March 14, 2013
Niagara – US, 1953
In the old days, movies provided subtle clues about their female
characters through vices. If a woman drank, it was a sign that she was headed
down the wrong path. If a woman listened to jazz, it was a sign that she had
wild tendencies that could get her into trouble. In Henry Hathaway’s Niagara, it is the red lipstick on Rose
Loomis that hints that there is something sinister behind her sweet smile and
pleasant demeanor. What is peculiar about the red lipstick is that she has it
on so early in the morning – before she’s even dressed and long before she has
any reason to be heading out for the day. And any notion that she is trying to
look pleasing for her husband is dashed with her dismissive behavior towards
him after he returns from an early morning excursion to Niagara Falls. Her
reaction reveals disdain, not affection.
Rose Loomis is played by the legendary Marilyn Monroe, who
made a career out of playing sweet, fun-loving, ditzy types, many of whom has a
healthy interest in acquiring wealth. In this film, she plays a character with only
two of these characteristics. Loomis is a woman who lights up at the sound of a
party outside and sways to the rhythm of contemporary tunes. She also seems to
have married for money, and then – if her husband is to be believed – caused the
emotional and financial downfall of the man she married. Therefore, she should
not be a likeable character, yet one of the film’s minor flaws is that at precisely
the wrong moment, it attempts to portray her as the victim of a mad man from
one of those often-mocked horror films – the ones in which a character turns a
corner only to see her pursuer standing there waiting. Moments like these are intended
to send chills down people’s spin. Here, I couldn’t help pondering just how
long he had been standing there.
Niagara is about
two married couples, the first one being Rose and her husband George (Joseph
Cotton). The second is Ray and Polly Cutter (Casey Adams and Jean Peters), an
American couple on a much-delayed honeymoon to Niagara Falls. Ray is an
employee of the Shredded Wheat company, and I rather enjoyed the humorous references
to the breakfast cereal. At one point, there is mention of turkey stuffed with
shredded wheat. Don’t laugh. It earned Ray a free trip. As for Polly, it is she
who becomes suspicious of Rose.
The film has a fair number of twists, and most of them work.
The few that don’t fail because they are not followed though on. It is as if
the screenwriters wanted to make a truly dark film about murder and madness,
but got cold feet at the last minute. Perhaps this is why the film seems
unwilling to have Monroe’s character remain a villain throughout and why Ray
suddenly starts screaming about Polly’s having dreamt up someone returning from
the dead. However, it is in the character of George that we can see the
clearest evidence of the filmmaker’s dilemma. George is a veteran, a farmer who
lost everything, and a man suffering from what may be post-traumatic stress. In
other words, he is a character that practically begs for the audience’s sympathy,
and for a while, the audience is on his side. In fact, I found myself wishing
that Rose would turn a new leaf and realize just how much he means to her. It
came as a bit of shock then to see this sympathetic character become the
equivalent of a standard horror film villain – able to be anywhere at anytime
and then to vanish just as mysteriously.
The film is filled with some wonderful moments, many of them
involving Polly. In every way, she is Rose’s opposite. She’s the kind of woman who
goes to a dance and only dances with one person, and she has a sense of modesty
that Rose lacks. In one wonderful scene, Ray sees Polly sunbathing and wants
desperately to record the moment for posterity. Peter’s reaction is priceless,
for it clearly distinguished her from Rose. Rose gets great joy from her
ability to turn heads, and I have no doubt that were someone to take out a
camera, she’d be posing even before she was asked if she’d mind having her
picture taken.
Niagara contains
strong performances, particularly by Monroe and Peters. The two male leads,
Joseph Cotton and Casey Adams, give adequate performances, ones that would
probably work even better if the script were a bit more consistent with their
characters. The film’s climax is exciting, yet predictable, owing to the fact
that it was foreshadowed a bit too obviously earlier in the film. However,
predictability aside, the film still has the power to rope viewers in. And
while Niagara had the potential to be
something that Hitchcock would have envied, it will have to settle for being a very
good film that unfortunately could have been so much more. Not that there’s
anything wrong with that. (on DVD)
3 and a half stars
No comments:
Post a Comment