Review of Niagara

Niagara (1953)
10/10
Sex and Death
15 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Really powerful, with two forces of nature: Monroe and Niagara. As she ecstatically croons "Kiss," in tight close up that lets us see a little of her bright red, low-cut dress, Monroe's Rose--great name--is truly as phenomenal as Niagara. We know that she is thinking of her lover--earlier in the film there is a shot of them kissing, mist-covered, near one of the falls. Her longing is so intense that she seems vulnerable and we can almost feel it in our own bodies.

This is super melodrama and quite irresistible. Interesting contrast between the wholesome young couple, Jean Peters and Casey Adams, from Iowa (or Ohio?) and the spectacularly mismatched and dysfunctional couple played by Monroe and Cotten. Even for melodrama, the final meeting of Peters and Cotten on the boat strains credibility, but is satisfying in the way that it reiterates the unlikely bond that has formed between them.
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