The 1947 film surpasses del Toro’s with the possibility of multiple bleak endings. While Dr. Ritter’s motives are inscrutable, her psychoanalysis cover story explicitly alludes to the title and makes a credible argument for Stanton being delusional.

| Jun 9, 2024

It’s a disreputable pulp noir with an A budget and it straddles the chasm between sleaze and class, thanks to the vivid cinematography by Lee Garmes and the oddly interesting miscasting of studio stalwart Edmund Goulding as director.

| Nov 18, 2023

A hidden gem in the film noir genre...

| Mar 6, 2023

[Nightmare Alley] is a grim drama about the rise and fall of a completely unscrupulous carnival barker, set forth with dramatic power under the direction of Edmund Goulding and acted with vigor by Tyrone Power.

| Aug 17, 2022

The material... is unusual and the cast first-rate.

| Jul 6, 2022

One of the bleakest of all '40s flicks.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 27, 2022

An entertaining drama which explores the perils of flying too close to the sun.

| Jan 13, 2022

Although this story is unexpectedly macabre and sinister, the finale is easily guessable and better fit for a "Twilight Zone" episode than a feature-length production.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jan 2, 2022

I can't figure out whether "Nightmare Alley" or "Nightmare Alley" is my favorite film noir.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 12, 2021

It deals with some unpleasant things... but it's an interesting movie.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 11, 2021

If Nightmare Alley isn't precisely tasty entertainment, at least it has been colorfully and harshly set forth with better than average character sketches lending it a certain unsavory interest and morbid fascination.

| Dec 7, 2021

If the picture serves to expose racketeers in human emotions, it has accomplished something important. Certainly it is well done. But we hope Mr. Jessel goes back to his giddy musicals.

| Dec 7, 2021

All together the film has a great deal of accumulative impact. It is a thoroughly unpleasant, but salutary picture. It should pull both potential dupes and the potentially ruthless up good and short.

| Dec 7, 2021

In refusing for the most part to compromise with the kind of realism that shocks and revolts, Nightmare Alley comes through the mill a movie of deliberate, disturbing fascination.

| Dec 7, 2021

The dialogue has plenty of punch, and the photography, especially in the tawdry tent world, is expert. If you like your movies rough and realistic, you'll find this one entertaining for the most part.

| Dec 7, 2021

Despite some fine and intense acting by Mr. Power and others, this film traverses distasteful dramatic ground and only rarely does it achieve any substance as entertainment.

| Dec 7, 2021

It must be reported that 20th Century-Fox did an excellent job of translating this story to the screen, following the main theme of the novel with astonishing fidelity, pulling no punches, making Nightmare Alley harshly realistic.

| Dec 7, 2021

[Tyrone Power] has approached the part with the same sincerity and realism that has characterized earlier performances. You won't soon forget Mr. Power as Stan Carlisle, who "reached too high."

| Dec 7, 2021

Edmund Goulding is a director who knows how to squeeze emotions out of players; and his production, repellent as its theme may be, develops considerable fascination up to the closing reel or so.

| Dec 7, 2021

The hero is a heel from beginning to end. He doesn't merit or get any sympathy from the audience, and the ending is merely depressing.

| Dec 7, 2021