Sunday, March 24, 2013

NIGHTMARE ALLEY: You've Got the Power!

No doubt about it:  Back in 1947, 20th Century Fox’s Nightmare Alley (NA) left movie audiences shaken and stirred in ways that would’ve startled even James Bond!  Even the ominous score by Cyril Mockridge (My Darling Clementine; The Dark Corner; Miracle on 34th Street) plays like a carnival from Hell, deftly setting the sordid tone, and I mean that as a compliment.  How ironic that producer George Jessel was a multi-talented entertainer who had a big hit with what I consider the evil opposite of Nightmare Alley, namely the heartwarming classic song “My Mother's Eyes,” one of my dear late mom’s favorite tunes. Even though the movie version of NA was softened a bit to give star Tyrone Power at least a little shot at redemption, it was still strong stuff to unnerved audiences seeing their beloved matinee idol in smooth scoundrel mode.

Jules Furthman (The Big Sleep; To Have and HaveNot; Rio Bravo) adapted the film based on William Lindsay Gresham’s controversial 1946 novel which, according to Wikipedia, had in turn been inspired by conversations with a former carnival worker while they volunteered with the Loyalist forces in The Spanish Civil War. Gresham got started on the novel, his first, while working as an editor for a “true crime” pulp magazine in New York City in the 1940s.  He outlined the plot and wrote the first six chapters over a period of two years, then finished the book in four months. Each chapter was represented by a different Tarot card.  Director Edmund Goulding’s films included The Great Lie, Grand Hotel; and The Razor’s Edge, the latter reuniting him with star Tyrone Power. I’ll admit I used to think Power was just another handsome pretty-boy matinee idol who was mostly style and little substance.  It took Witness for the Prosecution to make me realize that, to borrow a line from The Producers, "there’s more to him then there is to him," and NA confirmed my change of mind!

Forget the "missing link" - this carnival needs hot young
Stan Carlisle in a T-shirt! You're hired, kid!
We meet handsome young carnival roustabout Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Power), who’s just begun his carny career. Standing in the carnival crowd, Stan checks out the Ten-in-One, listening in almost morbid fascination to the spiel introducing the carnival’s geek.  The geek is usually a guy down on his luck who can only get work biting the heads off live chickens. Goulding cleverly keeps us viewers from actually seeing the geek show onscreen, distracting us with noisy crowds and shrieks from squawking chickens and customers, but they get the point across well.  Stan realizes he’s found his calling. As he explains to co-worker and casual lover Mademoiselle Zeena, a.k.a. Zeena Krumbein (the fabulous Joan Blondell of Public Enemy; Three on a Match; Dames and more, still looking fab to boot!), “Lady, I was made for it…This gets me.  I like it.  All of it.”

Pete predicts: "I see a little silhouette of a man...
Scaramouche! Scaramouche!"
Bruno and Molly: Beauty & the Big Lug!
Zeena takes care of her husband Pete (Ian Keith, who started in silent films like the 1935 Three Musketeers; the 1956 Ten Commandments; and many film, stage, and TV appearances).  She and Pete used to have a great mind-reading act, but Zeena cheated on Pete, breaking his heart and driving him to drink. Zeena feels terribly guilty about it, and she’s been trying to make it up to the melancholy Pete ever since, hoping to get Pete back on his feet with "the cure."  Meanwhile, Stan has his eye on Molly (Coleen Gray of Kiss of Death; Red River; Kansas City Confidienital).  She’s an innocent with a big boyfriend, Bruno, the carnival’s Strong Man  (Team Bartilucci favorite Mike Mazurki of Murder, My Sweet; The Shanghai Gesture; Some Like it Hot, and more!), who jealously tries to interrupt whenever Stan is nearby.

When Stan learns of the mind-reading act Zeena and Pete had before they joined the carnival, he tries to convince them to revive the act, but Zeena won’t go for it: she and Pete are saving the act to sell as money for their retirement, plus Pete is too drunk to do the bit well  any more.  Stan’s mind-reading act starts to catch on when even the crusty local marshal becomes convinced of Stan’s “second sight” after a poignant demonstration.  But Zeena is spooked when her tarot cards show death - and sure enough, Pete is found dead.  To his horror, Stan realizes he unwittingly gave Pete wood alcohol to drink instead of his usual moonshine!  Stan may be shocked, but he’s no fool, so he keeps his mouth shut.  By the way, I'd like to state  for the record that Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray are fabulous babes!

