Reviews (12)

Peter Marshall - A Man for All Generations
"A Man Called Peter" is an excellent depiction of the true life story of Peter Marshall, an immigrant Scotsman who rose to Chaplain of the U.S. Senate before his untimely death in 1949. Marshall was a real man who served our real God. The movie is very true, generally speakly, to Catherine Marshall's book by the same title.
The part of the movie that shows Catherine Marshall's alma mater, Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, was filmed on location. As a native of Decatur, Georgia, this movie had a huge impact on me. Especially since my mother had actually heard Peter Marshall preach and was greatly affected by his sermons.
Peter Marshall's message is ageless and inspiring. Young people who hear or read his sermons today feel as though Marshall is speaking to them just as he did to my mother's generation.

A Beautiful Movie
This is the true story of the Reverand Peter Marshall. It begins in Scotland where he is called by God for a special mission. It goes to Georgia, where Peter meets & marries Agnes Scott College student Catherine Wood (This part of the movie was filmed on the ASC campus). Finally, the movie takes us to Washington DC, where Peter is the minister at the Church of the Presidents and becomes Chaplain of the US Senate. The movie showcases some of him most memorable sermons - like his sermon on marriage. This is a great film for everyone in the family.

Bravo!
Bravo to Richard Todd and Jean Peters and the rest of the ensemble of this beatiful, inspiring and superbly made film based on the book by Catherine Marshall. Where was the Academy of Motion Pictures when this film came out? Both Peters and Todd deserved nominations. The film certainly did (it is far better fair than most others nominated in 1955 for Best Picture)
See it and feel 100% better about life - and living

A Man of Character Committment and Conviction
In our days of pluralism and completely relative morality embracing spirituality in any form, this movie sets a strong tone of inspiring faith and conficenc in God through Jesus Christ. Peter Marshall was an unusual minister of the gospel who made mistakes but loved his family and the Lord with no reservations. The movie is full of the traditional church persons who are more interested in maintaining their traditons than in establishing the traditions of the gospel. Peter's response to them is both loving and confrontive. I recommend this movie very much.

A Man Called Peter
An outstanding movie with uplifting characteristics. This is the story of a truly remarkable man and those who doubt the sencerity of this man ( and the movie ) do not know people who were exposed to Peter Marshall. This is a true classic with elevating overtones that should raise anyone's spirits. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The Rains Came, But A Good Story Didn't
The Rains Came is an early example of the disaster films popular in the 70s, and unfortunately, like those films, this movie is long on special effects and short on story. Myrna Loy plays a woman with a "bad" past who falls in love with an Indian doctor played by Tyrone Power. George Brent stars as one of Loy's former boyfriends, who has romantic problems with a young girl (Brenda Joyce) who basically wants to get out of her parents' home. In the midst of all this, an earthquake hits Ranchipur and causes a spectacular flood, perhaps the only really interesting thing that happens in the film. Loy and Brent look bored and give bland performances. Power manages to deliver a performance that has more life in it. The special effects are good during the flood, although it appears that they simply shook the camera to get the earthquake effect! The story is trite and the movie is poorly paced. This was a real disappointment to me.

A romantic triumph
The Rains Came is a romance set in Ranchipur during monsoon season. Myrna Loy is the former lover of George Brent. She falls in love with Tyrone Power who plays an Indian doctor. Myrna Loy is superb. Her performance as a vamp trying to mend her ways is one of her best. George Brent is not the stiff board he is in other movies. He's quite good. Tyrone Power is simply breathtaking. The man is beautiful to look at. The special effects are marevlous. The story is interesting, and it maintains your interest. It's a triumph!

Grand Spectacle
Grandiose, lavish, entertaining, beautifully filmed, blockbuster, exotic-adventure movie, set in Ranchipur, India, based upon Louis Bromfield's novel, directed by MGM's first class director, Clarence Brown, on loan out to 20th Century Fox, with a great cast: dashing, young, heartthrob Tyrone Power (Major Rama Safti), in the role of an Indian doctor, who falls for aristocratic Englishwoman-with-a-tempestuous-past, Myrna Loy (Lady Edwina Esketh), who's married to an arrogant, unpleasant and unbearable Nigel Bruce (Lord Esketh). On the other hand, in Ranchipur lives a man with whom Loy, when very young, had an affair: aristocratic English man-of-the-world (with a very bad reputation), George Brent (Tom Ransome), who at the same time is being pursued by pretty, willful, 18 year old Brenda Joyce (Fern Simon), an American girl who lives in a Mission and wants to get out of her parents' home, whose social climbing and very snob mother, Marjorie Rambeau (Mrs. Simon) encourages the affair, because she longs to "rub shoulders" with the upper classes.

Others in this noteworthy long cast: Maria Ouspensakaya, who is stunningly great as the Maharani, H.B. Warner, as his husband the Maharajah, Ranchipur's Ruler, Joseph Schildkraut, as an "occidentalized" Indian, Mr. Bannerjee, Jane Darwell (who the same year acted in GWTW), as "Aunt" Phoebe Smiley, a down-to-earth American woman who lives in the Mission, Henry Travers (the future "angel" of Capra's 1946 "It's a Wonderful Life") as her husband Mr. Smiley, Mary Nash (famous for her nasty roles opposite Shirley Temple in both, "Heidi" (1937) and "The Little Princess" (1939)), as the rather jealous Miss Mc Daid, Power's nurse assistant, who I perceived as helplessly in love with him, and Laura Hope Crews (who the same year was the very funny Aunt Pittypat in GWTW), in a small role, as an aristocratic English Lady.

In all a very good picture with great special effects, featuring lots of rain, a big earthquake and a flood, in the same vein of other famous disaster films of the era, like: "San Francisco" (1936), "The Hurricane" (1937), "The Good Earth" (1937), and "In Old Chicago" (1938).

Remade in 1955, by Jean Negulesco, as "The Rains of Ranchipur", with Lana Turner, Richard Burton, Fred Mac Murray and Michael Rennie.

ok for a older movie
I don't know why this movie got the bad reviews. It wasn't all that bad. The remake was better but the story line was changed some to make it better. It should be watched at least once.

It should not have gotten a one star review

I'd give it no stars if I could
This was a BORING movie. I can't really say anything else, except it was putting me to sleep. The main characters were never developed. None of them were really interesting to me anyway. If a movie doesn't make me care about the characters and their lives, then the movie is just a waste of time for me. I didn't care about these people or why they were in India. It would have been much nicer if the flood had just swept all these boring people away and swept the soundstage clean to set up for making a more interesting movie. If you like Myrna Loy, who was in this, I recommend you skip this and see her in "The Best Years of Our Lives". ... Read more

Reviews (42)

"Film Noir, Meet Marilyn Monroe."
Marilyn Monroe was so good at playing the ditzy, sexy blond in upbeat comedies she became typecast in those sorts of roles. Niagara was one of her rare opportunities to show she was a fine dramatic actress, as well.

This is the story of two couples. Ray Cutler (Casey Adams) and wife Polly (Jean Peters) are taking their three-years-delayed honeymoon. George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) is a stressed-out, failed businessman and war veteran, his wife Rose (Monroe), the ex-barmaid plotting with a secret lover to kill her husband. All four characters wind up at the same hotel bordering Niagara Falls.

