Niagara (1953) 52
Ray Cutler (Max Showalter) is a winner of a shredded wheat essay contest, and his prize is a trip to Niagara Falls, with his wife Polly (Jean Peters). Ray is good-natured but somewhat smarmy. Peters has no discernable personality. Ray is waiting at the hotel for shredded wheat corporate bigshot Mr. Kettering, hoping for a job offer.
At a humble motel at Niagara, they meet a troubled married couple. George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) is a moody, paranoid man, unable to keep a job and in the process of losing wife Rose (Marilyn Monroe) who is voluptuous and much younger.
The Cutlers are nosy, especially Peters, going out of their way to talk to the Loomis's. Later, while touring the falls, Peters sees Monroe making out with a young man (Richard Allan).
It turns out that Monroe is plotting with Allan to kill her husband. No wonder she is in such a good mood. She sets a trap for Cotten, with Allan and Cotten alone in the same elevator.
Later, Monroe pretends to be frantically worried about her missing husband. Again the Loomis couple are brought into the story as police search the area for Cotten. A body is fished from the rapids, and Monroe must identify it. We don't see the body, but Monroe does, screams, and is carried unconscious to a hospital.
For some reason, the motel owner moves the Cutler's belongings into the Loomis' former room. Peters is sleeping, when Cotten (he's alive!) enters, brandishing a kitchen knife, thinking Peters is Monroe. Peters gives an excellent scream (much more spirited than Monroe's was). Ray doesn't buy the story about Cotten being alive, and tells her she had a nightmare.
Mr. Kettering (Don Wilson) and wife arrive. Wilson is a gregarious backslapper, and insists and showing the Cutlers the area. They go to visit the falls.
Now the story becomes increasingly unbelievable. Somehow, Peters isolates herself from the party, convenient for meeting Cotten, who just happens to be there. Peters runs from Cotten, who tracks her down, admits to murdering Allan, wants her to "help him" without bothering to explain what help he wants. Peters escape, but doesn't tell anyone what she's seen. Returning to the motel, a police detective is waiting. Oddly, she lies to him at first, then finally tells him that Cotten is alive and Monroe knows it, not mentioning the murder of Allan. Amazingly, the detective leaves without asking any further questions.
Monroe makes the mistake of wandering about alone. Cotten, who certainly gets around, happens upon her, stalks her, and strangles her in the bell tower. He happens to get locked in the tower, but makes no effort to escape until the door is unlocked the next morning. Instead of remaining in hiding in Canada, Cotten returns to the American border, where he is sure to be spotted by a mass of people and policeman, who by now are looking for him.
Meanwhile, the Cutlers are boating with the Ketterings. In another unbelievable coincidence, Cotten, after hiding behind trees, sneaks into the boat after distracting the others. Peters returns alone to the boat. She sees Cotten, he tells her to leave, she physically attacks him, without calling for help! He knocks her out, heads straight to the falls to escape police, and runs out of gas. Perhaps the whole movie plot has been a slow-moving setup for Peters to be in peril. Cotten sacrifices himself for the damsel in distress, who watches in horror as Cotten goes over the falls.
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