This is the tarot. Oldest kind of cards in the world. Pete says the gypsies brought them out of Egypt.
Today on the Classic Movie Reviews Podcast, we are taking on Film-Noir Nightmare Alley (1947).
iMDB.com has this film rated at 7.8[1], which is pretty good. On rottentomatoes.com, the film has 100 percent on the Tomatometer and 87 percent audience approval[2]. Not too shabby.
New York Times film critic Thomas M. Pryor commented:
…the film is productive of its moments of shock and revulsion. There is, in fact, little in the way of human wickedness that Mr. Power doesn’t do as the slick-tongued carnival spieler who uses his blandishments on an amorous mind reader to obtain the secret code that once made Zeena and her now whiskey sodden husband a topflight mentalist act.
Mr. Power has a juicy role and sinks his teeth into it, performing with considerable versatility and persuasiveness.
Joan Blondell, as the duped mind reader, gives a good, earthy characterization. Helen Walker, playing a phony psychologist who outwits Stan Carlisle in his biggest swindle attempt, is cool and poised as the role demands. But Coleen Gray, while appealing as the innocent sideshow girl Stan is forced into marrying, betrays lack of experience and dramatic expression in her one pivotal scene with Mr. Power when she is trying to make him realize that his travesty of Divine power will end disastrously.[3]”
So, let’s get going with this shocking carnie con-man tale.
Actors – Nightmare Alley (1947)
Returning
Tyrone Power played the role of ambitious carnie Stanton ‘Stan’ Carlisle, and he does a very good job. Power was first covered in The Razor’s Edge (1946).
Mike Mazurki played the role of strongman Bruno. This solid character actor was covered in The Shanghai Gesture (1941).
Helen Walker played a psychologist with a secret, Lilith Ritter. Walker was first covered in the Film-Noir The Big Combo (1955).
New
Joan Blondell played Zeena Krumbein. Blondell was born in 1906 in New York City. Her family was in vaudeville, and like most of those kids, she started working at age 3. She went to Professional Children’s School. She worked with her parents until she was 17, at which time she began working in stock theater. She began working in the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway. In 1929, she starred with James Cagney in “Penny Arcade.” Both Blondell and Cagney were cast in the movie version called Sinners’ Holiday (1930). In total, she made six movies with Cagney, including Blonde Crazy (1931) and Public Enemy (1931). However, the sexy actress never made it above second leads.
Blondell spent a decade or so playing easy ladies and money-grubbers. This talented actress moved toward comedies and other dramas. Her roles included Three on a Match (1932), Topper Returns (1941), Cry ‘Havoc’ (1943), and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). She was nominated for a best-supporting actress Oscar for The Blue Veil (1951).
She continued to work on stage and occasionally made movies such as Lizzie (1957), Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), Desk Set (1957), where she was very funny, The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Waterhole #3 (1967), Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), and Grease (1978), again bringing laughter to the screen.
On television, she was on “The Real McCoys” 1963, “Here Come the Bridges” 1968 as Lottie, the large bartender with the sexy voice of experience for the brides, and on “Banyon” 1971. She died in 1979.
Coleen Gray played the innocent Molly. Gray was born in Nebraska in 1922. After high school, Gray earned a Bachelor of Arts from Minnesota’s Hamline University. She then traveled to California and began working as a waitress before moving to Los Angeles. In LA, she studied drama and was soon signed to a contract with 20th Century-Fox. They cast her in a lot of great movies but only gave her tiny parts in films like Red River (1948), Kansas City Confidential (1952), The Killing (1956), The Vampire (1957), and Copper Sky (1957).
Never becoming a big star, Gray worked steadily in television, on stage, and on the radio. She died in 2015.
Story – Nightmare Alley (1947)
At a carnival midway, Mademoiselle Zeena (Joan Blondell) is waiting for her act to begin. A young and handsome Stanton ‘Stan’ Carlisle (Tyrone Power) walks through the crowd. Zeena takes a long hard look. Stan goes to see the geek. Now the original meaning of geek was someone who would bite the heads off of live chickens. It had nothing to do with computer skills or liking Star Wars. Stan is fascinated by the geek and how someone becomes one. Stan is new to carnival work and is just a roust-about and carney in training.
Zeena has to wake her drunken husband Pete (Ian Keith), so they can do their mind-read act. Stan is the barker that introduces the show, and Zeena has treated him well. Stan is still talking about how someone can sink so low as to be a geek. Zeena says a lot can happen to a person.