Things go wrong for Rose when George, proving surprisingly resilient, overcomes the lover, killing him instead, and, realizing his wife set him up, fakes his own death and begins stalking her. The Cutlers, especially Polly, are drawn into the drama when George, post-murder attempt, not realizing the Cutlers have been moved into his and Rose's old cabin, breaks in, intending to stab Rose, surprising Polly instead. Now Polly knows George is alive, but due to her overbearing, not-terribly-bright husband's interference, can't convince anyone else, specifically the police, of that fact.

Jean Peters and Joseph Cotten turn in respectable performances. Casey Adams is irritating - of course, that might be because his character is a moron. For pure movie magic, Niagara belongs to Marilyn. Whenever she's on-screen, the camera loves her. The standout scene has her in a killer, shocking pink dress that does an outstanding job of emphasizing what she has so much of. When Ray sees Rose, he asks Polly (a fresh-faced girl next door type if ever there was one), "Why don't you ever get a dress like that?" Her answer: "Listen, for a dress like that you've gotta start laying plans when you're about 13." Rose has a kid at a party play a record of her favorite song ("Kiss"), then begins singing along. The look on her face then, dreamy, yearning, is mesmerizing. We get the feeling, way before we meet the lover, or even know he exists, it's not thoughts of her husband motivating that look.

Marilyn must've had a ball making Niagara. No one else has ever looked so good just lounging in bed. And when she believes her husband is dead, Rose's look of wicked delight - she has to hide her desire to laugh out loud in front of the Cutlers - is priceless. Rose is beautiful, scheming, deceitful, manipulative, cruel, sultry, and yet, paradoxically, has a sort of little girl innocence that makes you root for her to succeed in offing George - who's a serious whiner, anyway - and live happily ever after with her unnamed lover.

The only problems I had with this movie were: (a) We're never given a compelling reason why Rose plots to murder George. Sure, she wants to be free to be with her lover, but why not simply get a divorce? The motivation of a fat insurance policy, or that her husband would kill her if she tried to leave (difficult to believe in any event - he's pretty pathetic to start with), or any one of several other motives never established, would've gone a long way toward having the basic plot make sense. (b) A key scene has Rose and George locked inside a major tourist attraction after closing hours - which means the employees locked up the building without first checking to see whether anyone was still inside. Not likely.

Joe MacDonald's cinematography is excellent, the scenery - both Niagara Falls and Marilyn - stunning, and director Henry Hathaway makes the most of both. Niagara has been restored as part of the "Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection" DVD project, its colors vibrant and alive. It's deserving of this treatment, if only for Marilyn Monroe as Rose Loomis, and that it proves film noir in bright, brassy Technicolor really can work.

MARILYN IN HER PRIME....
This isn't the ultimate Marilyn movie ("The Seven Year Itch" holds that honor) but it's a prime look at Monroe in an unusual role as a scheming man-trap out to kill her husband (Joseph Cotton, who's excellent). She's the whole show and I wish she could have done more films like this that put her in off-beat situations giving her a chance to stretch as an actress. She's gorgeous in Technicolor and a believable vixen/victim when her plan backfires leaving her to be stalked by Cotton. You feel sorry for her at this point. Jean Peters is good as a sympathetic neighbor but Casey Adams (as Peters' husband) is woefully miscast and clearly out of his league here. He nearly sinks the whole film as a co-star and there's way too much of him in the film. But that's the only complaint. Otherwise, Monroe keeps us glued to the screen when she appears and we root for her no matter what she's up to. There's beautiful Niagara scenery and a great scene where she appears at an outdoor party in a sexy red dress and requests a sexy song to be played. She then proceeds to sing along with the record as she closes her eyes obviously thinking of her lover. The song "Kiss" later is reprised as the lovers' theme song and figures in an unusual plot to lure Monroe to Cotton---whom she thinks has been killed by the lover as part of their plan. Marilyn shows here what she had to become the icon she is now. This movie nicely represents the reasons people fell in love with her. How right they were.

Marilyn Monroe in her first Technicolor starring role!
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This is Marilyn Monroe's first starring role in a glorious Technicolor production. The technicolor film process seems a perfect match for Monroe; her ruby red lips and golden blonde hair are dazzling, and her skin tones are magnificent.

The plot puts Monroe in a dramatic role that allows her to chew up every scene. It's also the only film in her career (fortunately!) in which Monroe's character dies.

Niagara Falls are the spendiforous background in this drama, and Marilyn Monroe proves that she is probably the only star in cinema history that can eclipse such a natural phenomenon.

Marilyn absolutely sizzles on the screen when she performs her sensual rendition of the siren song "Kiss", wearing a dress "cut so low in front you can see her kneecaps" (as stated in the script). Indeed, "a girl has to start making plans when she's thirteen to wear a dress like that!" (Also from the script.)

Enjoy the magic of Marilyn Monroe in dazzling Technicolor in this great movie.

MMMmmmmmmarvelous Marilyn!

Marilyn and Jean and Niagara- what a treat!
All reviews of this movie center on Monroe and her protuberant curves - and I agree, she and her instant fame deserve some of the credit. BUT Niagara Falls and Jean Peters also deserve some special mention here. Whereas Marilyn is sexy in most her scenes, Peters is charming, a good actress and quite beautiful...and then there is Niagara Falls. This torrent of water never looked better.
The acting. Marilyn in her first film as a "star" does okay - but as far as good acting is concerned it is Peters and Joseph Cotten that deserve better credit. Then I do agree with some reviews that Cassey Adams (aka Max Shoewalter) is miscast and a bit over the top in his acting. This role was to be played by another Fox contract player (I think Jeffrey Hunter) but Fox weanted someone funny in the role (big mistake!). And the role of Marilyn's lover was actually offered (enlarged, of course) to Tony Curtis.
The movie originally was planned for Anne Baxter in Peters's role and the role of Marilyn ironically was to be played by Peters. When Baxter got pregnant by her husband, Peters took over her role and Marilyn...well she became a "star". Even the movie's title song (which was to be "Night and Day") was changed for a song Marilyn portrayed in the movie -titled "Kiss". At any rate, it certainly is because of Marilyn that this has become a cult movie and a classic - But Peters, Cotten and Niagara Falls did help a lot in getting NIAGARA to achieve this status .

Sensual, unforgettable Monroe. Made her a star.
One of the best projects Marilyn was associated with. I didn't like Niagara the first time i saw it, because i thought Marilyn was only good for comedy. But this role as the sensual, unfaithful wife of Joseph Cotton's (superbly performed) troubled war veteran is one of her most memorable roles. Pleanty of indelible Marilyn images come from here: Marilyn lying seemingly naked with legs apart under bed in hotel room, purple dress standing against cabin in grammophone scene, and the entire grammophone scene. Pleanty of location shooting made good use of the beautiful location, and the motif of the song the lovers sing to each other is a beautiful touch. The suspense develops well, but i suppose it depends on what you're expecting. I found it a great sensual thriller, but this movie lives and dies with Monroe. She is captivating in every scene, and looks stunning. The belltower climax of the movie is very fine indeed, one of the best scenes she ever played in. Nods to director Hathaway for camera placement in this scene.

