Niagara Falls (1941)

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Paul Girard Smith (original screenplay) &
Hal Yates (original screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

17 October 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Funny things happen at Niagara Falls!

Plot:

Margie Blake, who wants to get married young and have two dozen kids, has a flat tire and traveling salesman Tom Wilson...

Plot Keywords:

Niagara Falls | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Marjorie Woodworth	...	Margy Blake
Tom Brown	...	Tom Wilson
Zasu Pitts	...	Emmy Sawyer
Slim Summerville	...	Sam Sawyer
Chester Clute	...	Potter
Edgar Dearing	...	State Trooper
Edward Gargan	...	Chuck (as Ed Gargan)
Gladys Blake	...	Trixie
Leon Belasco	...	Head Waiter
Rand Brooks	...	Honeymooner
Margaret Roach	...	Honeymooner
Jack Rice	...	Clerk
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carlyle Blackwell Jr.	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
John Davidson	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Marjorie Deanne	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Joseph Depew	...	Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Dudley Dickerson	...	Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
Jack Egan	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Frank Faylen	...	Man (uncredited)
Bud Geary	...	Man Driving Goose Truck (uncredited)
Charlie Hall	...	Bellhop (uncredited)
Eddie Hall	...	Bellboy (uncredited)
Robert Kent	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Gwen Kenyon	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Ethelreda Leopold	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Lois Lindsay	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Patsy Mace	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Tommy Mack	...	Peanut Vendor (uncredited)
Gertrude Messinger	...	Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Irving Mitchell	...	Mr. Clark, Witness (uncredited)
Barry Norton	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Dave Willock	...	Bellboy (uncredited)

Directed by
Gordon Douglas

Writing credits
Paul Girard Smith		(original screenplay) (as Paul Gerard Smith) &
Hal Yates		(original screenplay) &
Eugene Conrad		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Fred Guiol	....	producer (uncredited)
Hal Roach	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Robert Pittack		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Bert Jordan

Art Direction by
Charles D. Hall

Set Decoration by
William Stevens		(as W.L. Stevens)

Costume Design by
Irene Saltern		(gowns)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward Montagne	....	assistant director (as Eddie Montagne)

Sound Department
William M. Randall Jr.	....	sound recordist (as William Randall)

Visual Effects by
Roy Seawright	....	photographic effects

Music Department
Edward Ward	....	musical director

Other crew
Hal Roach	....	presenter
Eddie Hall	....	stand-in: Tom Brown (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Hal Roach Studios

Distributors

• United Artists (1941) (USA) (theatrical)
• Favorite Films (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:43 min (original version) | 86 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7507)

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Sort of like One Million B.C. sit coms.

This is some new kind of insanity. They say the story of making some pictures is more interesting than the pictures themselves but how this film ever got packaged like this must be the best story to come out of the post MGM Hal Roach Studio. Now you will find this film listed as 43 minutes and to be sure NIAGARA FALLS (1941) clocks in at 43 minutes and 7 seconds as seen in a copy shown on CUNY TV in New York. When Turner Classics announced a screening of NIAGARA FALLS they put it in a 90 minute slot. I thought that possibly they were planning on filling the time with some of the Zasu Pitts/Thelma Todd two reelers that they'd been showing recently.

I already had a copy of NIAGARA FALLS but out of curiosity I fired up the old VCR and was surprised that when after the credits a whole different picture came on. I did some research and found out that what had happened was that MISS POLLY (1941), also starring Zasu Pitts and Slim Summerville, had been shoehorned in. The MISS POLLY portion of the picture is exactly 43 minutes long and the NIAGARA FALLS section lacks only 20 sec. including the titles for a total of 1:25:40. Apparently Hal Roach made these weird running time films he called "streamliners", longer than the longest "shorts" at 20-25 min. but not quite up to the industry standards for a minimum running time for a feature.

They weren't on the same bill, with NIAGARA FALLS released on Oct. 17 1941 and MISS POLLY on Nov. 14. Just when and how and why these films were joined together must be a story. They were both reissued in 1948 by Favorite Films and marketed on DVD by Alpha Video in 2006. There are many DVD's which combine several old B's and programmers but as separate entities so the suspicion is that Favorite did it to market the re-issue as a legitimate feature. They accomplished this very simply. Keeping the original opening and closing titles from NIAGARA FALLS (making everyone who made or appeared in MISS POLLY uncredited) they simply ran MISS POLLY and at the end, (minus the end credits, the missing 20 sec.?) they suddenly fade and resolve to the beginning of NIAGARA FALLS which, curiously enough, is a set up for a flash back, giving this version of NIAGARA FALLS one of the weirdest structures of any film extant. While MISS POLLY ends with Slim Summerville, who is Zasu Pitts handyman, the object of dosed leers from the town prude, NIAGARA FALLS begins with Summerville and Pitts newly married and on the road to Niagara Falls. This "mystery" is something of a tempest in a teapot as both pictures are rehashed bits from the dawn of cinema as Hal Roach never tossed away a gag. For example here's the two people sharing a bathroom who don't know about the other gag.

So this is recommended only for completests, obsessing supporting player fanatics, fans of Slim Summerville and/or Zasu Pitts or the merely curious. Sort of like One Million B.C. sit coms.