She was only Frankenstein's wife,
but she had a great pair of bolts!
Meanwhile, Stan and Molly become attracted to each other.  It doesn’t hurt that Stan also loves Molly’s ability with the mind-reading gimmick!  When Bruno eventually finds out Molly and Stan have become an *ahem* item, he and the rest of the carnies force him into a shotgun marriage, literally!  But it becomes a blessing in disguise, because  now Stan and Molly have the code to themselves, launching them into the Smart Set in the swanky Spode Room (Spode Room?!) in Chicago.  That code turns out to be a mighty useful wedding gift when Stan polishes up their routine, repurposing himself as the swanky and wildly successful mind-reader, The Great Stanton, with loving Molly as his lovely assistant!

"I'm tellin' ya, there was a stage where she worked,
and some booths!"
Stan's getting warm...warmer...you're red-hot, Doc!
As I’ve mentioned in the fabulous film noir magazine The Dark Pages, Mazurki’s 56-year screen career began in his uncredited film debut, 1934’s Belle of the Nineties, and he continued to work in films and TV until his death in 1990.  His roles ranged from comedies (Neptune’s Daughter; Some Like It Hot) to suspense and film noir (The Strangler in Jules Dassin's 1950 noir Night and the City), including one of Mazurki’s earliest roles in the 1945 movie version of Dick Tracy, as villain Splitface—and in one of his final roles, the 1990 film version of Dick Tracy!  In fact, I first saw Mazurki on TV’s The Monkees when I was a kid, making him literally part of my childhood!  Fittingly, Mazurki and his old friend actor/producer Dick Powell also appeared together in several Dick Powell Theatre episodes. Mazurki even appeared in singer Rod Stewart’s 1984 music video “Infatuation,” as a bodyguard forcefully protecting alluring Kay Lenz from obsessed shutterbug Stewart.

Nightmare Alley has long since been hailed as a classic, but upon its 1947 release, it wasn’t exactly the feel-good movie of the year!  20th Century-Fox gave it a strong ad campaign, but audiences protested what was then scandalous content. 


The Great Stanton's next great feat: guessing what's
in the pinata at the fabulous Spode Room!
In the great tradition of “Six Degrees of Separation,” Murder, My Sweet and Nightmare Alley led to great changes for the better in the careers of both Mazurki and Dick Powell. As a result, neither Nightmare Alley nor Murder, My Sweet would pack as much of a punch without Mazurki!

As sordid as Nightmare Alley must have seemed back in 1947, the wily, out-for-himself Stan isn’t quite as sharp as he thinks he is.  Beneath the slick demeanor he’s created for himself, there are chinks in Stan’s armor, especially when he encounters Zeena and Bruno again.  Even with The Great Stanton’s nightclub success, the small but smoldering spark of Stan’s guilt over Pete’s accidental death, and the superstition underlying Zeena’s tarot cards, are slowly, surreptitiously wearing down Stan’s confidence, like Chinese water torture.

At the height of Stan and Molly’s success with their mind-reading act, who should drop by to say “Howdy” but Stan and Molly’s old carny friends Bruno and Zeena!  Innocent Molly is happy to see them, but Stan is less than thrilled, certain that Molly must have blabbed about using Zeena and Pete’s code for their classy act.  A friendly game of cards should loosen things up — until Zeena goes for her Tarot deck.  Stan doesn’t want Zeena to flip that tarot card, but she does so anyway.  It comes up as “The Hanged Man”— uh-oh, maybe Stan should quit while he’s ahead!  Anyone for Go Fish?  Later, Stan gets a massage to calm himself down, only to find he can’t help smelling the rubbing alcohol, reminding Stan of the wood alcohol with which he’d accidentally fatally poisoned Pete.

Dr. Lilith Ritter's a shrink,
but no shrinking violet!
An elegant woman turns up at the Spode Room and catches Stan’s act.  She looks very interested — a groupie, perhaps?  It turns out the lady in question is Dr. Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker, from Call Northside 777; The Big Combo; the 1945 version of Brewster’s Millions). The lady also happens to be a shrink, though I’m sure she’d prefer to be referred to as a psychiatrist. She’ll be called another name or two as the film goes on when she and Stan forge an unholy alliance to exploit Lilith’s patients for fun and profit!  *Tsk tsk*, what’s the world coming to when you can’t even trust your therapist to keep your confidences?  Wait’ll the AMA hears about this!  Walker makes a magnificent femme fatale, with her Mona Lisa smile hiding plenty of trouble.