Stan starts the show by introducing Mademoiselle Zeena. Stan passes out cards so people can send in questions. Stan takes the questions under the stage and passes them to Pete, who is still pretty drunk. Stan takes fake pieces of paper to the stage where Zeena uses wood alcohol to burn them. Below the stage, Pete writes out information on a small blackboard. Zeena can then see the questions through the crystal ball she has on the stage.
Stan goes to drink a soda with Molly (Coleen Gray) the carnival beauty. Stan laments about Pete keeping Zenna down, but Molly says they use to be big-time with their mind-reading act. The pair had a code where Zeena could tell Pete on the stage what the question was by using code words. The code could be sold for big bucks. Bruno (Mike Mazurki), the strong man, comes by, and he doesn’t like Stan hitting on Molly, although he himself has no hold on her.
The carnival moves to a new location. Zeena and Stan are in a truck together. He asks Zeena about the code and if they could do the old act. Pete wakes in the back and says there is no way they would reveal the code. Pete takes a few drinks and then goes back to sleep. Apparently, Zeena and Stan are fooling around. In the past, Zeena fooled around until Pete left. She says she was no good without him. He had returned a year earlier, and she has taken care of him since.
In the new town, Zeena has gotten a hotel room where they can all take baths. She has left Molly behind at the hotel. Pete goes to get a drink that Zeena pays for. Zeena wants to know if she could get Pete into rehab, called it taking the cure, but Stan says it costs a lot of money. She says she is going to sell the code to get the money. Stan says they can create a new act and take it on the road.
Stan goes to the hotel where Zeena is waiting to do a Tarot reading for him. They get the wheel of fortune card. Pete is missing for the reading, and Stan finds the Death card face down on the floor. Zeena says the cards mean Pete is going to die very soon. She tells Stan that everything between them is done, and he needs to leave. I have been watching too much Film-Noir, so I assumed this was a scam she was running on him.
Back at the carnival, Stan picks up a bottle of moonshine. He sees Pete begging the moonshiner for a drink. Stan hides his bottle in a wooden case. Pete has got a bad case of the shakes. The screaming geek stops their conversation. Pete tells that the manager didn’t give the geek his bottle today. Stan reaches in the trunk and gives his bottle to Pete. Pete tells Stan that he is heading to the big time, just like he had in the past. Pete says he would be the geek if not for Zeena. Pete also tells him that the geek was a big star one time. Pete puts on a demo of his old act. He talks about a barefoot boy running through the hills with a dog. Stan buys it, but Pete laughs and says it is a stock reading as ever boy has a dog.
In the morning, Pete is dead. Stan accidentally gave him the bottle of wood alcohol from the wooden case instead of the moonshine. Stan checks the trunk and believes he is responsible. He hides the moonshine bottle. Zeena takes it poorly and is comforted by Molly.
Zeena teaches the code to Stan, and they begin doing the code act. Molly has been helping Stan learn the code. Zeena has been contacting booking agents about leaving the carnival. The cops raid the carnival and try to arrest the manager for cruelty to the geek and Molly for indecent exposure. Stan puts Molly in a special chair where she conducts electricity. Stan starts doing a reading on the lawman. He gets him on carrying a lucky charm. Stan tells the sheriff that someone near him is jealous of his ability, and there is an obstacle between him and the women he loves. The sheriff buys the act and leaves without causing trouble.
Stan and Molly meet out back and start kissing. Molly says they shouldn’t because of Zeena, but Stan convinces her they are just friends. Molly is really happy that Stan wants to take her along when they leave the carnival.
Stan and Molly head into town for food and a good time. The pair meet the rest of the carnies at a restaurant. Bruno comes in, and he is hot with Molly. He catches her in a lie, and everyone knows she has been with Stan. Bruno and the others force both Stan and Molly into a shotgun wedding. Stan realizes that it is time to leave the carnival, and he and Molly can do the act using the code.
Under the name The Great Stanton, Stan and Molly take the act on the road and are top performers. An older man, Ezra Grindle (Taylor Holmes), begins to fall for the act, but psychologist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker) tries to trick Stan. She is unable to do so.
Later he goes to Lilith’s office. She reveals that Grindle is one of her patients. Lilith is fascinated by the way Stan can read people. She tells him to call her at her apartment. After Stan leaves, it is revealed that Lilith records all her sessions on phonographs. Stan pops back in and surprises Lilith. He tells her that the collection of records from Chicago’s elite could be very valuable. She throws him out.
