Niagra (1953)

Odd, richly colored semi-noir about a fem fatale (Marilyn Monroe) who plots to killer her neurotic husband (Joseph Cotton) to be with her lover (Richard Allan), and an Ohio couple (the perceptive Jean Peters, and kind of goofy Max Showalter) who are drawn into events by virtue of there proximity. The movie fails on most counts, its feels a little hodge-podge, even tired, and everybody seems surprisingly bland, certainly Joseph Cotton’s done better versions of this desperate character in the past (see Shadow of a Doubt, or The Third Man). The only thing that works well in the film is the bit at the end where Peters and Cotton are in a boat threatening to go over the falls, that’s genuinely exciting and well done, surprisingly nuanced even. Other then that and the excellent travel log you get of locations in and around the falls in the early 1950’s, a total dud. Thumbs Down.