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Nightmare Alley



Often described as the grimmest of all Hollywood film noirs, Nightmare Alley's reputation as a cult classic reached near-mythical status due to a decades-long dispute between the film's producer (George Jessel) and Fox, which prevented it being screened anywhere or even released on home video. With the conflict now resolved, Nightmare Alley can finally be re-discovered in this stunning new transfer as one of the most darkly sophisticated noirs of the period.

Tyrone Power, cast against type — at his own insistence — gives the performance of his lifetime as handsome scumbag / carnival barker / con-man Stanton Carlisle. He seduces fellow sideshow artiste Mademoiselle Zeena (Joan Blondell) to learn the secret of the once-lucrative mind-reading act she performed with her alcoholic husband (Ian Keith). Carlisle, a "born mentalist", secures the secret method and sets off with his new carnie wife, Molly (Coleen Grey) to milk the bigtime as a spiritualist in Chicago. As Carlisle's success grows, it's only a matter of time before his greed — and twisted involvement with femme fatale psychoanalyst Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker) — bring his world crashing down around him.

Based on William Lindsay Gresham's book of the same name, scripted by the formidable Jules Furthman (Shanghai Express, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo) and reflecting the preoccupations of its drug and alcohol-abusing, orgy-frequenting director Edmund Goulding, Nightmare Alley uncovers both the dirt and romance of carnival life, and controversially — for those in the business — the tricks and scams of conmen and hustlers. After this picaresque and cathartic film, you will never again misuse the word "geek". The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Nightmare Alley for the first time on home video in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Newly restored high definition transfer
• Woody Haut introduces Nightmare Alley – a 10-minute video introduction to the film by celebrated noir historian and author Woody Haut
• Woody Haut on Nightmare Alley – Woody goes into more detail (25 minutes)
• Full-length audio commentary by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini
• Original theatrical trailer
• 157-page continuity and dialogue script and the 17-page musical cue sheet (both in pdf format)
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• 24-page booklet with a new essay by Woody Haut, and rare production stills

Specs and print the same as the R1?

Working on the specs now, so can't confirm ---- but it will include the commentary and trailer from the Fox R1 and the same source material for the transfer.

Goulding was British, btw. That's two Brits in the MoC Series already!

A top notch entry nonetheless.

Very brave move Nick, especially in comparison with the R1 price. Hope all goes well with the old-fashioned British shop buyer.

But it will have a fat great exclusive beautiful MoC booklet, right?

Edmund Goulding, a Master of Cinema? I'm not too sure about that one. Nightmare Alley is a great, grungy Noir masterpiece, however and it is great to see it finallly recieving a UK release.

I'm glad I didn't get the Fox disc! This one looks like a keeper.

list price now GBP£15.99

Amazon.co.uk has this up for pre-order at last.

Still no Punishment Park.

News on the release - and screen caps - at DVD Times:

http://dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=59147

So, to summarise, the following are new to this release:

1. Woody Haut introduces Nightmare Alley - a 10-minute video introduction to the film by celebrated noir historian and author Woody Haut;
2. Woody Haut on Nightmare Alley - Woody goes into more detail (25 minutes);
3. 157-page continuity and dialogue script and the 17-page musical cue sheet (both in pdf format); and
4. 32-page booklet with a new essay by Woody Haut, and rare production stills.

I can't wait.

Nice review of the MoC disc here:

http://www.dvdoutsider.co.uk/dvd/review ... alley.html

davidhare wrote:Dark Victory is major Davis and Goulding.

I'm shamefully unfamiliar with much of Goulding's work, but Dark Victory is indeed one of Hollywood's greatest tearjerkers. Davis and her dogs at the end of the film destroy me (and I cry at movies all the time).

A great film and overall great package (I love the booklet and rare stills), but to nitpick the Woody Haut interviews made me a little 'nauseous', not the best background and the microphone must have been too close (I kept focusing on the sound of his tongue, eek). These were shot by Mark Rance, I guess it is not the same Mark Rance as the producer of a number of Criterion LDs and early dvds and high profile Hollywood dvds (?). Apart from that great job in improving the Fox dvd.

A wonderful DVD of a great film noir.

Peerpee, can you tell me the name of the font used in the subtitles? I really like it.

I'm afraid I'm not sure exactly, it's over 4 years ago.

So what exactly happened with this film that it went "unseen" for so long? Haven't listened to the commentary yet (But will do tomorrow). Places like wikipedia and imdb have nothing under trivia about it, and if it was mentioned in the booklet, I only have the Fox R1 and mine happened to not come with a booklet.

Is there any chance of a Michael-style limited reissue of this, or have the rights lapsed? Also, does anyone know if the French release (Sidonis) differs from the Fox R1 in image or sound quality? It was put out in 2010 and it says "restored image and sound" on the cover, but I wonder.

repeat wrote:Is there any chance of a Michael-style limited reissue of this, or have the rights lapsed? Also, does anyone know if the French release (Sidonis) differs from the Fox R1 in image or sound quality? It was put out in 2010 and it says "restored image and sound" on the cover, but I wonder.

Odeon Entertainment just released this in the UK.

aewb wrote:Odeon Entertainment just released this in the UK.

Complete with PAL speedup, judging by the runtime

The Eureka DVD looked very good indeed and it's a terrific carny movie, probably Tyrone's best.