Is it all just nerves, or is fate messing with Stan, or is it payback time for all of Stan’s chicanery? Things come to a head when Stan collapses while doing a reading in his act about a young girl named Caroline, now deceased.  Now it seems the resourceful Stan has branched out again and become a mentalist (where’s Simon Baker when you need him?) with the ability to talk to the dead — so versatile!  Of course, it helped that Stan’s new cohort Dr. Ritter has joined forces with Stan to get her unsuspecting patients’ files for authenticity.  The rich, powerful Ezra Grindle (Taylor Holmes), who misses his late daughter terribly, is interested in what Stan has to say, explaining to Molly, “I told him he wasn’t ready yet for spiritual communion. He should prepare himself a little more with prayer and good works.  He gave me enough to start building the finest tabernacle in the country…and he’s going to buy me a radio station of my own.”
Stan, you've let yourself go!
Life ain't pretty when you're a carny geek!
There’s always a catch, of course.  Stan’s catch is that Grindle wants proof.  So Stan fixes Molly up to look like his beloved “Dory,” despite Molly’s misgivings.  The ruse is nearly completed when Molly’s guilty conscience gets the best of her.  Dr. Ritter swaps Stan’s money from the scam for a measly $150, and she tries to convince Stan that he’s losing his mind because of his guilt complex — as if!  Trying to do the right thing for Molly’s sake (for once!), Stan puts Molly on a train, and he lives the hobo life.  Sooner or later, all roads lead to Rome, er, home eventually, and Stan finds the only job available in the carnival: the geek!  Oh, how the mighty have fallen!  But there’s hope for redemption and love after all when it turns out Molly is working at this carnival as well.

Vinnie games the rig - It's amazing how good a look at the world of a carnival sideshow this film is, and from so many years ago.  It's fun to hear them talking about the "Ten-in-one", a classic setup of carnivals where they promise ten unique acts or performers for one fee, a dime back in the day.  Of course, in a classic ten-in-one, each act would be selling souvenir photos, or pamphlets on how to juggle, or the like, and a ten-cent admission could end up costing you a couple dollars at the end.  It's also always fun to hear the original definition of "geek" as well.
One of the things about this film that just amazes me is the fact that they explain, clearly and distinctly, for all to see, how carny psychics (a term which here means "all psychics") con people.  Stan is briefly fooled by a fortune telling that seems to speak to him personally, only to learn that he's just had a "cold reading."  The psychic will drop a bunch of very generic statements onto the table that could refer to anything.  The mark will do all the work for them, figuring out what the vague clues mean.  Saying "I see an 'M'..." will get the mark to pore through all the dead people they know for one whose name starts with M.  It's easy to learn, as Stan does in the film, and soon he's got people wrapped around his finger.
Of course, people will ever claim that yes, sure there are some fraudsters out there, but THIS guy is the emis.  And all I say is to watch any of the TV psychics, like the guy on the Sci-Fi channel (a delicious irony), and watch how they throw out only the most tenuous of feelers, and the person being read will grab onto them, inferring meaning where none was implied.

Here's the address for more of this awesome film noir magazine:

The Dark Pages
P.O. Box 2716
Chicago, IL 60609-2716
http://hqofk.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/first-look-dark-pages-special-nightmare-alley-issue/

29 comments:

  1. No one who watches "Nightmare Alley" is unaffected by its theme and performances. Enjoyed reading this tag team look at a movie that defines a style. My late dad loved this movie.

    Crazy about the Dick Tracy connection. Not only Mazurki - Splitface, but I adore Ian Keith as Vitamin Flintheart. Those six degrees of separation are shrinking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Caftan Woman, I'm delighted to have you be the first to comment on my NIGHTMARE ALLEY post; beaucoup thanks, my friend - not to make light of NIGHTMARE ALLEY's powerful, unsettling themes, of course!

      You and your late dad had excellent taste in movies; he clearly raised you right! :-) And how cool that along with Team B. fave Mike Mazurki, it turned out that Ian Keith had also played Vitamin Flintheart in the DICK TRACY movies! You're so right about the "Six Degrees of Separation" rapidly shrinking!

      Delete
  2. Because I was imprinted as a very young girl by Tyrone Power as a romantic ideal, I resisted "Nightmare Alley" for years. Not consciously, but I eventually realized that was why I hadn't seen it more than once. Because I was going to write about it for the CMBA blogathon, I sat down and watched it a few times. Totally got why Tyrone Power bought the film rights and pushed so to make it. I think there was always more to him than anyone realized, he was just too handsome and charismatic for anyone to care. Then he tackled Stan Carlisle and proved he was far more than a gorgeous surface.

