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Nightmare Alley Movie Review

Nightmare Alley is a 1947 noir film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Tyrone Power. It is one of the darkest 40s movies by far.

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“I can’t understand how anybody could get so low“

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The movie follows the rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall. This film offers an intriguing look into the carnival business, carnies and the geeks, the latter being those carnies who do the most grotesque and dangerous acts. Yes, this is the antiquated, immoral, horrible world that seems very strange to modern audiences, but it is still important to see what was going on in this industry back then.

Edmund Goulding mostly made movies that benefited from star power, such as ‘Dark Victory’ and ‘Grand Hotel’, but they never had that much of a directorial touch themselves. Nightmare Alley is different. This is a picture that was so confidently made, so polished in every single aspect and so intense that high praise must be given to Goulding for guiding the entire project to greater heights.

Much kudos should also be directed toward Tyrone Power. He was an actor who was always the good-looking, charming guy, being basically the sex symbol of his time. But he rarely had to flex his acting skills as much as he did here in what is a truly outstanding, layered performance that is also very subtle and modern due to the lack of overacting that plagued some of his co-stars, in particular Coleen Gray.

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Her character was important, but she did overact in certain scenes a bit too much. But Power plays a fascinating figure, a man who was so ambitious and conniving that it ultimately led to his downfall. The scenes that showcase his descent into utter madness were the most powerful parts of this story.

I haven’t read the book the film was based on, but this adaptation gave us one of the darkest films of its decade. This is a movie that doesn’t have violence per say, we certainly never see the previous geek doing those horrible acts, but the fact that we get to hear about it was enough to make this movie incredibly provocative for its time.

That ending was so powerful and heartbreaking. Just looking at Power’s eyes and his lost expression was deeply affecting and the filmmakers surely knew how to make audiences care even for this man who was inexcusable in the stuff that he did before.

Yes, it was very interesting observing how mentalists worked and tricked people. That “ghost” sequence was so gorgeously shot and so eerily sad that it was one of the highlights here. My only issue with the movie is that the supporting players felt underutilized. Yes, they are somewhat important for the story, but I still expected more of their arcs, though Helen Walker was very memorable as the smart psychoanalyst who gets the better of the protagonist.

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Nightmare Alley was a bit slow in the first act, but riveting throughout the remainder of its runtime. The black-and-white cinematography is moody and eerie while the score is rarely used, but effective when there. The editing and the production design were also excellent. It wasn’t the most lavish production, but in terms of its individual aspects, everybody did their job effortlessly, leading to a lean machine of a flick.