Best line:

(Monroe has just done a sensual walk to the grammophone and had them put it on, then had a virtual standing orgasm listening to it, and spent an entire minute of close-up singing along to it, and the happy-go-lucky honeymooner character says to her)

Honeymooner: You seem to really like this song, Mrs Loomis."

Marilyn: "There isn't any other song," she says. But its all in her face - it always was. One of the best moments in her career. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Campy Western Classic!!!
The beautiful Yvonne DeCarlo rules as the notorious"Lola Montez" who was the mistress of the King of Prussia and caused a revolution when he gave her the crown jewels.She then escaped to the American West to the Arizona town of "Salome" where she danced.This is a nice campy western classic!!! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Min and Bill
Min and Bill earns a 5 star rating with me because it is a very human story.

Here we see greed, desire, shame, and maternal love on display. Min and Bill is a cinematic gem clerly toe to toe with Streetcar.

This movie is a "must see" for lovers of gutsy, character driven tragi-comedy.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST ACTRESS......
That was how MGM publicized Marie Dressler in the early thirties. This film is a prime example of just why Marie Dressler was the TOP star of the early thirties. A large, homely woman in her early sixties, she nevertheless had such a natural way of acting that she left audiences satisfied, mesmorized and wanting more. I thought her speaking voice was unforgettable. Unfortunately, many of her films aren't easily found and are rarely seen today. TUGBOAT ANNIE is on video, but her supposedly great sentimental flick entitled EMMA isn't yet. Min is a waterfront hag (or cow as she refers to herself) who, years ago took in a child left behind by a loose woman named Bella. Min gives the kid a place to live in exchange for work. Bella comes back years later to see Min and her daughter, who is grown up and engaged to be married to a young man with social position. Min knows Bella is only interested in getting herself some money out of the daughter she cares nothing for. There is a fight and Min, thinking of the girl's future happiness, kills Bella and goes to prison with a "Stella Dallas" smile on her face. The fight between Dressler and Beery is the film's highlight and it's a DOOZEY! Marjorie Rambeau is good as the seedy, trampy Bella, but Dorothy Jordan is rather saccharine in her playing of the waif. Other Dressler films which will hopefully make it to video someday are REDUCING, PROSPERITY and POLITICS - depression comedies Dressler made with her foil Polly Moran. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

High Life in Paris MGM Style
Following her first sound film, the box office hit Anna Christie, Greta Garbo made six films for MGM in a period of 24 months. But in the words of John Bainbridge in his still readable study of Garbo's career (1955), "None added much to her reputation. Only 'the greatest living actress' could have survived the banality of most." Inspiration, one of the lesser items in the series, deals with the rising and falling fortunes of Yvonne (Greta Garbo), the "inspiration" for a circle of affluent Parisian artists. But when she encounters the young Andre (Robert Montgomery), she recognizes true love and abandons the demimonde. Sadly, however, Andre, a contemptible twit who comes from a respectable bourgeois family, is being groomed for the foreign service and abandons Yvonne when he learns of her past. At the conclusion, just as he is on the verge of marriage, Andre returns to her, but Yvonne, far nobler than he, renounces him and while he sleeps steals off with a former lover who has just come out of prison.

Inspiration was adapted by Gene Markey from the short novel Sappho by Alphonse Daudet--uncredited--written in 1884, which has more than passing similarities to Camille by Dumas fils. But Markey updated the story to the present time, with the unintended effect of making these bohemian antics seem wildly anachronistic--after all, this was the Paris of James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and the surrealists, not to mention Getrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, and not the playground of superannuated roues posing as bohemians. But if the film would have seemed ludicrous to anyone familiar with the contemporary European art scene, it is even harder to fathom what audiences here would have made out of it at a moment when most American males were more worried about where their next meal was coming from rather than about where they could latch onto a poule de luxe.

Inspiration is emphatically a pre-Code production, and anyone still suffering from the false impression that MGM was a goody-goody studio in the early 1930s may find the picture an eye-opener. (In an early scene a cab driver brags about one of his lady fares granting him her favors after he takes her to her house.) But the main reason for watching Inspiration today is not to peek at a salacious curiosity but to worship at the shrine of the most unique leading lady in American cinema history. Garbo did not so much transcend a movie like this as she transformed it altogether, and the emotional intensity she brought to a role like this rivaled the fabled skill of any alchemist in changing dreck into gold. At the end, after she has penned her farewell letter to Andre, she silently pauses for a moment before parting, and the gamut of emotions that plays over her face has the electric force of a revelation.

A vehicle for a great star was as much of a genre as the western or the musical, and Metro lavished its resources on Garbo with the same abandon that Yvonne's admirers lavish their bank accounts on her. William Daniels photographed the picture, Cedric Gibbons designed the sets, and Gilbert Adrian contributed the costumes. Sadly, Garbo did not get as much of an assist from her fellow performers, especially the men. Although Lewis Stone is appropriately villainous as the cruel Delval--whose discarded mistress commits suicide by jumpimg out a window and falling at his feet--but the indefatigably stuffy Robert Montgomery takes a rather unsympathetic character and succeeds in making him even more obnoxious.

Although the video is not a digital transfer, MGM/UA has done a reasonable job of manufacturing. Nevertheless, the materials used for the video do not seem to have been very well preserved, and the optical quality is often disappointing--scratches and cinch marks show up throughout the picture, which often has quite a washed-out look in comparison to Mata Hari or Grand Hotel, both from the same period as Inspiration. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

CAGNEY on top form
Truly one of the greatest of all movie stars and a very underated actor this movie glows with Cagney's talent in his depiciton of the life of Lon Chayney. Unlike so many hollywood bios of the time this move tends to steer away from the usual sanitization of a character and instead confronts the darker side of Chaney, a man beset by torments. Poignant, powerful in it's day with the head on look at how deaf people were treated, and indeed with the tragic aspects of Chayney's first marriage. For me this movie stands the test of time exceptionally well, thanks in no small measure to the performances, notably the conflict between Chaney and his first wife wonderfully played by Dorothy Malone. This is one of the great ones!

CAGNEY gives an all time great performace
No actor of our time comes close to james cagney or bogie of course. Cagney shows his versitily in this drama of the life of Lon Chaney. Cagney is GREAT and this movie will hold your interest through the entire 2 hours nothing drags. You will feel such compassion for lon chaney as the age old truth that money and fame can not bring you happiness is still true today. You will see such suffering from a bad marriage and a wife who didnt even want to bear his son because chaney's parents were deaf and dumb she was afraid that her child would be as well. Later she wants to act again and when that doesnt work out she tries to commit suicide. Obviously she is not fit to be a mother and chaney files for divorce and of course gets it but to his shock the court takes his child away from him since he has no wife. Later a female co-worker and friend who was secretly in love with chaney offers to marry him and he accepts they then get the child back. Of course later in life the mother shows up wanting to see her kid who thought she was dead. This is such a touching and realistic story that is all too common now adays you couldnt write a ficton this dramatic. Watch this movie it deserves 10 stars but dont expect gangsters and action this is a drama.

Ah. The golden days of old Hollywood.
"Man of a Thousand Faces" is a melodramatic vehicle, which allows Cagney to soft-shoe his way through the life and roles of Lon Chaney, famous silent movie actor.

