Niagara Falls (1941 film)
Encyclopedia
Niagara Falls is a 1941 American comedy of errors
film directed by Gordon Douglas
that was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners
.
Through flashback
Sam relates that he and his wife Emily made their way to Niagara Falls
for their honeymoon
. On the way there Sam and Emily sight a bickering young couple named Tom and Margie who they later see at their hotel. Tom and Margie are two strangers who met through automobile accidents that have destroyed their cars, leaving them furious with each other. Unknown to each other, Tom and Margie hitch rides to the same hotel they both plan to stay at. Once at the hotel Sam sees Tom and Margie arguing and Sam wrongly assumes they are married but having a quarrel. He offers his and Emily's reserved bridal suite to the couple so they can be reconciled.
As the two are not keen on the idea, Sam marches them at gunpoint into the smaller room he and Emily had taken in exchange for the bridal suite, and locks them in. To the distress of Emily, Sam is so keen on bringing the couple together he stays up all night with his large revolver facing their room to prevent escape attempts.
During the night the young couple realise they are in love, and have a minister and a witness, who are hotel guests, marry them. In the morning Sam and the management of the hotel discover that the couple really were not married after all. The female guests of the hotel demand they all be evicted in shame.
Comedy of errors
A comedy of errors is a narrative work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.-Satire and farce:A slight variation of...
film directed by Gordon Douglas
Gordon Douglas
Gordon Douglas may refer to:*Gordon Douglas , American film director*Gordon Douglas , the first Western monk in Buddhism-See also:*Gordon K. Douglass, sailor*Gordon, Douglas County, Wisconsin...
that was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners
Hal Roach's Streamliners
Hal Roach's Streamliners were a series of short comedy films created by Hal Roach that were longer than a short subject and less than a feature film not exceeding 50 minutes in length. Twenty of the twenty-nine features that Roach produced for United Artists were in the streamliner format...
.
Plot summary
A peanut vendor sights a man named Sam Sawyer attempting suicide by jumping off a cliff into the waters below. The vendor offers a free bag of peanuts to hear Sam's story of what brought him to make such a decision.Through flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
Sam relates that he and his wife Emily made their way to Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
for their honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
. On the way there Sam and Emily sight a bickering young couple named Tom and Margie who they later see at their hotel. Tom and Margie are two strangers who met through automobile accidents that have destroyed their cars, leaving them furious with each other. Unknown to each other, Tom and Margie hitch rides to the same hotel they both plan to stay at. Once at the hotel Sam sees Tom and Margie arguing and Sam wrongly assumes they are married but having a quarrel. He offers his and Emily's reserved bridal suite to the couple so they can be reconciled.
As the two are not keen on the idea, Sam marches them at gunpoint into the smaller room he and Emily had taken in exchange for the bridal suite, and locks them in. To the distress of Emily, Sam is so keen on bringing the couple together he stays up all night with his large revolver facing their room to prevent escape attempts.
During the night the young couple realise they are in love, and have a minister and a witness, who are hotel guests, marry them. In the morning Sam and the management of the hotel discover that the couple really were not married after all. The female guests of the hotel demand they all be evicted in shame.
Cast
- Marjorie Woodworth as Margie Blake
- Tom BrownTom BrownTom Brown may refer to:In sports:*Tom Brown , 19th-century baseball player and manager*Tom Brown , former NFL player and MLB outfielder/first baseman...
as Tom Wilson - ZaSu PittsZaSu PittsZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, transitioning to comedy sound films.-Early life:ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas to Rulandus and Nellie Pitts; she was the third of four children...
as Emmy Sawyer - Slim SummervilleSlim SummervilleSlim Summerville was an American film actor, best known as a comedy performer.-Life and career:Born George Joseph Summerville in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Summerville began his career as a "Keystone Kop" in 1912...
as Sam Sawyer - Chester CluteChester CluteChester Clute , was an American actor familiar in scores of Hollywood films from his debut in 1930. Diminutive, bald-pated with a bristling moustache, he appeared in mostly unbilled roles, consisting usually of one or two lines, in nearly 250 films. He died of a heart attack aged 65...
as Hotel Manager Potter - Edgar DearingEdgar DearingEdgar Dearing was an American actor who became heavily type cast as a motorcycle cop in Hollywood films. He started in silent comedy shorts for Hal Roach, including several with Laurel and Hardy, notably in their classic Two Tars, probably his best ever screen role...
as Motorcycle Cop - Edward GarganEdward GarganEdward Gargan born July 17, 1902 in Brooklyn, New York, USA and died February 19, 1964, aged 61 in New York City, New York, USA. He born of Irish parents, he was one of the most prolific bit players in the history of the movies ; the Internet Movie Database lists 293 feature films to his credit...
as Chuck - Gladys Blake as Trixie
- Leon BelascoLeon BelascoLeon Belasco was a Russian-American musician and actor who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films.-Musical career:Belasco attended St...
as Head Waiter - Rand Brooks as Honeymooner
- Margaret Roach as Honeymooner
- Jack RiceJack RiceJack Rice was an American actor best known for appearing as the scrounging, freeloading brother-in-law in Edgar Kennedy's series of short domestic comedy films at the RKO studios, and also as "Ollie" in around a dozen of Columbia film studio's series of the Blondie comic strip, which starred Penny...
as Hotel Desk Clerk