    If you haven't, you ought to read the book. A real scorcher, much cleaned up for the big screen. The 2010 NYRB edition is uncensored and has an intro by Nick Tosches.

    Nice work, Team B.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always jarring when an actor you know as one type of character plays something wildly different. In many cases, the stuff I know them as came much later in their careers. I knew Fred MacMurray as the pleasant soft-hearted dad on My Three Sons and various Disney films. So years later when I saw him in Caine Mutiny and The Apartment, I was amazed what an inveterate cock he could be.

      Delete
    2. Tyrone Power and Billy Wilder became good friends after making "Witness for the Prosecution," even spending vacation time together in Europe. It occurred to me that Wilder might well have tapped Power for the role of Mr. Sheldrake in "The Apartment" had he lived - "he was made for it."

      Delete
    3. Patty, many thanks to you from Vinnie and me for your positive NIGHTMARE ALLEY comments! I'm pleased to hear that Tyrone Power and Billy Wilder become close friends after working together on WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. I very much agree with you that if it weren't for Power's fatal heart attack, he would've totally kicked tush in THE APARTMENT, maybe even won an Oscar. Ah, what could have been...but at least Power is now better respected now!

      Delete
  3. This film sounds it has a very interesting story line and I love the performers: Power is always excellent and Blondell, always seems to be given the best lines. This one is a must see for me..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dawn, I agree! NIGHTMARE ALLEY is tough stuff, but as Tyrone Power says early in the film, "This gets me. I like it. All of it!" Thanks for your comments, my friend!

      Delete
  4. Sounds too scary for me but I started laughing at the great pair of bolts. Only you can take such a serious subject and make me smile. Stop by for a Mai Tai (recipe) I'm having a luau!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eve, Vinnie and I thank you kindly for your praise of our NIGHTMARE ALLEY post, as well the virtual Mai Tais over at your swell blog, THE DESERT ROCKS! Hey, everyone, if anyone reading this loves to write, check out Eve's terrific writing at http://thedesertrocks.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-desert-luau-drinks-party-favors-music.html

      I'm glad you enjoyed the playful aspects of the post, too, my friend. Comedy and tragedy, light and dark always are always 2 sides of the same coin after all, so we of Team B always work both sides of the street! :-D

      Delete
  5. Tyrone Power was probably the most beautiful man who ever faced a movie camera. Despite that, though -- or maybe because of it, he being handsome enough to get away with it -- his screen characters often had more than a touch of the cad about them; look at him in In Old Chicago, or the jaunty sadism of his Jamie Waring in The Black Swan. Stan Carlisle was right up his alley, in a way; all that was missing was the redemption at the fadeout by the love of a good woman (which was tacked on to the Nightmare Alley movie; in the book Molly washes her hands of Stan and settles down with a good and stable second husband).

    I second Eve's recommendation of the book; a scorcher indeed. Cleaned up it was, but the movie managed to pack in a surprising amount of the seed and seam for 1947. I think my favorite scene is when Stan confronts Lilith in her office and she denies everything in a loud clear voice; he suddenly realizes she's speaking for the record -- literally, setting him up by dictating her alibi into the hidden phonograph she uses to record patient sessions.

    By the way, did you know that author William Lindsay Gresham was the first husband of Joy Davidman? She eventually divorced him over his alcoholism, womanizing and physical abuse, converted to Christianity, and remarried to C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia. She was played in Shadowlands ('93) by Debra Winger.

    And here's another oblique anecdote: In 1952 my uncle was a grad student at UCLA, and one night he went to a 1920s-themed costume party. One of his fraternity brothers had a connection (father or uncle or brother or something) in the wardrobe department at 20th Century Fox, and he secured a carload of costumes for the gang to wear to the party. My uncle got a red-and-white-striped jacket that looked like something worn by an ice cream vendor; sewn into the lining under the collar was the label "T. Power". It took him years to realize that it was the carnival barker's jacket worn by Ty in the early scenes of Nightmare Alley.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim, I always enjoy the rich treasure trove of film lore you always share with us at JIM LANE'S CINEDROME, and your fascinating anecdotes about NIGHTMARE ALLEY are among your best yet! With some of the cad-types Tyrone Power played in his career, maybe HIS autobiography should have been titled MEMOIRS OF A PROFESSIONAL CAD, instead of George Sanders! :-)

      Your comments remind me again what a handsome man Power was (almost ridiculously so, and I mean that as a compliment!), and how his beauty could be as much a millstone as an asset, though he sure proved himself in NA! I was also fascinated to learn poet/author Joy Davidman had been married to William Lindsay Gresham; I'm not surprised the marriage didn't last! And how incredibly cool that your uncle's carnival barker costume in UCLA actually turned out to really be Power's costume from NA! Thanks a million for sharing your wonderful movie history with us!

