08/15/06 Niagara

Niagara (1953), directed by Henry Hathaway

watched w/ Leslie (separately); DVD rental (Netflix) @ car ride (from Saratoga Springs, NY to Westmoreland, NY)

Very fitting of a title to watch today, considering the next big stop on our road trip was to be Niagara Falls. Leslie & I took turns watching the movie as the other one drove onwards toward our destination. This movie is primarily about three things, and they all involve some thrills and excitement. First, one of the foremost natural wonders of the world. Second, a murder mystery involving infidelity and fugitiveness. Third, star Marilyn Monroe in a role that is referred to as one of a "shameless hussy" (but in what movie is she not referred to as one of those?) with ulterior motives. Set a course for fun and adventure, and expect to get soaked in the process, either crying in your popcorn of riding on the Maid Of The Mist. The movie was Leslie's idea, and the trip to Niagara was both of ours...and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed both. In the film, Monroe plays Rose, a cheating wife of the ill-struck George who has had enough of marriage and wants out by any means necessary. She plots to kill him with her secret lover by staging very public displays of their marital woes to a new vacationing couple, Polly and Ray, who are staying in the cabin beside them. By the way, the cabins they stay at are called the Rainbow Cabins, and we never did see them on the Canadian side as we drove about...who knows?! Polly soon discovers that Rose has been having an affair, and can't convince anyone of the fact that she believes Rose to have been part of the failed attempt to murder George (who is now missing having killed Rose's lover). Oh, what a tangled web we weave. It must be the Falls, they do crazy things to people...or maybe it's just that Rose is a floozy, Polly is nosy, George is creepy, and Ray is the most annoying man on the face of the Earth. Anyway, all the loose ends get tied up nicely in the end, but not without some more juicy murder, kidnappings, and tragic boat rides over the powerful Falls! Yes, the only thing more exciting than the movie was our reality in visiting Niagara. We had the most beautiful weather in the day, got to view them from both the New York and Canadian sides, climbed an observation tower, took a rain-slicker provided trip on the Maid Of The Mist, saw rainbows shooting past the walls of spray, hiked up some of the same slippery slopes (albeit the handrails were a bit more up to code than the 1950's counterparts that had Polly nearly fall to her death in a chase scene) as in the film, and topped it off with a breath-taking (and vertigo-inducing) dinner atop the Skylon Tower which inclues a fancy revolving dining room to take in the views from 775 feet high above. It was a good movie, and a great visit for the both of us.

3 out of 5 stars