1h 32min | Film-Noir, Thriller | 21 January 1953 | Color
Director: Henry Hathaway
Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046126/
MM is in full persona here, albeit with a femme fatale twist. This is her first top-billing.
I've always liked this film, especially because it is Technicolor noir, and for the programmable bells in town. Events also satisfy the Production Code sense of justice.
I've always admired JP for her strong presence here, holding her own even in scenes with MM, who pulls attention like a rabid gorilla. JP plays a wife on a belated honeymoon, and I'm not impressed with her husband. He seems to like and love her, but dismisses her observation of a prowler as a dream, and discourages her contact of the police. She persists, and gets, um, swept up in events through no fault of her own. By painting her as such a righteous, capable, attractive woman, we're rooting for her, which makes the tension of the finale extra sweet.
Here's IMDb Trivia about the bells:
During filming at the "bus station", which is actually the Rainbow Tower and Bridge Complex, the tower's Rainbow Carillon can be heard. Completed in 1947, it consists of 55 bells weighing a total of over 43 tons. It was played manually four times a day until the early 2000's when an automated system was installed by the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission.Fox, dir. Hathaway; 8