Chaney was born to profoundly deaf parents and this was a major contributor to his success as a silent screen star. His wordless ability to express great and subtle emotions was legendary. Chaney's is best remembered today for his portrayals of grotesquely disfigured humans. He was able to evoke a sympathetic reaction from the audience in his original presentations of Quasimodo and the Phantom of the Opera.

This movie gives Cagney an opportunity to relieve the glory days of vaudeville. Numerous dance numbers find their way into the picture. As well as recreating scenes from many of the movies that Chaney was famous for. Still I can't help but notice that Cagney seems to act like Cagney throughout the picture. The typical tough-guy loner whose motto is "my way or the highway" that we see in so many other films.

The film spends no small amount of time covering Chaney's turbulent first marriage. The main contention between Chaney and his wife in this movie is anger at his not revealing the dark secret about his parents (their deafness). Her anger at this secret and his anger at her rejection of his roots leads to a downward spiral in the marriage. Eventually, Chaney is able to find happiness with an ex-chorus girl and provide the stable home for his son he has always dreamed of.

I enjoyed the movie but would caution you that it is not likely to be taken as a serious biography of this legendary film star.

Lon Chaney's Genius of the Silent Lives Through James Cagney
Lon Chaney made over 150 films from 1913 - 1930. 99.9% of them were silent. He died in 1930 before he could play Universal's "Dracula". Can you imagine that. Instead we had Bela Lugosi get the role and will always be remembered as The Count Dracula.

"Man of a Thousands Faces" is about this remarkable man who was born of deaf parents. From them he learned sign and the unique ability to communicate with great panomimic skills (visual effects for the silent screen).

Summary; This is the life of Lon Chaney (James Cagney) and his Silent Screen genius at work. This movie is considered to be one of the best screen-bios ever produced. Cagney does an amazing job portraying Chaney from using sign, to dance (Cagney won an Oscar in 1940 (Yankee Doodle Dandy) about song and dance man George M. Cohen), acting, master of disguise and his remarkabe contortionistic skills. This films covers his silent film career and his private life. A very enlightening and emotion journey with the "Man of a Thousand Faces". (NOTE - His only son Lon Chaney Jr. became Universal Pictures famous "Wolfman" (1940)).

Chaney was such a Master of Disguise the general public hardly recognized him when ventured out amongst them.

See Lon Chaney is his most famous silent horror classic role as the "Phantom of the Opera" - 1925/1929. (Read my review). Now on remastered DVD.

Good Dvd quality picture and shown in Widescreen (Letterbox) format. This a great film about a great Hollywood talent.

Powerful, but oh, so dated
This was one of my favorite movies as a kid (I'll never forget Cagney knocking that guy down backstage and the revelation that immediately follows). It's still engrossing, but the attitudes it reflects about the deaf back then are absolutely stunning today. It's hard to believe things were ever that bad. I only hope deaf viewers can see past that to the wonderful performance Cagney gives. He's as good as any actor Hollywood ever produced. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

1931 ADVENTURE CLASSIC.
An experienced African trader overcomes tribal hostility. Deep in the heart of Africa, famous hunter, explorer, Aloysius Horn - known as Trader Horn due to his bartering skills, tells Peru, the son of his best friend, that he was the first white man to set eyes on the river of which they are sailing...An amazing foray into adventurous early talkie cinema, this film shouldn't bore fans of cultish films from the thirties. Filmed on location in Africa, based on the sensational 1927 best-selling novel by Alfred Aloysius Horn and Elthreda Lewis & photographed by the excellent Clyde de Vinna, this film is vintage fun! During the filming, director Van Dyke and some crew members contracted malaria and were treated with quinine. A native crew member was eaten alive by an alligator during the filming: tsetse flies, sunstrokes, flash floods & ant attacks all were endured by the crew members. Nominated for the best picture of the 1931-32 season. Van Dyke was awarded the Red Cross Medal by the Japanese Government for his expertly detailed direction. Thelma Todd was tested to play the role of Nina, Irving Thalberg once even considered Jeanette MacDonald for the part! Remade in 1972 (poorly) with Rod Taylor and Anne Heywood, there was a cute Disney short from 1932 entitled TRADER MICKEY. M-G-M did another short called TRADER HOUND in 1931.

Excellent quality ,especially considering age of movie
A triumph for its time, holds up well, especially visually. Natives and wildlife natural and fascinating. Obvious actual locations add to overall appeal. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

They say the lights are bright on Broadway...
It's William Holden night, here at Chez Sixpack... Here, Holden stars as a brash, principled playwright who hitches his star to a famous-but-fading broadway star, played by Ginger Rogers. Rogers's Beatrice Page is an interesting character -- she's at the top of her game, but only for as long as she can keep up appearances and fend off her younger rivals. Among these is a chirpy, headstrong, would-be starlet (played by Pat Crowley) who attaches herself to Holden's coattails, at first out of mere opportunism, and then for true love. The Holden character is a bit too mannered -- too anchored in the old, pre-'60s fixation with The Moody Writer as a great dramatic character; Crowley is herself a bit irritating as well -- this was supposed to be her big breakout role, but she's a bit too perky and Annette Funicello-ish, and may get on your nerves. At the heart of this film, then, is Ginger Rogers, along with Paul Douglas as her ex-husband, a Broadway producer who's still not-so-secretly in love with her. His career is in limbo because he can't move on, and he continues to pick plays based solely on whether they'll serve as vehicles for Bea's continued fame. Their relationship is deeply layered and consistently interesting, as is the underlying theme of how female actors must keep up appearances and pursue an impossible ideal of youth. Plus, Paul Douglas is such a great character actor -- I love watching him in just about anything! -- and seeing Rogers star in a relatively unsympathetic role is pretty unusual as well. The portrayal of the vanity and backstage whispering that makes up the theater scene is territory that's been covered elsewhere, but it gets a pretty good airing here, in this well-paced, entertaining film. Recommended.

ALL ABOUT PAT.
Bill Holden plays a young supermarket employee who writes a play about a young girl and her forceful mother; later it is produced by Paul Douglas for his ageing actress wife, Ginger Rogers. Lots of bright lines - with inside jokes for show people - coupled with snappy supporting performances by Patricia Crowley, James Gleason, George Reeves and, in an entertaining cameo, Marjorie Rambeau - playing herself - make for an entertaining 93 minutes. The then 42 year-old Rogers overacts a tad, but not enough to make the viewer wince. In an excellent portrayal, Patricia Crowley seems to play Eve to Ginger's Margo in this fast-paced and funny adaptation of Sir James Barrie's play ROSALIND. Modernised to 1953 standards and given several twists, it seems purposely reminiscent of ALL ABOUT EVE - in a harmless, light-hearted way.

