Tyrone Power was more commonly known for his afternoon matinee roles in such gun totting or swash buckling roles as Jesse James and Don Diego Vega, but that would take a drastic change in the years just following the end of the War. Back from military service, he starred in the excellent adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s
‘The Razor’s Edge’ , and showed off his true acting abilities, and a different, more gritty side in his search for salvation than what he had put on display before. Still, this did not prepare the cinemagoers for what would follow. Power rallied all his clout at the studios to get his pet project off the ground, and fulfil an aim he had to change his own screen image, and in doing so one of the darkest and grimmest noirs was born.
‘Nightmare Alley’ was an ‘A’ list movie, it was given a large budget, the book it was based upon was bought for a considerable sum of $60,000 for the movie rights, and a strong ensemble cast gathered for the prime roles on offer. It also had one of the best cinematographers in Hollywood at the time in Lee Garmes, that aside; it did not do too well at the box office upon release and afterwards, due to a disagreement between the studio and its producer, was sadly shelved from sight for many years. It has been one of the most talked about but little seen movies of all the glorious heydays of the noir era, and, due to the lack of showings and the suicides of its author and director, its mystery seemed to make the movies reputation, darker and darker over the years. This release from Eureka !, rightfully on their
‘Masters of Cinema’ label, is an essential for any crime, noir, or even cinema fan. They hardly come much better than this.
Stanton Carlisle (Power) is a young drifter taking up small roles on a travelling carnival. He’s not there for long before the predatory mentalist Zeena (Joan Blondell) wants to get her mitts into him. She was a once star of the vaudeville stage with her husband Pete (a scene stealing Ian Keith), who now is a drunken has-been due to her infidelities. But the dame has a conscience to a degree, she knows she done him wrong and will not leave him, she wants to help him fight the bottle and regain his past glory, but it is still not enough to stop her from bedding Carlisle, who she sees as a shadow of Pete’s former self. Carlisle himself is a two-bit hustler, and he hears about a code that Pete and Zeena used to great effect on stage and wants it for himself. He has dreams of money and stardom, so plays along dropping the odd hint about learning the code just in case anything happens to the sad Pete. True to fate, something does.
Carlisle and Zeena had been trying things out but he decides to go off with ‘the electric girl’, a younger carny model of Zeena in the shape of the naive Molly (Coleen Gray). They land acts in black tie joints and on radio spots but the act is not enough, and when a scheming psychiatrist suggests they use her knowledge of the wealthy Chicago elite in the act, the road to hell is well and truly paved.
William Lindsay Gresham used all of his previous knowledge of the carnival circuits when he wrote the cult novel of which this was based upon, the movie does not contain all of the sex, violence, and grimness that was on the page, but it does convey its dark heart. It is not your usual noir either; you will not see loads of guns, cops, gumshoes, molls and gangsters. This is a tale of the decadent world of the carnival and its con artists, how cruel fate can be decided by the turn of a tarot card, how the moral codes of the carny differ from those on the outside. Instead of the usual assortment of dames we have censorious naive sexual waifs and predatory animals. When it was questioned right at the start of the movie what would it take for a man to become a geek, the lowest of all the carnys, we know this movie is going to unflinchingly answer that question and director Edmund Goulding (Dark Victory ) takes us on this journey. When Carlisle steals the best of Pete’s life it should not come as a great surprise when he gets some of the bad too. <!--page-->
The acting on the whole is excellent, Power had never and has never since looked so disturbed, shattering his pretty boy image as intended which is probably one of the reasons this did not do too well at the box office. The aforementioned Shakespearean Ian Keith is marvellous and we ooze sympathy for him and his plight, a standout performance too from Helen Walker as the cold-blooded psychologist, are just some of the many, many highlights on display. This murky world will remind the viewer of many movies and shows since, especially the excellent HBO TV show ‘Carnivale’ , which owes more than a great debt to this movie.
The downside is that this does not bode well for a happy viewing, but then it would probably not fall into the realms of noir if it did. At times this almost goes into horror territory, not in the same way that Tod Browning’s
‘Freaks’ did years previously. But the line of dialogue nearing the end, ‘I was made for it’, will haunt the viewer for a long time after the credits roll and will thankfully take you past the contrived and stuck on ending, which was added at the wrongful insistence of Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck who dictated it must have a happier time.
Eureka ! have displayed their usual flare for this series with a first class transfer, the use of the contrasting black and white photography and the many shadows have never looked better. There is a video introduction and a background history from Noir guru Woody Haut, but he proves to be a better writer in the still packed accompanying 24 page booklet than he is an orator. On the other hand, the audio commentary from film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini is an excellent and informative listen. A Theatrical trailer still tries for Power’s dashing good looks and finishes off the extra quotient.
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