      Delete
  6. Loved your review Dorian! I'll have to check this out, the cast looks great. I love your caption 'Alright, boys, they came to see a fight, not a dance' .... LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alyssa, hubby Vinnie and I thank you for your positive feedback on NIGHTMARE ALLEY! Glad you got a kick out of our GIF "Alright, boys, they came to see a fight, not a dance"! We of Team Bartilucci can find humor in almost anything! :-)

      Delete
  7. Great stuff! I especially like your sense of humor while maintaining respect for the material (reminds me of my own blogging style, except you do it better!)

    Nightmare Alley was one of the first film-noirs I ever saw (before I knew what 'film-noir' meant), and I think it cemented my love of the genre right then and there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brian, thanks for your enthusiastic praise for Tales of the Easily Distracted's NIGHTMARE ALLEY post! And may I say that after reading your blog "Films From Beyond the Time Barrier," I know both my partner-in-crime Vinnie and I will will soon be adding "...Time Barrier" to our "Further Distraction" list of favorite blogs! Looking forward to reading more of your posts!

      Delete
  8. Too sordid for me, dear Dorian. Ha! You lost me at the biting of the chicken heads. I mean - really?

    Did you ever notice that no one ever comments on Tyrone Power's good looks in films? I mean, in reality wouldn't you think someone might mention his perfection?

    How many perfect looking men have you ever seen?

    But the truth is, I always thought him too pretty.

    I believe I saw this many MANY years ago but maybe not, I seem to remember a gorilla (a real one, not Mazurki) running amok. So obviously it must have been a different film.

    But as always I enjoyed reading your take on things, Dorian.

    Joan Blondell was some righteous dame. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yvette, my friend, I assure you that as hard-hitting NIGHTMARE ALLEY was back in 1947, the folks at 20th Century Fox were just as squeamish! The censors had to carefully work around the more unsettling scenes as delicately as they could manage, resulting in the geeks and the freaked-out carny crowd being heard rather than seen. The sound effects contributed to the film's unnerving atmosphere the most, for my money.

      I'm usually not into pretty-boy actors either, Yvette, though I'm the first to agree with you that Joan Blondell is a righteous dame indeed! Co-star Coleen Gray is endearing. But I think my favorite of NA's main babes is Helen Walker; I like her Mona Lisa smile. She's great here as a devious dame, quite different from her wholesome sweetheart role in the 1940s version of BREWSTER'S MILLIONS. For the longest time I turned up my pert little nose at those matinee idol types. To quote my cousin Kiki, "I could never be serious about a man who looks prettier than I am." (And she's a knockout, so that's saying something! :-)) Give me Adrien Brody anytime! :-D Always glad to talk movies with you, pal, as always!

      Delete
  9. Great review, Dorian! I have to say, I have NEVER seen this movie but I'm going to catch it the first chance I get. I really like Tyrone P.'s performance in "Witness for the Prosecution" and am keen to see him in this role.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ruth, thanks so much for your positive feedback on my NIGHTMARE ALLEY post! NA really opened my eyes to what a strong, versatile actor Tyrone Power turned out to be. In case I haven't suggested this elsewhere, I think that one of these days TCM should run a Tyrone Power double- feature of NIGHTMARE ALLEY and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, if viewers' hearts and nerves can withstand it! :-D Happy Easter, my friend!

      Delete
  10. awesome post on an awesome movie, as you well know, having taken part in the great Dark pages special issue with your great Mazurki spotlight; many thanks on DP's behalf not only for being in that issue but now for drawing renewed attention to it! as your fresh new takes in this post go to show, it's just one of those movies that you can go on and on about.

