Movie Diva: NightmareAlley
Nightmare Alley (1947) Directed by Edmund Goulding. Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Grey, Helen Walker (110 min).
Tyrone Power, his handsome hunk days behind him, plays a conniving drifter who covets a job as a carnival mentalist, wooing earthy Joan Blondell for the secrets of her racket. His scurrilous ambitions lie beyond the circus tent, and he purveys his mind reading deceptions into a fortune, after linking up with an unscrupulous Park Avenue psychologist. Helen Walker’s icy vixen, Dr. Lilith Ritter, exploits her wealthy, troubled clientele, while redefining femme fatale, in this lurid tale. Power is brilliant as the seedy hero. “Spectacularly sordid” Dave Kehr, New York Times.
Director Edmund Goulding and matinee idol Tyrone Power collaborated successfully on the film version of the best selling novel The Razor’s Edge in 1946. Somerset Maugham’s soul-searching book struck a chord with weary post-war audiences. This was Power’s first film after returning from his Marine service, and it was nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture of 1947. For both Goulding and Power, Nightmare Alley would be a thematic departure in their careers. William Lindsay Gresham’s trashy—and best selling—novel had plenty of raunch, unfilmable under the Production Code, where you could not use words like “bitch” “screw” or “douche” or mention that one character had been sexually abused by her father, and another died of a back alley abortion. Studio head Darryl Zanuck was persuaded to keep the proven team of Goulding and Power together, even though neither of them had never made a movie quite like this one.
Power read Gresham’s book, which had been well reviewed for its hard-boiled prose style, and wanted to star in the screen version. Zanuck was appalled that his golden boy wanted to play in such a downbeat film, with only Joan Blondell for any box office sparkle. Director Henry King, who had championed Power from the beginning of his screen career, was summoned to try and talk some sense into him. King said there were plenty of other serious dramatic roles he could play on the lot, and Power challenged him, “Name one.” King could not think of any (Guiles 221).
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via MDNightmareAlley.