Nightmare Alley is one of the most depressing films I've ever seen. This fact is its best asset but it makes it almost difficult to watch. When I did, I thought I wouldn't be able to smile for a long time.
It's a film noir, though, and noirs were not exactly made to make us laugh. They were notorious, among others, for the rigid punishments suffered by their main characters, as a result of their misdeeds.
However, few suffer more than this film's antihero, Stanton Carlisle, portrayed by Tyrone Power in arguably the best performance of his long and distinguished career. Interestingly, Stanton is not a vicious and violent criminal, but rather an overly ambitious and opportunistic man who thought he could fool everyone in his way from a lowly carnival to the top. He did it, but then it was time for the fall.
The fall is a sudden and catastrophic one, as Stanton meets his match in a pretty but diabolical psychiatrist and, his fraud now exposed, is forced to go into hiding. What happens to him next is a fate probably worse than death or prison. While the original novel leaves him in a state you wouldn't wish even to your worst enemy, the film opts for a bittersweet ending, where there is still hope for Stanton and his devoted wife, but it's certainly gonna be no bed of roses.
Power is wonderful, but the other actors (Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, among others) are also a powerful factor for the film's success. Another strong point is its dark, sinister plot. However, it's not an easy one to watch as, besides its depressing characters, is somewhat too analyzing and complicated. Despite this, it's a classic.
It's a film noir, though, and noirs were not exactly made to make us laugh. They were notorious, among others, for the rigid punishments suffered by their main characters, as a result of their misdeeds.
However, few suffer more than this film's antihero, Stanton Carlisle, portrayed by Tyrone Power in arguably the best performance of his long and distinguished career. Interestingly, Stanton is not a vicious and violent criminal, but rather an overly ambitious and opportunistic man who thought he could fool everyone in his way from a lowly carnival to the top. He did it, but then it was time for the fall.
The fall is a sudden and catastrophic one, as Stanton meets his match in a pretty but diabolical psychiatrist and, his fraud now exposed, is forced to go into hiding. What happens to him next is a fate probably worse than death or prison. While the original novel leaves him in a state you wouldn't wish even to your worst enemy, the film opts for a bittersweet ending, where there is still hope for Stanton and his devoted wife, but it's certainly gonna be no bed of roses.
Power is wonderful, but the other actors (Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, among others) are also a powerful factor for the film's success. Another strong point is its dark, sinister plot. However, it's not an easy one to watch as, besides its depressing characters, is somewhat too analyzing and complicated. Despite this, it's a classic.
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