    I had the same exact reaction to "Spode Room?!?" Also yes about the Mona Lisa smile of Walker's. She reminds me a bit of Manchurian-Angela Lansbury here.And your post reminds me of some unformed thoughts I had about the movie that didn't make it into the DP issue, like: isn't it interesting how for someone who claims not to believe all the carny con hokum, Stan is terrified by that Hanged Man card? Also, as much as Zanuck and possibly the audience, was horrified that "someone like" Power wanted to play this type of unglamorous role, as the comment by Jim Lane suggests, NA's success really depends on Stan being, like Ian Keith's Pete before him, a glam, slick ACTOR type to even get away with these cons. I dont think it would have worked at all with someone less of a matinee idol, not just to provide the contrast when he falls to geekdom, but just to be believable and sympathetic. I really recommend this to anyone reading not just as a great film but I mean your knowledge of Tyrone Power is just incomplete if you don't see his work here. Of course you're right about all the chicken head-biting being done off screen; I recall reading how so many viewers were 100% convinced they saw the act, it was so well done. cheerio!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kristina, beaucoup thanks again for your enthusiastic praise of my NIGHTMARE ALLEY post, and thanks a million for including me in the awesome lollapalooza NIGHTMARE ALLEY edition of DARK PAGES! NA has really given me an education about this film, and given me a new respect for Tyrone Power!

      I'm glad I'm not the only one puzzled by the origins of the fabulous Spode Room! The only "Spode" references I came across offhand were connected to the Spode brand of porcelain, and a "Spode Room" in what was described as "a nightclub in Chicago's tony Hotel Sherman." Hmm, might be time to put on our deerstalker hats and look into this; at least we might get free drinks and a nightclub show out of it! :-)

      Glad we agree about Helen Walker's Mona Lisa smile and devious demeanor! I've never been one for so-called "girl crushes" (besides, I'm loyal to my favorite contemporary Oscar-winner, Adrien Brody - but I digress), but there's something about Helen Walker I find intriguing, especially since she's also turned out to be adept at comedy in BREWSTER'S MILLIONS, along with your apt comment about Walker's "Manchurian-Angela Lansbury" air about her. Now more than ever, I'm eager to write about IMPACT for DP, with the versatile Ms. Walker as femme fatale!

      You wondered about Stan's fear of the Hanged Man tarot card. I figured Stan's sudden fear (not to be confused with the Joan Crawford thriller SUDDEN FEAR :-)) was a matter of Stan's conscience slowly but surely catching up with him. I figure Pete's accidental death is still in the back of Stan's mind, no matter how he tries to ignore it, especially in vulnerable moments later in the film. Like they say in another of my contemporary favorites, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, you can't stop what's coming.

      I hope this post finds you and your mom feeling healthy and happy after having been under the weather, and that you have a Happy Easter, my friend!

      Delete
  11. Wow! You guys out did yourselves here! I have only seen this film once but was highly impressed! One of the few Tyrone films I like (the others being Witness for the Prosecution and The Black Swan). As a scam artist in the film, I do think Powers good looks work exceptionally well for him here. Blondell has one of her better late career roles and Helen Walker is really superb. Abd congrats on being included in DARK PAGES!

    John/Twentyfourframes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John, many thanks for your kind congrats for our NIGHTMARE ALLEY post here and in THE DARK PAGES! While both Vinnie and I have waxed rhapsodic about WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION and now NIGHTMARE ALLEY, I must confess that I haven't seen THE BLACK SWAN (neither the original 1942 swashbuckler nor the recent ballet psychodrama :-)). In addition to my previous kudos for Power, I thought he and Helen Walker were brilliant as quicksilver schemers. Wish they could've made more films together, but at least I can look forward to blogging about IMPACT in DP in the near future! Glad you enjoyed the wonderful Joan Blondell as much as we did, too! Thanks again, my friend, and Happy Easter to you and Dorothy from all of us here at Team Bartilucci HQ! :-D

      Delete
  12. Congrats!!! Man, do I love this film. For me it is just about perfect. Tyrone Power is so good and Joan Blondell - well, if only she got more parts like this. Terrific post, Dorian.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chick, beaucoup thanks for your enthusiastic praise of our NIGHTMARE ALLEY post! We loved Joan Blondell anyway, but with our new respect and "wow factor" for Tyrone Power, we were especially impressed with their scenes together. Like you, I would've loved to see Blondell get more parts like these, too!

      Delete
  13. Thanks for the fabulous review! By the way, I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award over at Movies Silently

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your praise of my NIGHTMARE ALLEY post, Gwen, as well as your kind VERSATILE BLOGGER kudos! I'll check it out! :-)

      Delete