Niagara Falls (1941)
7/10
Very silly but sweet
24 September 2011
Sweethearts Sam (Slim Summerville) and Emmy (Zasu Pitts) have waited twenty years to get married but are finally on their way to a Niagara Falls hotel. Nearly there, they encounter a young couple having car trouble at the side of the road. Sam and Emmy assume the couple are newlyweds like themselves; in fact, Margy (Marjorie Woodworth) and Tom (Tom Brown) are anything but—they're strangers having trouble with two separate cars, and Margy is helping herself to Tom's tools while he fiddles under his own hood. There lies the setup: and the rest of the film consists of Sam attempting to "reconcile" Tom and Margy; Emmy waiting for Sam to pay attention to her back in the bridal suite; and Margy and Tom trading insults, attempting to escape Sam's watchful eye, and eventually….Well, I don't want to spoil it for you.

This is a very silly film, which is completely okay because it makes absolutely no pretensions to being anything else.

The two young leads are attractive and pleasant—nothing exceptional, but they're interesting enough to root for. We don't get enough of Zasu Pitts—though she does have a good scene cuddling with a man's jacket, pretending it's Sam.

Summerville as Sam is persistently and vigorously goofy, to the point where he really looks natural enough climbing along a window ledge in his pajamas carrying a large revolver. The scene where he re-enters from the window ledge into a strange couple's room and hides in their bed is hilarious—what makes it funniest is that he plays it exactly as if this ridiculous situation is perfectly normal.

This 43-minute "streamliner" has to be just about what Hal Roach had in mind when he started producing these quickies.
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