Comments on: Nightmare Alley (1947): Geeks and Freaks

By: All Time Greatest Films Noir By FilmsNoir.Net | film noir

All Time Greatest Films Noir By FilmsNoir.Net | film noir — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:39:42 +0000

[...] Nightmare Alley [...]

By: Tony D'Ambra

Tony D'Ambra — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:34:38 +0000

Thanks guys. Great to see Alexander back on board!

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:08:52 +0000

hahahahah Tony. Message #4 above is mine, not Allan’s. Allan, of course left #3. As Allan is here living with us for thyree weeks, he uses my PC, and the name that was still there when I left message 4 was Allan’s. LOL! Great to see Alexander’s wonderful comment too!

By: Alexander Coleman

Alexander Coleman — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:52:11 +0000

A truly sublime piece, Tony. You’ve more than done this great film justice. Beautifully articulated and compellingly reasoned. Your points are entirely on-target and I am one with you about the film presenting the audience with Jungian archetypes that invade your subconscious. Tremendous!

By: Allan Fish

Allan Fish — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:05:56 +0000

I am running around today, but I see there are several other excellent posts here, including the one on Graham Greene. I will be looking at these later today or tonite and making appropriate responses. Your latest creative output should not be missed by anyone, much less by film noir fans.

By: Allan Fish

Allan Fish — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:41:46 +0000

Well, I am well trumped…

Excellent piece, old boy….

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:39:40 +0000

Tony D’Ambra’s own take on NIGHTMARE ALLEY is “brilliance incarnate.” He says: “director Edmund Goulding and cinematographer Lee Garmes fashion a monstrous world of dark nights and sordid shadows……there are no actors here: only visages and apparitions that inhabit a shadow play where Jungian archetypes invades your subconscious. Never was a film noir more aptly titles the ‘nightmare at the end of the dark alley of the soul.’

I am speechless. These kind of observations should be published in volumes. Fascinating stuff!

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:34:00 +0000

In his very engaging “Guide for the Film Fanatic” Danny Peary says of NIGHTMARE ALLEY: “No picture of the forties projected a more corrosive atmosphere than director Edward Goulding and scriptwriter Jules Furthman’s striking adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s grim, nasty novel……while it sweetens the novel and opts for a “Hollywood ending” the film is more daring than critics of the day contended……Lee Garmes’ noir photography turned what is essentially a strong drama into a frightening horror film…..” Peary makes some other very cogent and insightful observations in his long entry on page 300 of this volume.