This carny-set "rise and fall" narrative is so choked with failure and nastiness that you'll hardly believe it dates back to 1947. Tyrone Power is a carnival barker who worms his way into a mentalist act; first he learns the secret code from a veteran (Joan Blondell) then blows her off for a younger model (Colleen Gray) and rises to become a top attraction on the verge of real power. He's slightly guilt-ridden over accidentally killing Blondell's alcoholic husband, but that's a minor quibble when you're on the upswing like he is. Unfortunately, he's egomaniacal enough to get in over his head, especially when he falls in with a psychologist (Helen Walker) who's running a con of her own. Awesomely cynical even by film noir standards, this introduced the circus geek into the popular consciousness and accordingly features some of the most shocking content in a pre-1960s Hollywood picture. It's brave enough to debunk blind faith of all kinds, whether in the traditional con of the supernatural or the modern voodoo science of psychology; while it never does away with them, it demonstrates that a little of either is all it takes to spin a web to fleece the rubes. And though Power's wounded-orphan character is another in a long line of out-of-their-depth noir suckers, his palpable desperation makes both his moral transgressions and eventual laying low pretty hard to take. Nightmare Alley is a first-rate film that deserves a wider audience. The "Fox Film Noir" title features the standard James Ursini/Alain Silver commentary, but their usual wealth of information isn't in evidence, replaced by some rather obvious explorations of the film's themes. (Fox)
Nightmare Alley
Edmund Goulding
BY Travis Mackenzie HooverPublished May 1, 2005