One night after their club act, Zeena and Bruno are waiting in their room. Stan is hostile. Zeena reads the Tarot cards for Molly and says that she will not have a baby this year. Zeena tells Stan that he is making a mistake if he peruses the changes in his act he is thinking about. He is planning on becoming a spiritualist, but Zeena doesn’t know. Zeena flips the hanged man card on Stan, and it is the same card Pete had. Stan gets insulting and throws the carnies out. Zeena comes back to get her cards, and the hanged man card is on the floor. Geek noises are played in the background. When Stan’s masseuse rubs alcohol on him, he freaks out. Stan runs out and contacts Lilith for a session. He tells how he accidentally killed Pete.
Stan begins using information from Lilith to tailor his show to the elite of Chicago. Addie Peabody asks a question about her dead daughter. Stan begins to say that he sees spirits. He then passes out before he can deliver the message from the spirit. He gets a ton of publicity from this act. Addie is going to fund Stan, and her friend Ezra Grindle is trying to stop her. Grindle sets up a meeting with Stan.
Lilith meets Stan by the lakeshore to give him information. Stan tells Lilith that he crushed Grindle with the info she had provided. Stan told the name of Grindle’s 35-years dead true love, Dori. If Stan can show Dori to him, he will buy him a radio station and a tabernacle. Stan gives $150,000 to Lilith that he got from Grindle, so she can keep it for him. Lilith tries to take Stan to her bungalow, but he won’t take the chance.
Lilith sends pictures of Dori to Stan. Stan puts on an act for Molly to convince her to play the role of Dori’s spirit. Molly doesn’t want to do it, but Stan convinces her, saying he needs to save souls. Molly says Zeena was right, and she wants to go back to the carnival. Molly warns him to stop, or she will walk out on him. Her basic problem is that he now acts like a minister. He finally hooks her with the ‘I’m no good except with you’ line.
One night he goes out to Grindle’s garden. Stan gives Grindle a very hard religious patter. Suddenly, Molly appears at the other end of the garden dressed as Dori. Grindle calls out to Molly/Dori before he falls into asking God for mercy. Molly freaks out and confesses that she is Stan’s wife. Stan has to sock Grindle to getaway.
Stan tells Molly to meet him at the train station while he goes to see Lilith to retrieve the $150,000. She gives him a thick envelope and encourages him not to open it in her apartment. Stan leaves for the station and opens the envelope in the cab. He has been had. Lilith has only included $150 and a bunch of blank paper.
He goes back to Lilith’s apartment and accuses her of using the gypsy switch on him. She acts like she has been treating Stan, and his partnership with him was a delusion. Stan is beaten as Lilith has all of the recordings. She also threatens to have him committed. When he hears the police siren, Lilith says she doesn’t hear anything. Stan flees the apartment.
Molly finds Stan sitting on a bench at the train station. He sends her back to the carnival. The newspaper says the police are looking for Stan. Stan lays up in a hotel room for a few days, and eventually, he begins drinking. He hears the geek scream with the first drink. Slowly he becomes a hobo riding the rails. He gives Pete’s act about the dog to the other hobos around the campfire. He has lost his feeling of superiority, and even the hobos take advantage of him.
One day Stan wanders into a carnival. He asks for a job but is told that he can’t be hired because he is a drunk. The owner gives him a drink and tells him that the only job open is that of a geek. When he is offered the geek job, Stan replies, “Mister, I was made for it.”
The first night, Stan as the geek goes crazy. Molly is working at this carnival and sees Stan. When Stan sees Molly, he calms down. She says she will take care of him. At last, he has taken on the role of Pete with Molly caring for him as Zeena did for Pete. The owners say the geek fell so low because he reached so high.
I’ll be right back with conclusions and the World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary – Nightmare Alley (1947)
Power was pretty great and believable in the role, but they still had a problem with accepting his as other than a romantic star. This was Power’s second film after being in the Marines in World War II. It is likely that he matured during the war years and was thus able to bring more to the role.
Eddie Muller of TCM’s Noir Alley said that grifters, con-men, and fake spiritualists used the phrase “Are you a friend of Stan Carlisle?”, Power’s name in this film or a variation of the line to identify fellow con-men.
World-Famous Short Summary – Kick people on the way up, and you’ll get a chance to kick them on the way back down.
Beware the moors
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039661
[2] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1144535_nightmare_alley
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1947/10/10/archives/at-the-mayfair.html Accessed Feb. 22, 2020
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