Crowley's the real star
While Holden and Rogers, the established stars of the picture, do well in their parts, it is Pat Crowley as the ingenue who really shines. This is one of those films in which you just shake your head while you watch a dumbkopf like Holden's character totally lose interest in Sally for the glamour of Beatrice. He not only ruins his love life, he ruins his art as well. A terrific love story and a well-made film. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Ginger w/o the Rogers
When people think of Ginger Rogers they think of Astaire=Rogers. This is a good thing, for some of her best films lie in those ten. However, the girl in this movie seems to be more of just a GINGER, no Rogers attached. This is due largely because of the teams license as Astaire Rogers, and since Fred isn't here, it's more just like Rogers, which crosses over to Ginger. This film isn't as fun as some of her movies, but it's finely acted, and the direction is good too. Don't expect to see a bubbly little blond who dances the blues away, but expect to see a quite grown-up, serious actress who can come into her own.

chemistry almost perfect
Someone told me that the chemistry in this film was the best Ginger and her leading man ever had, and that Ginger and Joel could practically melt. I saw the film and I agree, with one little tiny exception... Fred Astaire. Fred was the only one whose chemistry with Ginger could top this. They were incomprable, and indescribable. But this is a different kind of chemistry, Astaire and Rogers expressed emotions through dance and song, not to mention, they were in a class all their own, while this is more through dialogue. All the kissing that goes on between Mccrae and Roges more than makes up for the lack of clinches between her and astaire. This film isn't elegant or glossy, but the acting is superb. It's very racy for 1940, even after the censors "fixed it." Mccrae and Rogers were together in 1933's "chance at heaven" which is also fine, but Ginger was still a second-lead actress at that point, and in Primrose Path, they're both now full-fleged movie stars. The story line is very dense, so don't expect happy moments, there are few of them. But the ending is nice and leaves the viewer satisfied. it's disturbingly straight forward, and an eight-year-old Joan Carroll (From 1944's Meet ME IN ST. LOUIS) plays the little sister with realism and horror. (that's a compliment.) Rogers played the part without any make-up, and she's still gorgeous,but it was a daring thing to do consideriing she was the elegant glamour girl in films like "top Hat" "Swing time" and so forth. I recommend this film, but while watching, accept the players for what they are, and if possible, keep comparisons to Astaire+Rogers musicals to a minimum. (trust me, it REALLY helps)Enjoy! PS if you are a rogers fan, like all other of her movies in the forties, watch this film, and then watch SWING TIME. What range!

A different side of Ginger
Primrose Path is based on the pot boiler book February Hill and despite the censorship of the time the movie does a good job of getting most of the book to the screen. Ginger plays Ellie May the daughter of a free lance prostitute who spends wild weekends in the city with well to do men for a fee. Dad is an educated man who married beneath himself and although he loves his wife and his kids he's such a hopeless drunk Ellie can't expect any help from him. Granny is an old mean and unrepentant prostitute who can't wait to for the beautiful Ellie to go into the family business.

Salvation comes in the form of Joel McCray who plays an honest decent young man who marries Ellie. He's disgusted by her family but in the end he decides to deal with it. He puts the old hag granny in her place, cleans up the household and rescues Ellie's younger sister (there were 3 sisters in the book)from the family shack and lives happily ever after with Ellie.

It's a pretty good movie and McCray and Rogers have so much chemistry they're practically sizzling on screen. Check it out.

new rogers, same thrill
it would have been easy for Ginger Rogers to overact, but she doesn't. She's in fact incredible as the poor daughter or a prostitute. She has her natural red hair back, but it's the same face if you look deep enough. She played this role without almost any make-up, and she looks very natural because of it. she meets Joel McCrea (another musical actor who, like Ginger makes the transtion to drama quite easily)when you think about it, their relationship is almost astaire-rogers like. First they meet, ginger rebuffs (he kisses her, she slaps him) then, they fall in love (they even get married) then a misunderstanding tears them apart, but they fall into each other's arms come the end credits. This movie is quite grown-up for 1940. (a notice came up before showing on TCM from 1940 that this movie was approved for adult audiences) there's nothing worse than kissing (quite a bit though) but the themes are adult. The chemistry between the two stars is wicked. when they lay under a boat he's painting, (he's practically on top of her) it's almost eerie how they fir together. Yes, it is serious, bur when Rogers smiles, she lights up the whole screen, and you can't help but love her. In case it gets too serious, afretwards, watch 42nd street (1933)(where Gin's at her wisecracking best) or carefree, shall we dance? or swingtime, where she's at her musical-comedy best. But don't forget to enjoy this film, because it's deffinately worthy.

Brilliant director and actors transcend material.
'Primrose Path' could have been dire, another stodgy adaptation of a dated American play. The work's hokey theatrical origins are betrayed not only in the interior settings (the story has three basic locations, a run-down frame house, a steakhouse and a dodgy nightclub), whose apparent seediness is conveyed with all the grimy grandeur Hollywood could muster; but in the reliance on reams of bogus-realistic dialogue, and sub-Eugene O'Neill character-contrivances, such as the family patriarch, a classics scholar turned alcoholic. In order to feed the family - two daughters, an anti-Shirley Temple brat and a supposedly teenage Ginger Rogers, as well as her mother, a grotesque, compelling embodiment of pantomime moral corruption - the mother works as a prostitute. It's not clear whether this has caused her husband's alcoholism, or is the practical solution to it. Persuaded by her self-pitying father to leave, Rogers throws herself on local lothario Joel McCrea, feigining suicidal tendencies and invoking a desperate home life. Their marriage is enviably happy until a chance meeting with Mother at their place of work initiates a cycle of tragic events. This heavy atmosphere of impending, deterministic doom is another cliche of the contemporary American stage.

That 'Path' isn't awful - that it's actually a very enjoyable piece of melodrama - is due entirely to the director and his actors. Gregory le Cava's most famous films are the screwball comedy 'My Man Godfrey', about a vagrant who is made a socialite's butler, and' Stage Door', an all-female backstage drama. He brings to 'Path' a rare feeling for class and a Cukor-like empathy with female relationships that raise his material to the poignant, rescuing and humanising in particular the mother-figure, poised dangerously between whore and saint. He also has a canny ability to root out the comedy from the mawkish weeds.

The actors, meanwhile, breathe life into stilted constructions - Rogers was one of the few actressses who knew how to convey the process of falling and being in love: her emotional upheavals here make for wrenching viewing; McCrea is just right as the motherless ladies' man who needs to settle down, but can't cope with any kind of betrayal; Joan Carroll is a rare Hollywood child who is pure, unsentimental horror; and Queenie Vassar as the grandmother is deliciously, manipulatively vile. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

DVD Please....A Gem Among The Duke's 1940's Films
This a John Wayne film like no other. Take it from a huge fan that's seen most of his movies. Although this is not classified as a comedy, the Duke's turns in a sly performance full of great one-liners and facial expressions that had me rolling. Its action adventure in the oil fields and it's very entertaining and fun. Wayne is Cowboy Dan Somers and he competes with oilman Jim Gardner for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the favors of schoolteacher Cathy Allen. It has a good supporting cast including George "Gabby" Hayes.
You will never see the Duke quite like this in any other role. If you're a fan of the Duke, this film is a must so track down a copy while you can. It was originally titled "In Old Oklahoma" and then reissued as "War of the Wildcats" If we cross our fingers, maybe this will be re-released on DVD as it deserves to be.

DUKE STRIKES IT RICH WITH ANOTHER CLASSIC!
This movie was a pleasant surprise. A great movie with all the elements of a Duke classic: fist fights, Indians, love affairs, drunken debacle and tom foolery. Duke is at his best with his one liners and Joe cool attitude. Wayne's character in the movie (Dan) has shades of Wayne's characters in "Red River" and "The Searchers" Dan is so intent on getting 10,000 gallons of oil to Oklahoma, that he'll do it at any price. He'll starve his men and forgo their dinners. It takes the reason of a woman, Cathy (Martha Scott) to help Dan to not only think of a means to an end, but others' well being as well.

