Nightmare Alley (1947)

Posted by Carl

It is one of the great subtle opening shots in the movies. With no sound other than the din of a bustling crowd, Joan Blondell’s world-wise carny tramp Zeena stands on the back of a trailer and scans the action below her. In the center of the crowded mix, Blondell finally affixes a long and lascivious look on Stan Carlisle, a handsome drifter who has joined the carnival and has become entranced by its kooky characters and cons.

Carlisle doesn’t realize it yet, but he is about to become the first predatory victim in an unsettling story rife with them. In 2005, Nightmare Alley’s opening shot remains a powerful image of sheer carnal lust, but it’s so much more than that. Without words, it sets the proper mood for the true essence of this fascinating film, which in my mind, is to examine the human predatory condition through both the hunter and the hunted in a variety of levels. In several instances the key characters – including Tyrone Power’s central character Stan -- serve as both the lion and the lamb in the ongoing hunt, which makes this unique drama all the more hypnotic and haunting.

Zeena, peeking over the hill age-wise, is clearly looking at Stan as a conquest and knows just how to land him – let him in on the con she has perfected over the years with her spent, alcoholic husband Pete. Sure enough, Stan is sucked in to become her new huckster and gigolo. Little does Zeena know that she’s eventually going to get chewed up herself by Stan when he gets what he wants out of her as far as the mentalist con is concerned and then dumps her for the younger, more attractive and more naïve Molly.

Deep? Dangerous? You bet. Ever since I viewed this film for the first time a few years back I have been captivated and maybe even a little frightened by it. I’ve probably watched it seven or eight times now and I’m still extracting new elements from its grim but gripping tale. I feel intimidated and inadequate just writing about it, but at the same time, with the film’s first official release to home video on June 6, I wanted this is as my latest Noir of the Week as surely as Stan wanted "the code."

What must audiences have thought in 1947 when they first witnessed this dark, twisted tale of deception and moral decadence? Since it didn’t fare well at the box office at all and then quickly disappeared from sight, chances are viewers were either repulsed or simply not ready for it. Or maybe both. But Nightmare Alley is quintessential film noir not only because it so powerfully presents the dark and decadent world of the carnival and its con artists, but some of the blackest, bleakest characteristics of the human spirit. There are uncanny degrees of cunning in all of us, but there’s also a geek factor, a level of vulnerability we all fear will be exposed someday. In this movie, we see those extremes played out before us is in one ambitious man who nonetheless confesses his weaknesses when he says in the end that he was "born to play" the geek.

If you haven’t seen the film, I apologize for the rather convoluted scene-setting. Here’s the framework of the complete story: After Stan becomes part of Zeena’s mind-reading act, he yearns to learn the code from Pete and Zeena and develop a more high-class and lucrative touring show like they had once had. Rummy that he has become, Pete still won’t relent, so Stan buys him a bottle of cheap hooch wherein he can use the time with Pete indisposed to pump Zeena in more ways than one. But Stan accidentally gives Pete a bottle of Zeena’s wood alcohol (Pete is so bad off he doesn’t even notice the difference) and it kills him.

With Pete out of the way, Stan quickly learns the code in the carny, then decides he’s outgrown the fading Zeena and her goofy tarot cards. He seduces Colleen Gray’s Molly, steals her away from strongman Bruno (Mike Mazurki) and forms a high-class mentalist act with Molly as his sexy shill to bilk wealthy socialites. A female psychiatrist, played with deceitful brilliance by the underutilized Helen Walker, figures out Stan’s scam and goes into cahoots with him, providing him details on her rich clients’ psychological weaknesses in return for cash and who knows what else. But when Stan tries to perform an elaborate con for an old geezer yearning to see and hear his long-lost young love from "the other side" Molly gets an attack of guilt disguised as the old man’s deceased lover and exposes the scam. Suddenly and shockingly, Stan becomes the hunted. His career ruined, he goes into hiding as a railroad bum and finally winds up back in the carnival taking on any job that can be had. Guess what – there just happens to be one job open, the guy who bites the heads off chickens and serves as the resident human freak – the geek. I won’t offer the ending, which is a gratuitous Hollywood semi-happy wrap-up that allegedly Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck demanded before he would even release the film. No matter, the mere sight of pretty boy Power turned into a haggard derelict leaves a chilling enough ending in spite of the corny clip-on finish.

In addition to taking on such an unusual story, director Edmund Goulding created a masterpiece of filmmaking. There are very few wasted moments over Nightmare Alley’s 110 minutes, with many extraordinary scenes that enrich the plot. My favorite may be when Pete, cognizant that Stan is trying to take his place even though he is almost constantly inebriated, sucks him in with a sappy story and then when he has him right where he wants him, delivers the slap in the face about how everyone falls for a story about "a boy and his dog." Worldwise as we think we may be, it shows how easily we can be sucked into something we want to believe and how thoroughly duped we can become.

Shakepearean actor Ian Keith is brilliant as Pete, but the acting throughout is magnificent. Power, who lobbied Fox to obtain the rights to the book and allow him to play the lead role, called Stan the favorite role of his career and it surely is. He is terrific. Blondell, a veteran of the gangster films who deserved more noir roles, is the embodiment of a woman who claims to be "as reliable as a two-dollar cornet." Mazurki is his usual gruff self as the big galoot whose strength is no match for Stan’s guile. Walker, as the scurrilous shrink, may be the coldest, most calculating person in the film. Again, it must have been revelatory in 1947 to see a woman whose predatory instincts and cunning were just as lethal as the men, perhaps even stronger. In the end, Walker’s Dr. Lilith Ritter disposes of Stan like an old shoe when he desperately pleads with her for help. She shows absolutely no remorse, either, a bitch of the first order.

It’s just one element of the film that compels repeat viewing. While I’ve had my own boot copy of this movie for awhile now, I’ll buy the new officially released version immediately. I’m hoping for the sharper images of an improved print, better sound that enhances Cyril Mockridge’s spare, ominous score and a strong commentary track by Silver and Ursini. I’m also hoping the new DVD stirs more discussion and debate about this disturbing but great film. To be sure, there are more levels and ``nightmare alleys’’ in this film than I’ve presented here. Hopefully the folks on the Blackboard have beared with me and agree. Noir doesn’t come much better than this, even though there isn’t a gun or a murder to be had. Great, great film.