The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 win total
- Jane
- (uncredited)
- Knife Thrower's Assistant
- (uncredited)
- The Geek
- (uncredited)
- Hobo
- (uncredited)
- Maid in Grindle House
- (uncredited)
- Man in Spode Room
- (uncredited)
- Carnival Patron
- (uncredited)
- Rural Marshal
- (uncredited)
- Hobo at Stan's Left Hand
- (uncredited)
- Mr. Prescott
- (uncredited)
- J.E. Giles
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Nightmare Alley was a favorite of mine from the time I was a teenager -a film Power fought to make and one that the studio never publicized and released as a B film. Spiteful bunch, considering the money he had made for them!
Power, Blondell, Gray, Helen Walker, and the marvelous Ian Keith turn in great performances in a gritty film somewhat ahead of its time for its unrelenting toughness, its hard view of alcoholism, a look inside the world of mentalists and carnival life, and its theme of the supernatural. It is reminiscent of "Ace in the Hole" and some of the later, cynical Wilder films.
Power was one of those actors whose drop dead gorgeous appearance kept him from some excellent roles, thanks to his studio. SomeoneI knew saw him in a Broadway play and said it was like being alone in a room with him, he had such magnetism.
We have so few examples of his really great work - the recording of John Brown's Body is one, this film is another - it's great that it's now out on DVD and available to the public.
The DVD box advertises it as part of Twentieth Century Fox's "Film Noir" collection, and this is a tad deceiving. While it does have some elements of Noir, to me this isn't a noir film. Yes, there's some of the snappy and gritty Noir dialog, but only a bit. And while there is some crime in the film, it's not murder or robbery (the usual Noir themes), but fraud. But, I still think lovers of that genre will appreciate the film. What stands out most in my mind was the wonderful and well thought-out plot as well as the acting of Tyrone Power. The writers made this movie with a complex and engaging plot as well as a lot of terrific symbolism. Power, instead of his usual "nice guy" image, plays a despicable man--almost as rotten as the guy he played in the wonderful WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. Tyrone is a sociopathic con man who has no compunction about using those around him to get rich. Lying, stealing and conning are not usually the sort of behaviors I'd expect to see from the man--he did a much better job than I expected playing such a despicable rogue.
As far as describing the plot goes, it was rather reminiscent of Claude Rains' film THE CLAIRVOYANT as a starting point, but then morphs into a film highly reminiscent of ELMER GANTRY. A fine, fine film that I heartily recommend to all.
Did you know
- TriviaThe studio built a full carnival set on the back lot at 20th Century Fox covering ten acres, and hired over 100 sideshow attractions and carnival workers.
- GoofsThe recording machine that creates a major plot point is a Wilcox-Gay disc cutter that could record at 78 or 33 rpm on a maximum disk size of ten inches. It cut at a fixed 96 lines per inch. Unfortunatly those specs limited recording time to about 3 minutes at 78 rpm and only a bit more at 33. A real professional would have used something like a Presto which cut 12-inch discs or a broadcasting machine like a Scully that could cut 16-inch disks. Even the FBI used disk cutters in pairs so one could begin recording when the others had used up all their blank disk surface. A much more likely device would have been a wire recorder which despite its limited fidelity could record speech for an hour. These units were not cheap but Dr. Ritter was obviously wealthy. Her Wilcox-Gay recorder had a retail price at that time of about $100.00 and was among the lowest-priced recorders sold.
- Quotes
McGraw: Wait. I just happened to think of something. I might have a job you can take a crack at. Course it isn't much and I'm not begging you to take it, but it's a job.
Stanton Carlisle: That's all I want.
McGraw: And we'll keep you in coffee and cake. Bottle every day, place to sleep it off in. What do you say? Anyway, it's only temporary, just until we can get a real geek.
Stanton Carlisle: Geek?
McGraw: You know what a geek is, don't you?
Stanton Carlisle: Yeah. Sure, I... I know what a geek is.
McGraw: Do you think you can handle it?
Stanton Carlisle: Mister, I was made for it.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
- SoundtracksSobre las olas (Over the Waves)
(uncredited)
Music by Juventino Rosas
Played during the opening carnival scene
- How long is Nightmare Alley?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- El callejón de las almas perdidas
- Filming locations
- State Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA(exterior shots B roll)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $337
- Runtime
- 1h 50m(110 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1