Blind Alley

This is a film that you just have to watch without thinking too much--particularly if you realizes how silly the film is from a psychological point of view. Chester Morris and his gang take a group of people hostage while hiding out from the police. With very little provocation, Morris kills one of the hostages and in response, the psychiatrist (Ralph Bellamy) decides to mess with Morris' mind in order to drive him over the edge. Much of the movie is spent watching Bellamy slowly gain Morris' trust and later they begin exploring the meaning and significance of Morris' recurring dream. This is amazingly silly, not only because the cops might burst into the home at any minute but because in only a short time they are able explore and work out ALL of Morris' problems!! Also, while the style of therapy and theory behind it seemed pretty sound for the 1930s, today a lot of this just seemed like very silly mumbo-jumbo. Still, if you can ignore the silliness of all this and Morris' over-acting, then it is an entertaining little film.

By the way, for a much better film without the mumbo-jumbo, try watching THE DESPERATE HOURS. This film is also about a vicious gang taking a family hostage but is far more realistic and compelling.

UPDATE: I just saw the remake of this film, "The Dark Past" (1948) and I think it's a superior picture. Much of this is due to William Holden's more subdued performance.

Blind Alley (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Columbia thriller based on a 1935 Broadway play has Chester Morris playing a gangster who escapes from prison and eventually takes a psychiatrist (Ralph Bellamy) and his family and friends hostage. Soon the psychiatrist starts to work on the gangster to try and break him down so that everyone can make it out of the situation okay. This is an extremely well made and well acted "B" film that manages to be very entertaining from start to finish. What really sets this film apart from others like it are the performances by the two leads. Morris, due to his Boston Blackie films, has become one of my favorite actors and I think this is the best work I've seen from him. The character he plays is pretty much cold-hearted from start to finish and is just as dark as the character he played in Three Godfathers. There's no charm in this character and Morris really comes off as a very threatening figure. He also manages to be very convincing during the mental breakdown scenes when the doctor starts to work him over. Bellamy, another one of my favorite "B" actors, is also very good. His calm, cool and collective nature and that wonderful voice really pays off well here against Morris. Ann Dvorak from Scarface turns in fine support as the gangster's girlfriend. There are a couple very interesting aspects worth noting. One is an underlined child molestation that Morris suffered as a child. This isn't thrown out into the open but it isn't hinted at, which I'm surprised got by the Hayes Office. Another interesting segment is the dream sequence where we see a dream that is constantly haunting Morris. This was shot with a reverse negative and the look is very good and eerie. This film was later remade as The Dark Past.

Based on a 1935 Broadway success, this film presents an early "psychological" approach to depicting a cold-blooded criminal, here played by Chester Morris, an excellent and very versatile actor, ably supported by a fine cast including Ann Dvorak and Ralph Bellamy. My wife, Yuyun Yuningsih Nollen, and I are currently writing the first-ever book on Chester Morris, which hopefully will correct any oversights that have been made about this performer and introduce a new generation of classic film fans to his extensive body of work, on film, television and radio. Morris also was a well-respected star on stage, following in the footsteps of his father, William Morris, and sharing the profession with his younger brother, Adrian, who unfortunately died far too soon.

I saw this movie when I was seven, 'way back in 1939. I had never seen anything like the dream sequence and the psychiatrist's explanation. They both were shot from the camera's viewpoint, something I wasn't to see again until Robert Montgomery's version of Raymond Chandler's "The Lady In The Lake. This stuck in my cerebellum since. The remake, "The Dark Past," with Wm. Holden wasn't quite as good, but then I was older and more sophisticated when I saw that one. And, anyone who says Chester Morris couldn't act obviously hasn't seen "The Big House," "Three Godfathers" (not the John Wayne one), or any of the Boston Blackie movies. P.S. Where are the Boston Blackie movies?

I've seen BLIND ALLEY in 1946 when amercan films starts to come in europe after the war - I've never seen it again -In France nobody knows who was CHESTER MORRIS At this time i was looking at 400 films by year- Later films like DESPERATE HOURS with Bogart and PURSUED with Mitchum has remind me BLIND ALLEY (for PURSUED: when the kid is under the table-and for Desparate the psychanalyst subject between F March and Bogart) Am i wrong ? Chester Morris was not a very good actor i suppose but good enough for me

No dictionary french or english pays mention to his films (only tv) I'm know a movie poster collector and looking all the time for CHESTER'S FILMS NOIRS So, please, let me know about it - with thanks

Chichin