Everyone's honeymoon haven at one time, Niagara Falls, is the deceptive setting for this offbeat, absorbing film with bowstring-tight direction from Hathaway and superb performances from Cotten as a jealous husband and Monroe as his neurotic wife. Newlyweds Peters and Adams arrive at their
Niagara honeymoon cottage and meet another couple, Cotten and Monroe. Monroe, from the beginning, confides about her husband being considerably older than she; he is depressed, and has just been released from a mental institution. Peters later sees Monroe kissing a young man, Allan, and learns
that the couple plans to murder Cotten.
The film is breathtakingly photographed, in lurid Technicolor that heightens the sensual energy of the Monroe persona. Jean Peters is lovely and effective in a difficult part; the script calls for her to be in Monroe's shadow, yet she's the stronger of the two. Cotten makes a marvelous antihero,
and Richard Allan's dark, macho seductiveness makes an exciting contrast to Monroe. leave a comment
