Saturday Matinee: Niagra with Marilyn Monroe

"Ray and Polly Cutler (Max Showalter and Jean Peters) on a delayed honeymoon at Niagara Falls, find their reserved cabin occupied by George and Rose Loomis (Joseph Cotten and Marilyn Monroe). They politely accept another, less-desirable cabin, and the two couples become acquainted.
George and Rose have a troubled marriage. She is younger and very attractive. He is jealous, depressed and irritable. It is implied that he may have recently been discharged from an Army mental hospital. While touring the falls the following day, Polly sees Rose passionately kissing a man, Patrick. That evening the Cutlers witness George's rage. Rose joins an impromptu party and George storms out and breaks a record playing a tune that he suspects has a secret meaning for Rose.
What George does not know is that Rose is planning his murder. The next day she lures him into following her to the dark tourist tunnel underneath the Falls. There Patrick is to kill him. Patrick is to request the nearby carillon to play the special song to let Rose know that George is dead. By chance, the tune is played and Rose concludes George is murdered...." from Wikipedia  There is more to this synopsis of plot but I do not want to spoil the movie...I want you to watch it and enjoy the plot twists.

from This is Marilyn

My Mawma got this movie for us to watch as soon as it was available on VHS.  I loved it at first showing.  Marilyn, of course, oozed sex but her acting was...well...I do not think many love her for her acting.  her first scene opened with her in bed, nude, with legs sprawled under the sheets.  Hair messy, smoking...but with perfect red lips.  Sexy.

The costumes were glorious.  Marilyn wore many tight "wiggle" skirted suits and dresses while Mrs. Cutlers wears clothing of a "sweeter" nature, loose fitting circle skirts.  The men were dressed in loose pleated pants and cabana shirts, things they might wear on vacation.  There were a few scenes where Mr. Cutler would have on a suit or jacket and tie, but most of the time the costumes reflected a relaxed style of vacation wear.  They were in Niagara Falls, afterall.

I searched and could not find any photos of the gentlemen in this film, except for one with Rose's lover in a parka and then one with George in a loose jacket.  Not very exciting.  Most of the photos, as you can see, are of Marilyn.  Not surprised in the least at this.  Photos from Yahoo! Images

I enjoy this film, mostly for the costumes, scenery, and Marilyn.  I enjoy her in this because she is not playing a dumb blonde.  I enjoy THAT, too, but it gets old (as it got old for HER playing the dumb blonde if biographies I have read were accurate).

Here is some fun trivia for you...

Rose (Marilyn Monroe)'s walk across some cobblestones holds the record for the longest walk in cinema history - 116 feet of film.

Even though she had a starring role, Marilyn Monroe was still under contract to 20th Century-Fox as a stock actor at a fixed salary, so she actually made less money than her make-up man did.

To see this and more trivia, go to the Internet Movie Database, but be warned there are plot spoilers.

Tiffany