WiseRatFlames An unexpected masterpiece

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Kirpianuscus maybe, not the best noir film. but , for me, a revelation. because it gives a different Marylin Monroe. and because it gives a seductive story about love, hate, cold blood and the ideal location. it is its virtue - to propose a different perspective/genre for an actress who seems reduced at an easy series of roles, exploring her femininity, her vulnerable charm, her voice or her presence. sure, if you compare "Niagara" with the classics of genre, the competition seems far to be fair. but it is the motif for define this film as special. maybe, only in the filmography of Monroe.

cadillacmax Watch this movie and you'll know why Jean Peters is one of my all time favorite actresses. Forget Marilyn Monroe. Peters is the one I want to spend my honeymoon with. She's compassionate. When George cuts his hand while breaking the record he hates, the song "Kiss" that Rose puts on to annoy him, it is Peters who goes into the room to bandage him; Rose couldn't even be bothered. And when her husband is always eying Marilyn's sexy outfits, Peters puts up with his roaming eyes good naturedly. While all eyes were supposed to be on Marilyn in this movie, I couldn't keep mine off from Jean Peters, especially during the final sequence when she gets caught in the boat with Joseph Cotton as it careens down the Niagara River out of control and heading for the falls. There's plenty of action in this movie, all of it made more pleasant with the dashing looks of not just Marilyn Monroe, but Jean Peters at her best.

mbrachman This nifty thriller represented one of Hathaway's few forays into noir (he was largely known for Westerns). It was unusual for noir in being filmed in shimmering Technicolor rather than the pallet of grays, blacks, and whites more commonly associated with the genre, but then, given the resort setting, this was almost inescapable.The storyline is straightforward: an amiable Midwestern couple, the Cutlers, Polly and Ray (Jean Peters and Max Showalter, billed as Casey Adams) arrive at the Falls to find the cabin they've reserved is occupied by another, more fractious couple: the Loomises. George (Joseph Cotten), the husband of the latter couple, could be nicknamed "Gloomy Loomy" given his downcast and cynical demeanor; we learn that he spent time in a psychiatric hospital for war veterans. His ravishing and none-too-faithful wife, Rose (Marilyn Monroe) provides ample reason for his suspicions. Turns out she's been two-timing George with a man who looks like the textbook illustration of a smooth gigolo (Richard Allan) and she and loverboy are planning something most foul for George.But Polly, the distaff half of the Cutler twosome, has witnessed some of the hanky- panky, and when Rose and her lover's nefarious plans run into trouble, Polly finds herself caught between a vengeful husband and a scared-out-of-her-wits wife. The suspense arises from Polly-in-peril and her efforts to extricate herself from another couple's troubles.Monroe is excellent in one of her few villainous roles in a non-comedy, and Cotten is riveting as the troubled, betrayed husband bent on revenge. His voice-over during an insomniac late-night/early-morning walk by the Falls at the start of the film is almost worth the price of admission alone. And the Falls? They never looked more beautiful- or deadly.

JohnHowardReid This is the role for which Marilyn Monroe won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best Actress of the year, an award which doubtless helped to secure the 20th Century Fox movie's top-grossing domestic income for 1952-53 of over $6 million. But actually, MM is not in the movie all that much. Not that it matters, because, if anything, her frequent absences give added zest to the scenes in which she does appear. Nor does it matter that her co-star is Joseph Cotten, an actor's actor certainly, but a man with little charisma. Hathaway and the studio wanted James Mason, but he was unavailable. As a second banana lead male, Casey Adams was reasonably but not overly personable and this suited his role as a go-getting but somewhat lackluster company man who didn't seem to deserve a spicy wife like Jean Peters. And as for Jean Peters himself – helped no end by director Henry Hathaway who took no nonsense from his cast and actually placed her in real danger – she gave the performance of her life as the imperiled heroine. Yes, although he could work equally well in the confines of the studio, director Henry Hathaway preferred location work and was renowned for his ability to get the best effects from moody natural locations. He really excelled himself with Niagara. No matter how any times you see this movie, and how familiar you become with its plot, it always comes across with enormous power and charisma.