Nightmare Alley - A Dark Gem

By 1947, Tyrone Power was an established star best known for his romantic and swashbuckling roles, an extremely handsome matinee idol. However, like many actors since the inception of motion pictures, he wanted to break out and do some serious acting in a serious role. In 1946, he appeared in W. Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge in the role of Larry Darrell, a young man searching for truth and the meaning of life. This was a good role taken from the pages of great literature, and Power’s first real introduction into a story with depth and dignity. However, it was not enough for Power, who in that same year bought the rights to a novel called Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham. The part that Power wanted to play was that of Stanton Carlisle, a manipulative, sociopathic grifter working in a seedy carnival.

Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox was not happy with the thought of Power playing such a character. He believed that such a dark role would hurt Power’s image. However, Power insisted, and the project got underway in 1947. The film was produced by George Jessel, the vaudevillian who later became known as the Toastmaster General of the United States because of his many roasts of political and entertainment figures. Zanuck decided to back his star with A film treatment. However, he still didn’t approve, gave it minimal publicity and shelved it after the first round of showing. This hurt the reputation of the movie, critics were not kind, and the public barely got a chance to respond because of this negligible handling. I believe that the critics were wrong. Nightmare Alley is a marvel of a movie with one of Power’s best performances. It is dark and frightening, depicting the lowest class of man, and one man in particular who uses the vulnerable and the needy to further his own ambitions.

The story begins in a seedy carnival, for which 20th Century Fox built a full, working set and hired real carny workers. Power as Stan is a roustabout and a barker, working for Zeena and Pete in their phony mind-reading act. Zeena (wonderful Joan Blondell) is hard-boiled yet soft-hearted for the pitiable drunk that the once great Pete has become. Pete is played by Ian Keith in what I consider to be an academy-award worthy performance. (Ian Keith’s career spanned a long period, with many of his movies directed by Cecil B. DeMille such as The Crusades, Cleopatra, The Sign of the Cross and The 10 Commandments.) The carnival carries a “geek”, an attraction of which Zeena says “lots of performers won’t work in a show that carries one.” Stan is fascinated by the geek, purported to be a wild man, but really only a pathetic alcoholic who actually eats live chickens for the customers, all for a bottle a day and a bed to sleep in. Stan can’t understand how anyone can sink so low. Soon, Stan learns of a valuable code used by Pete and Zeena in their glory days, a code for use in a realistic and mesmerizing mind-reading act. Zeena can sell the code for a great deal of money, but is saving it for her and Pete, partly to pay for “a cure” for Pete’s alcoholism. Once Stan learns of the code, he moves in on Zeena, seducing her in an effort to get the code for himself. After the tragic death of Pete, in which Stan plays a part, Zeena agrees to teach him the code.

Stan betrays Zeena, and marries Molly (Colleen Gray), a beautiful girl who is one of the carnival’s entertainers. Stan wonders aloud why it doesn’t matter to him if he hurts people. He doesn’t know why, but doesn’t have the conscience to do anything about it. Molly is deeply in love with Stan, but Stan sees her merely as window dressing for the new act he designs. He becomes “The Great Stanton” in a nightclub mind-reading act with Molly and the code. He meets Lilith (Helen Walker), a therapist who sees through Stan’s pose and likes it. The mind-reading act is not enough for Stan’s ambition. He goes into the medium game, garnering secrets of Lilith’s rich clients and pretending to be speaking to their dead loved ones. His specialty is rich, grieving, vulnerable people. Molly is horrified at Stan’s phony religious posturing, warning him that he is trying to play God. Stan retorts that a lot of people do so, but Molly says “But they don’t sound like ministers. You do!” Stan doesn’t heed Molly’s warning and continues to use phrases from the Bible, even going so far as to use the words of Jesus in his spiel. Stan finally goes too far, finds that Lilith is really himself in female form, and his downward spiral begins.

Nightmare Alley is directed by Edmund Goulding, a great director responsible for such films as The Razor’s Edge, The Great Lie, Dark Victory and Dawn Patrol. The score by Cyril Mockridge blends beautifully with this disturbing story, discordant and weaving elements of carnival music throughout. Mockridge was a prolific composer, with some of his better-known films being Cheaper by the Dozen, Desk Set and Bus Stop. Perhaps one of the most marked talents is makeup man Ben Nye, who manages to turn the strikingly handsome Power into a man who has created nightmares for others and finally lives one himself. Nightmare Alley is a must-see for classic movie fans and fans of Tyrone Power. It never got the praise or promotion it deserved, and is well worth the search to find it. (Fox Movie Channel shows it periodically.)