I highly recommend this movie. Ranks right up there with my favorites, "Red River" "El Dorado" "The Comancheros" and "Hondo"

Simply a classic.... ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Joan Crawford's Return "Home" To MGM After 10 Years
The less flattering views on Joan Crawford would be that the role of hard as nails musical star Jenny Stewart was a role that was no stretch for her, so closely did it resemble the real actress. While certainly the character of Jenny has few redeeming qualities, it is hardly typical of Joan Crawford's working relationship with her own crews and a large proportion of her costars in countless films over the decades. Here she has a role which has gone down into "camp" folklore because of its over the top viciousness and neurotic perfectionism. Jenny Stewart indeed is one of the harder and meaner roles that Joan Crawford took on in her later years and ironically came by at a very happy time in her professional life as it marked her return with great fanfare to MGM which had been her "home", for 18 glorious and mainly happy years in the 1920's and 30's.

Joan Crawford plays this forceful star as a cold and hard woman who believes in perfectionism in all things. The opening sequence finds Jenny in the middle of rehearsals for a new show. Her dancing partner ironically is played by the real life director of "Torch Song", dance legend Charles Walters. He misses one of the steps which sends Jenny into a rage and she shoots off a threat that unless the steps are perfected Ralph, (Walters), will be out of the show. The cast and crew alike live in constant terror of Jenny with the exception of stage assistant Joe Dennar (Harry Morgan) who has learnt to turn the other cheek to Jenny's manical quest for perfection. When her resident pianist has had enough of Jenny's controlling nature and quits Jenny finds herself with an unexpected replacement in the form of reserved blind pianist Tye Graham (Michael Wilding). Tye is not afraid of Jenny and very soon the pair are clashing as he is not slow in pointing out her wrong singing tempo or when she has over stepped the mark in her treatment of her cast and crew. Jenny finds herself perplexed by Tye's manner as she is used to getting her way in all things. She attempts to have him replaced but underneath her confident and ruthless exterior beats the heart of a woman who is alone and desperately in need of love. Her current relationship with vapid stagedoor leech Cliff Willard (Gig Young) is unfulfilling and slowly Jenny begins to realise that Tye's honest straight talk is what she is actually looking for in life. Visiting her mother (Marjorie Rambeau), Jenny happens to look through one of the old scrap books her mother has compiled about her career and in it she sees an old review written by Tye when he was a second string music reviewer. He writes in a glowing manner about Jenny's talent and likens her to a "gypsy madonna". After her cruel dismissal of his musical judgement and her action in getting Tye fired Jenny begins to realise how much she now misses him. She visits his apartment and finds that she has a rival for Tye's affections in Martha(Dorothy Patrick). Unbeknown to Jenny however Tye cannot commit to Martha as he has never actually seen her whereas he will always love Jenny as he saw her perform before he lost his sight in the war. Finding out that Tye still carries a torch for her Jenny finally realises that she has found someone to love her for the person she actually is and she goes to him and in a touching scene Dorothy exits the apartment with Jenny taking her place in the room as Tye is playing the piano. When he discovers who his audience actually is he takes Jenny in his arms and she confesses her total need for him in her otherwise empty life.

"Torch Song", gives Joan Crawford a very meaty role to sink her teeth into and it was her first full technicolour production. She dominates the proceedings from start to finish and Crawford handles the demands of playing a dancing star very well. The rehearsal scenes show an agile and capable Crawford keeping right up with veteran Charles Walters in the dance steps. With her flattering dance costumes created by MGM designer Helen Rose it can be seen that Crawford still possessed some of the best legs in the business. For her singing numbers Joan was dubbed by India Adams who performed the same service for numerous non singing actresses in musical roles. Her big production number "Two faced Woman", done in black face is amazing and in its garish colour and dated musical compostion is perfect as one of the highlights earning the film its "camp", appeal. The other performances pale into the background in front of the Crawford onslaught but Michael Wilding does a good job in the quite difficult role of Jenny's blind pianist. His handling of the characters blind status is convincing and his even playing beside the much more frantic Jenny makes a nice contrast. Also pleasing is the great chemistry between Jenny and the two characters of her mother and her black personal assistant respectively. Crawford displays an easy rapport with both actresses and in those scenes you can almost see a little extra dimension revealed in Jenny's character. The production has a handsome if slightly gaudy look to it with the bright Metro colour but the backstage atmosphere is recreated well with one very autobiographical scene inserted when Jenny greets her young fans at the stage door enquiring about their families etc. It is almost a snap shot of how Crawford related to her own real life fans on such occasions.

Campy, hilariously awful, and great nostaglia value are all labels that have a place in describing this film. It is overall great fun and shows Joan Crawford still in total command of the screen in the type of glamourous and no holds barred role that suited her to perfection. Not a great success at the time of it's release despite the publicity of Crawford returning to MGM after 10 years, it now seems to have a whole second life as a "camp", curio piece . Sit back and enjoy as Joan Crawford dominates the screen as the ruthless, domineering star of stars who finds love in the most unexpected place in MGM's "Torch Song".

It's Fun, But...
"Torch Song" is fun to watch, but not as much so as I'd expected. Parts of it are downright dull, and one really has to pay attention to have any clue what's going on.
I still don't know why everyone seems to practically worship Jenny Stewart( Joan Crawford), especially when she's such a pill. The only reason that Jenny falls for Tye( Michael Wilding) is that he WON"T take her abuse. She respects him, I guess. But she seems very confident that he'll melt like everybody else when she decides to beckon. Yeah, sure.
My favorite part is when, in a typical hissy after the "Two-Faced Woman" number( calls to mind Meredith Brooks' "I'm a B****")Jenny rips off her black wig, revealing orange hair that is rather jarring combined with her fake-mulatto makeup. Yuck.
And she's even grouchy with Michael Wilding's guide dog.Carol Burnett's parody, "Torchy Song", is lots better than the original.Devout Joan Crawford fans( and there are bound to be some) should opt for "Mildred Pierce" instead.

I second the motion: Please release this on DVD!
This is a supremely enjoyable Joan Crawford vehicle -- she's hard as nails, in all-too-rare MGM color. It's a camp classic. Once it's released on DVD, snatch it up!

A MUST FOR DVD......
This is not the great movie it was intended to be but Crawford (as in Joan) camps it up in questionable taste and the viewer is not disappointed. As usual, she plays a tough dame (not her fault) who's misunderstood (not her fault) who learns the hard way (her fault) the true meaning of love. Whew! And do we roll with the punches! Her costumes are DELUXE 50's to-die-for and her makeup so thick you'd have to crack it with an icepick. Allegedly, she had a face and breast lift before starting this picture and maybe that's why she looks so tight. But her hair color is what's really odd---ORANGE! As stage star Jenny, she cuts everyone down to chopped meat but stays loyal to her fans because they truly "love" her unconditionally. But a blind pianist ( a cowed Michael Wilding) crosses her orbit and -BOOM!- she enters a state of confusion over "is it love?" and it takes her alcoholic money-grubbing mother ( a splendid Marjorie Rambeau) to wake her up. Whew! Are we there yet? Almost. The musical numbers are WAY out there---esp. the "Two-Faced Woman" number ----in brownface!...(she was supposed to be mulatto) but dear God, what was she or anyone else THINKING? This movie is a must see and/or have for Crawford buffs. A major camp masterpiece in color and Crawford-vision. PUT THIS ON DVD NOW!...

