion. However this was what passed for hot sexy stuff in the USA at the time, so she became famous and played the role again and again until she finally managed to move out of it, towards the end of her career. As for raw sexuality, I think the noir heroines of the 40's did the job much better---eg. Lana Turner.
However we are in the fifties, moving into the post war prosperous Eisenhower years and this film is in sunny technicolor. Still, there is a clear line of distinction between good girls, like Polly, (Jean Peters) who is happilly married to a really dopey cereal salesman, and wears sensible shirtwaist dresses and Keds; and the bad ones like Rose (Monroe) who wears indelible glossy red lipstick that never wears off and tight cocktail dresses and stilletto heels around the campground. Her walk, which I guess drives some men wild just strikes me as silly and I wonder if it's because she really thinks it's sexy or if her feet just hurt.
Anyway her husband is one of the guys who is driven wild by Rose, so wild that his judgment is a little impaired and he does some unwise stuff. He did do a stint in a veterans' hospital for the mentally ill (named "Letterman" which I found sort of funny,) so his instability is not all Rose's fault. Joseph Cotten's performance, as Loomis, Rose's husband, is quite wonderful and brings the film to a higher level---or tries to. The relationship between Loomis and Polly would have made a much more interesting story, but the film doesn't go there. We're stuck in the stereotypes of the era and although there are a few little plot turns, basically you know how it's going to end.
The use of the Falls is quite wonderful and make the film worth seeing. It reminds me of Hitchcock's use of Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest, but this is even better. The contrast of the "normal, nice folks" and the wierd, sexy, interesting, crazy folks is a sign of the times. If you love Marilyn Monroe and/or films noir, you'll probably love this. Or if you enjoy memorabilia from the 50's, you'might find this enjoyable too.
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'Retains an Undiminished Popularity Throughout the Years'
Added 11/18/2008
Henry Hathaway's 'Niagara' captures the the feel of a really bad vacation. A vacation with someone who no longer loves; or particularly likes you, and is quite possibly whiling away the hours thinking of ways to kill you.
One can almost smell the mildew on the towels and the staleness of the ashtrays in the Motor Lodge where Rose Loomis (Marilyn Monroe) lounges in bed wearing red lipstick and not much else, while her battle-fatigued husband George (Joseph Cotten), wanders around Niagara Falls, looking for sharp rocks to smash his head on. George can't stand Rose, and he can't live without her. This renders him powerless to do much more than paint model cars,chain smoke and break vinyl records he suspects are love songs about the guys Rose is really fantasizing about. Going nowhere fast, the Loomis' have 'late checkout' written all over them.
Enter Polly and Ray Cuttler of Toledo, Ohio. Polly is sharp everywhere that Rose is curvy, and Ray is a hapless dope who has cleverly combined their delayed honeymoon with a trip to the Corporate Headquarters of the Nabisco Factory, where, in his own words: "Breakfast cereal has become a National Institution." There is a wonderful seen where Ray, upon seeing for the first time- not the Natural Wonder that is Niagara Falls, but the Nabisco Company, lets out a girlish squeal. One wonders what Polly is doing with Ray, and when will she fall for, and save, the dark and brooding George who is clearly more interesting, and more a man of the world. Myself and quite possibly the other 4 members of the' Joseph Cotten-Is -One-Sexy-Powerful -Under-Rated-Actor' Club will be disappointed. Not in Cotten's performance, but in the plot of 'Niagara'.
Filmed on location with a powerful opening and moody feel of too much water, cold wind, technicolor souvenier shops, and a sun that never gets warm enough, and set to the gloamy music of composer Sol Kaplan, 'Niagara' eventually meanders through too many wardrobe changes into black and yelllow raincoats, resulting in an emotionally miserable cat and mouse chase. There is a suspense-filled broken railing scene, which should lead to a much-needed kiss, but instead becomes merely a backdrop for a weird scolding about the ethical dilemma of faking one's death.
Monroe, at her best when she plays a woman with a gently deranged personality disorder (must see 'Don't Bother To Knock'), plays Rose Loomis as a Femme Fatale who plots murder the way one might decide to sleep in late- with a sloppy, scattered-sheet air of boredom. Even when everything falls apart her fear lacks an edge, and her plans lack the cunning intelligence of most deadly women. That, and the removal of one of the big stars too early in the movie, gives the top Shredded Wheat salesman too much camera time.
As metaphor for loud, all-consuming obsession that blocks rational thought of calmer waters, Niagara Falls is the perfect third character. Does someone go over? Perhaps Hathaway is telling us that noisy, torrential, and dangerous obsession is more exciting than floating around with a guy who sells cereal.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Wonderful classic movie
Added 10/17/2009
I loved the movie, and Mrs. Monroe shone in it. The only problem I had was with the DVD quality. The colours were occasionally blurred, which really distracted from the experience of watching. Sometimes, I think, colourizing a classic is not the best option. Otherwise, I recommend this movie highly - very enjoyable!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
(Niagara w/Marilyn Monroe)
Added 7/12/2009
I have seen the movie Niagara on tv. It is a great movie with
suspense and unexpected twists. The background of beautiful Niagara
Falls adds to the enjoyment of this movie. I would recommend this
movie to anyone who likes old movies, suspense (not gore), and/or
Marilyn Monroe. (Please note that I never received the dvd from the seller.)
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
56 YEAR OLD FILM STILL ENTERTAINS!
Added 5/14/2009
Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten do a good job holding our interest in this Hitchcock-style thriller.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
