On N List of Movie Reviews
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Niagara (1953)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
10/25, 10/25
10/25:
Low rating for Niagara, I know, but the movie isn't good.
It feels like a parody of the neo-noir genre despite many excellent shots that Alfred Hitchcock would've
been proud of. I thought Henry Hathaway would be better than this because of
Call Northside 777 and
Fourteen Hours. The script is rubbish, and I didn't understand the
story that much. It's been confirmed chunks were cut out from the film.
The major selling point is Marilyn Monroe. It's her first film in color. The phrase "eye candy" cannot
be better defined than this. Whenever she's outside, I'm surprised that every single living person didn't gawk
at her. Even funny is how sparsely populated the area is around Niagara Falls, a major tourist destination
that's sure to attract tens of thousands of visitors daily from all over the world.
Jean Peters and Joseph Cotten dominate the screen time while Casey Adams (Max Showalter or whatever the hell
his name is supposed to be) makes an ass out of himself by thinking it's a comedy picture. Nobody is interested
in any of them. All they want to see is Marilyn Monroe. Who cares if it's her reading the dictionary, standing up,
and walking around for two hours? If that's going to happen, then so be it, and people will still flock to
theatres.
Yet I agree that Marilyn Monroe's acting leaves a lot to be desired. She fails to sell her character in many
scenes. If she's supposed to be frightened or disturbed, it has the opposite effect on screen,
causing me to roll my eyes as if it's almost a grade-Z film. That's why Jean Peters comes off looking better.
Joseph Cotten is often embarrassing. He has his own Cape Fear scene that's
laughably done, especially when he dropped off Jean Peters on the rock and then went over the fall by
himself. This would be almost the end of it for him, having rarely done any more A film going forward. Henry
Hathaway wanted to use James Mason instead, but he declined.
All in all, Niagara is proof positive 20th Century Fox mishandled Marilyn Monroe as a valuable asset.
10/25:
Niagara is better seen in Blu-ray, but there's still no story.