Saw 'Nightmare Alley' in the "recommended for you" section and as a big classic film fan it did strike me as a film well worth checking out, especially with it being regarded highly here despite its financial failure. The story also sounded like it would be right up my alley and the cast saw some interesting choices that made me want to see whether they would work or not.
My thoughts after seeing 'Nightmare Alley' were that it was a very good film if not quite a classic, where any interest points or worries came off very well. Brilliantly even. It deserves the fondness it has, and actually to me it doesn't quite have enough, and deserved to do much better financially, that it was a flop is a poor representation of what the film's quality really is. Contrastingly we have had, and still have, films that do big at the box office but are not good films (not going to name examples in fear of being snobbish) and don't score high with critics.
'Nightmare Alley' is not quite perfect. The ending jars a bit tonally, the more hopeful tone amidst such darkness and bleakness didn't ring true for me.
Coleen Gray does her best but her character is rather bland.
However, a cast against type Tyrone Power is at his most despicable, he has a challenging role (perhaps the most complex and darkest role of his career) and he does an amazing job with it. Living proof that he should have done more dramatic roles, because he certainly had it in him. The other great performance is from a chilling Helen Walker as a demon of a character. Mike Mazurki is appealingly oafish and Ian Keith is movingly conflicted. Joan Blondell is also in a different role, and apart from one overplayed "crying" scene she also excels.
It's not just the cast that's great in 'Nightmare Alley'. The production values are also extremely good, especially the atmospheric cinematography and shadowy lighting. The music has a haunting vibe while the film is strongly directed and thoughtfully scripted. The story is always compelling and has lots of suspenseful chills, moving emotion and nightmarish atmosphere, it is a complex story and perhaps a bizarre one in that it is not always easy to define what genre it is when there is a mix. On paper that sounds like a disaster, the phrases bizarre and mix of genres don't sound like good things usually, in 'Nightmare Alley's' case it works and fits the complexity of the characterisation and atmosphere.
In conclusion, very good with many wonderful elements. 8/10 Bethany Cox