Joan is the star!!!
Unintentionally hilarious film with Crawford as the great Jenny who finds truth in a blind man's love for her.

The real fun strats at the strat when Joan tells her parftner in a really clop clop dance routine that she will NOT move her leg and "spoil that line??"

Ther is the famous Two- Faced Woman number with Joan in black face that stuns even after many viewings. How did Joan get the nerve to do it? It was done by Cyd Charissse and cut from a film she made of it and as great as Cyd is, Joan's is more arresting, and of course crazy. What can equal this in musical film history? Maybe Lost Horizon (1973)??

Many great lines and lots of Joan being mean to everyone in her path.

Michael Wilding is way off the beam but who cares. Joan is all in all. Buy it wherever you can. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

What Great Character Actor Performances!
Clark Gable owns a gambling club where he must deal with crisis after crisis with customers. At home, his son loves him, but doesn't like him, his wife is trying to keep everyone happy, and his brother-in-law that lives with him and works for him is cheating him. Not surprisingly, all the tension is giving him chest pains and making him re-evaluate his life. The film starts off slowly, but picks up steam as it goes along, building to a very good conclusion. Gable is terrific here, conflicted, tough, in crisis, and in charge. Alexis Smith, somewhat underrated as an actress I think, is also strong as his wife that reveals a lot more toughness then she appears to have. But as good as the leads are, it is the terrific character actors that support them that make this film memorable. Marjorie Rambeau, Lewis Stone, Frank Morgan, and the great Mary Astor all contribute top performances, each actor bringing a lifetime of experiences to their characters. The script has some great lines (courtesy of future director Richard Brooks) and takes a serious look at the effects of gambling on individuals and families. When you get past the first forty-five minutes or so, the film really picks up and becomes quite good.

An Extraordinary Glimpse Of The Real Clark Gable
"Any Number Can Play" is a sombre,post-war drama about the family life of an aging professional gambler.It's also one of the most fascinating of all the Gable vehicles,for reasons we can appreciate much more in hindsight.1949 critics dismissed it---audiences at the time were dissappointed(this wasn't the old pre-war Gable they knew)---and Metro ledger books showed less black ink,but what a performance he gives!This is like watching home movies of a great star recently back from the war---the man might as well have been playing himself.In the opening reel,he's throwing down drinks,cigarettes---calling in heart doctor Leon Ames about the chest pains he's been concealing----sound familiar?If you've read any Gable bios,this is like following the star into his own doctor's office---he really lays it on the line in this picture.They said Gable spent a career just "playing himself"---the truth is he gave us thirty years playing out the drama of his own life on screen---never self-consciously(I doubt if Gable himself sensed the parallels---it would have been hard to face them if he did).He was too honest and forthright as an actor to hide behind putty faces and show-off performances---but no one in his business was more generous or revealing of his own disillusionments after the war than Gable.There's the tremor in his hands(with the onset of his own Parkinson's)when he's rushing Audrey Totter to pour him a drink---his world-weary gambler is like the mid-life crisis of Blackie Norton,Blackie Gallagher,or any number of cocky,free-spirit characters he had played during the thirties before the war,the death of wife Carole Lombard,and other things knocked a lot of the fight out of him.It's a great performance.Do yourself a favor----read about Gable's life,then buy this movie and watch a great actor sharing his life with his audience.

particularly good for the gambling-related scenes
I enjoyed the movie in its own right and also because of the gambling scenes and discussion, a hobby of mine (collecting gambling chips and equipment). I just want to add that I can't think, off hand, of another movie with so much discussion about gambling and gamblers and what makes them tick. There is a huge amount of gambling scenes and gambling equipment (from 50 years ago)..........Another plus is the terrific cast; take a look. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

DVD Please....A Gem Among The Duke's 1940's Films
This a John Wayne film like no other. Take it from a huge fan that's seen most of his movies. Although this is not classified as a comedy, the Duke's turns in a sly performance full of great one-liners and facial expressions that had me rolling. Its action adventure in the oil fields and it's very entertaining and fun. Wayne is Cowboy Dan Somers and he competes with oilman Jim Gardner for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the favors of schoolteacher Cathy Allen. It has a good supporting cast including George "Gabby" Hayes.
You will never see the Duke quite like this in any other role. If you're a fan of the Duke, this film is a must so track down a copy while you can. It was originally titled "In Old Oklahoma" and then reissued as "War of the Wildcats" If we cross our fingers, maybe this will be re-released on DVD as it deserves to be.

DUKE STRIKES IT RICH WITH ANOTHER CLASSIC!
This movie was a pleasant surprise. A great movie with all the elements of a Duke classic: fist fights, Indians, love affairs, drunken debacle and tom foolery. Duke is at his best with his one liners and Joe cool attitude. Wayne's character in the movie (Dan) has shades of Wayne's characters in "Red River" and "The Searchers" Dan is so intent on getting 10,000 gallons of oil to Oklahoma, that he'll do it at any price. He'll starve his men and forgo their dinners. It takes the reason of a woman, Cathy (Martha Scott) to help Dan to not only think of a means to an end, but others' well being as well.

I highly recommend this movie. Ranks right up there with my favorites, "Red River" "El Dorado" "The Comancheros" and "Hondo"

Simply a classic.... ... Read more

Reviews (42)

"Film Noir, Meet Marilyn Monroe."
Marilyn Monroe was so good at playing the ditzy, sexy blond in upbeat comedies she became typecast in those sorts of roles. Niagara was one of her rare opportunities to show she was a fine dramatic actress, as well.

This is the story of two couples. Ray Cutler (Casey Adams) and wife Polly (Jean Peters) are taking their three-years-delayed honeymoon. George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) is a stressed-out, failed businessman and war veteran, his wife Rose (Monroe), the ex-barmaid plotting with a secret lover to kill her husband. All four characters wind up at the same hotel bordering Niagara Falls.

Things go wrong for Rose when George, proving surprisingly resilient, overcomes the lover, killing him instead, and, realizing his wife set him up, fakes his own death and begins stalking her. The Cutlers, especially Polly, are drawn into the drama when George, post-murder attempt, not realizing the Cutlers have been moved into his and Rose's old cabin, breaks in, intending to stab Rose, surprising Polly instead. Now Polly knows George is alive, but due to her overbearing, not-terribly-bright husband's interference, can't convince anyone else, specifically the police, of that fact.

Jean Peters and Joseph Cotten turn in respectable performances. Casey Adams is irritating - of course, that might be because his character is a moron. For pure movie magic, Niagara belongs to Marilyn. Whenever she's on-screen, the camera loves her. The standout scene has her in a killer, shocking pink dress that does an outstanding job of emphasizing what she has so much of. When Ray sees Rose, he asks Polly (a fresh-faced girl next door type if ever there was one), "Why don't you ever get a dress like that?" Her answer: "Listen, for a dress like that you've gotta start laying plans when you're about 13." Rose has a kid at a party play a record of her favorite song ("Kiss"), then begins singing along. The look on her face then, dreamy, yearning, is mesmerizing. We get the feeling, way before we meet the lover, or even know he exists, it's not thoughts of her husband motivating that look.

