Nightmare Alley (film)
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| Nightmare Alley | |
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 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Edmund Goulding |
| Produced by | George Jessel |
| Written by | Story: William Lindsay Gresham Screenplay: Jules Furthman |
| Starring | Tyrone Power Coleen Gray Joan Blondell Helen Walker Taylor Holmes Mike Mazurki |
| Music by | Cyril J. Mockridge |
| Cinematography | Lee Garmes |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | October 9, 1947 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Nightmare Alley (1947) is a 20th Century Fox film noir starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell, and directed by Edmund Goulding. The movie rights for the 1946 novel of the same name, written by William Lindsay Gresham, were bought by Power, who planned on starring in the film. Power was attempting to expand his limited range playing romantic swashbuckler types in movies by playing the unsavory lead, "The Great Stanton".
To make the film look believable, the films producers built a full working carnival on 10 acres (40,000 m²) of the 20th Century Fox back lot. They also hired over 100 sideshow attractions and carnival men in an attempt to make the film look authentic.
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[edit] Plot
The movie follows the rise and fall of a con man — a story that begins and ends at a seedy traveling carnival. Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) joins the carnival, working with "Mademoiselle Zeena" (Joan Blondell) and her alcoholic husband, Pete (Ian Keith). They were once a top-billed act, using an ingenious code to make it appear that she had extraordinary mental powers, until her (unspecified) misdeeds drove Pete to drink and reduced them to working in a third-rate outfit. Stanton learns that many people want to buy the code from Zeena for a lot of money, but she won't sell; she is saving it as a nest egg. He tries to romance Zeena into teaching it to him, but she remains faithful to her husband. One night in Texas, Stanton accidentally gives Pete the wrong bottle; he dies from drinking wood alcohol instead of moonshine. To keep her act going, she is forced to train Stanton to be her assistant.
Stanton however, prefers the company of the younger Molly (Coleen Gray). When this is found out, they are forced into a shotgun marriage by the rest of the carnies. No longer welcome, Stanton realizes this is actually a golden opportunity for him. He and his wife leave the carnival. He becomes "The Great Stanton", performing with great success in expensive nightclubs. However, he has even higher ambitions.
With crooked Chicago psychologist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker) providing him with information about her patients, Stanton passes himself off as someone who can actually communicate with the dead. It almost works. But when he tries to swindle sceptical Ezra Grindle (Taylor Holmes), it all comes crashing down when Molly is unable to force herself to masquerade as Grindle's long-lost love. The couple leave town hurriedly; Stanton tells Molly to return to the carnival world, while he gradually sinks into alcoholism.
Finally, the fallen carny tries to get a job at another carnival, only to suffer the ultimate degradation: the only job he can get is playing the geek in a sideshow. Fortunately, he happens to be hired at the same carnival as Molly and Stan calms down when he sees her again after going insane, falling into her arms. The rest of the carnies finally recognize him as "The Great Stanton". One of them wonders how Stan could have hit so low; the manager replies "He reached too high."
[edit] Cast
- Tyrone Power as Stanton "Stan" Carlisle
- Joan Blondell as Zeena Krumbein
- Coleen Gray as Molly Carlisle
- Helen Walker as Lilith Ritter
- Taylor Holmes as Ezra Grindle
- Mike Mazurki as Bruno
- Ian Keith as Pete Krumbein
[edit] Critical reaction
When released The New York Times in their review wrote, "If one can take any moral value out of Nightmare Alley it would seem to be that a terrible retribution is the inevitable consequence for he who would mockingly attempt to play God. Otherwise, the experience would not be very rewarding for, despite some fine and intense acting by Mr. Power and others, this film traverses distasteful dramatic ground and only rarely does it achieve any substance as entertainment."[1]
Variety magazine liked the film's acting and wrote, "Nightmare Alley is a harsh, brutal story [based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham] told with the sharp clarity of an etching...Most vivid of these is Joan Blondell as the girl he works for the secrets of the mind-reading act. Coleen Gray is sympathetic and convincing as his steadfast wife and partner in his act and Helen Walker comes through successfully as the calculating femme who topples Power from the heights of fortune back to degradation as the geek in the carney. Ian Keith is outstanding as Blondell's drunken husband."[2]
In a 2000 review of the film in The Village Voice, writer J. Hoberman commented, "This 1947 account of an archetypal American's rise and fall is neither a great movie nor even a classic noir but it has a great ambition to be daring and, once seen, is not easily forgotten. The movie suggested far more than it showed but what it showed, including the climactic degradation of 20th Century Fox's then-major star Tyrone Power, was remarkably sordid for so high-profile a release." [3]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ The New York Times. Film review, October 10, 1947. Last accessed: March 11, 2008.
- ^ Variety]. Film review, 1947. Last accessed: March 11, 2008.
- ^ Hoberman, J. The Village Voice, film review, January 25, 2000. Last accessed: March 11, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Nightmare Alley at the Internet Movie Database
- Nightmare Alley at Allmovie
- Nightmare Alley at the TCM Movie Database
- Nightmare Alley at Film Noir of the Week
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