Niagara (1953)

Schemes rarely go according to plan, especially when greed and passion get tangled together. Henry Hathaway's Technicolor thriller "Niagara," written and produced by Charles Brackett, stars Marilyn Monroe as Rose Loomis, a seductive young wife vacationing at Niagara Falls with her emotionally fragile husband, George (Joseph Cotten), a troubled war veteran. George is jealous and unstable, and Rose makes little effort to hide her contempt for him, flaunting herself in a tight pink dress and asking for a romantic song, "Kiss," to be played at a party. Behind his back, Rose and her lover (Richard Allan) plot to murder him and make it look like an accident during a visit to the falls. But their plan takes a deadly turn, and newlyweds Polly and Ray Cutler (Jean Peters and Max Showalter), staying in the next cabin at the motel, are swept into the danger. The film makes stunning use of its real locations, including the Cave of the Winds and the thundering Horseshoe Falls, and Monroe's famous long walk, filmed from behind, became one of the most talked-about shots of the era. It was the film that made Monroe a full-fledged star. The tension builds like the roar of the falls.