Marilyn must've had a ball making Niagara. No one else has ever looked so good just lounging in bed. And when she believes her husband is dead, Rose's look of wicked delight - she has to hide her desire to laugh out loud in front of the Cutlers - is priceless. Rose is beautiful, scheming, deceitful, manipulative, cruel, sultry, and yet, paradoxically, has a sort of little girl innocence that makes you root for her to succeed in offing George - who's a serious whiner, anyway - and live happily ever after with her unnamed lover.

The only problems I had with this movie were: (a) We're never given a compelling reason why Rose plots to murder George. Sure, she wants to be free to be with her lover, but why not simply get a divorce? The motivation of a fat insurance policy, or that her husband would kill her if she tried to leave (difficult to believe in any event - he's pretty pathetic to start with), or any one of several other motives never established, would've gone a long way toward having the basic plot make sense. (b) A key scene has Rose and George locked inside a major tourist attraction after closing hours - which means the employees locked up the building without first checking to see whether anyone was still inside. Not likely.

Joe MacDonald's cinematography is excellent, the scenery - both Niagara Falls and Marilyn - stunning, and director Henry Hathaway makes the most of both. Niagara has been restored as part of the "Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection" DVD project, its colors vibrant and alive. It's deserving of this treatment, if only for Marilyn Monroe as Rose Loomis, and that it proves film noir in bright, brassy Technicolor really can work.

MARILYN IN HER PRIME....
This isn't the ultimate Marilyn movie ("The Seven Year Itch" holds that honor) but it's a prime look at Monroe in an unusual role as a scheming man-trap out to kill her husband (Joseph Cotton, who's excellent). She's the whole show and I wish she could have done more films like this that put her in off-beat situations giving her a chance to stretch as an actress. She's gorgeous in Technicolor and a believable vixen/victim when her plan backfires leaving her to be stalked by Cotton. You feel sorry for her at this point. Jean Peters is good as a sympathetic neighbor but Casey Adams (as Peters' husband) is woefully miscast and clearly out of his league here. He nearly sinks the whole film as a co-star and there's way too much of him in the film. But that's the only complaint. Otherwise, Monroe keeps us glued to the screen when she appears and we root for her no matter what she's up to. There's beautiful Niagara scenery and a great scene where she appears at an outdoor party in a sexy red dress and requests a sexy song to be played. She then proceeds to sing along with the record as she closes her eyes obviously thinking of her lover. The song "Kiss" later is reprised as the lovers' theme song and figures in an unusual plot to lure Monroe to Cotton---whom she thinks has been killed by the lover as part of their plan. Marilyn shows here what she had to become the icon she is now. This movie nicely represents the reasons people fell in love with her. How right they were.

Marilyn Monroe in her first Technicolor starring role!
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This is Marilyn Monroe's first starring role in a glorious Technicolor production. The technicolor film process seems a perfect match for Monroe; her ruby red lips and golden blonde hair are dazzling, and her skin tones are magnificent.

The plot puts Monroe in a dramatic role that allows her to chew up every scene. It's also the only film in her career (fortunately!) in which Monroe's character dies.

Niagara Falls are the spendiforous background in this drama, and Marilyn Monroe proves that she is probably the only star in cinema history that can eclipse such a natural phenomenon.

Marilyn absolutely sizzles on the screen when she performs her sensual rendition of the siren song "Kiss", wearing a dress "cut so low in front you can see her kneecaps" (as stated in the script). Indeed, "a girl has to start making plans when she's thirteen to wear a dress like that!" (Also from the script.)

Enjoy the magic of Marilyn Monroe in dazzling Technicolor in this great movie.

MMMmmmmmmarvelous Marilyn!

Marilyn and Jean and Niagara- what a treat!
All reviews of this movie center on Monroe and her protuberant curves - and I agree, she and her instant fame deserve some of the credit. BUT Niagara Falls and Jean Peters also deserve some special mention here. Whereas Marilyn is sexy in most her scenes, Peters is charming, a good actress and quite beautiful...and then there is Niagara Falls. This torrent of water never looked better.
The acting. Marilyn in her first film as a "star" does okay - but as far as good acting is concerned it is Peters and Joseph Cotten that deserve better credit. Then I do agree with some reviews that Cassey Adams (aka Max Shoewalter) is miscast and a bit over the top in his acting. This role was to be played by another Fox contract player (I think Jeffrey Hunter) but Fox weanted someone funny in the role (big mistake!). And the role of Marilyn's lover was actually offered (enlarged, of course) to Tony Curtis.
The movie originally was planned for Anne Baxter in Peters's role and the role of Marilyn ironically was to be played by Peters. When Baxter got pregnant by her husband, Peters took over her role and Marilyn...well she became a "star". Even the movie's title song (which was to be "Night and Day") was changed for a song Marilyn portrayed in the movie -titled "Kiss". At any rate, it certainly is because of Marilyn that this has become a cult movie and a classic - But Peters, Cotten and Niagara Falls did help a lot in getting NIAGARA to achieve this status .

Sensual, unforgettable Monroe. Made her a star.
One of the best projects Marilyn was associated with. I didn't like Niagara the first time i saw it, because i thought Marilyn was only good for comedy. But this role as the sensual, unfaithful wife of Joseph Cotton's (superbly performed) troubled war veteran is one of her most memorable roles. Pleanty of indelible Marilyn images come from here: Marilyn lying seemingly naked with legs apart under bed in hotel room, purple dress standing against cabin in grammophone scene, and the entire grammophone scene. Pleanty of location shooting made good use of the beautiful location, and the motif of the song the lovers sing to each other is a beautiful touch. The suspense develops well, but i suppose it depends on what you're expecting. I found it a great sensual thriller, but this movie lives and dies with Monroe. She is captivating in every scene, and looks stunning. The belltower climax of the movie is very fine indeed, one of the best scenes she ever played in. Nods to director Hathaway for camera placement in this scene.

Best line:

(Monroe has just done a sensual walk to the grammophone and had them put it on, then had a virtual standing orgasm listening to it, and spent an entire minute of close-up singing along to it, and the happy-go-lucky honeymooner character says to her)

Honeymooner: You seem to really like this song, Mrs Loomis."

Marilyn: "There isn't any other song," she says. But its all in her face - it always was. One of the best moments in her career. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Old Movie
Joe Palooka is about a man and his son and boxing. Jimmy Durante plays the manager of Joe Palooka who he discovers on the side of the road. It is a fresh look at boxing and how boxing was fixed back in the 1930's. Of course it has Jimmy singing his trademark song Inka Dinka Do. A great movie for all the Durante fans out there. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Old Movie
Joe Palooka is about a man and his son and boxing. Jimmy Durante plays the manager of Joe Palooka who he discovers on the side of the road. It is a fresh look at boxing and how boxing was fixed back in the 1930's. Of course it has Jimmy singing his trademark song Inka Dinka Do. A great movie for all the Durante fans out there. ... Read more