Blind Alley (1939)

Gangster Hal Wilson takes psychiatrist Dr. Shelby hostage. While captive, the doctor analyzes Wilson as though he were a patient.

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Philip MacDonald (screenplay), Michael Blankfort (screenplay),

Stars:

Chester Morris, Ralph Bellamy, Ann Dvorak

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Chester Morris	...	Hal Wilson
Ralph Bellamy	...	Dr. Anthony Shelby
Ann Dvorak	...	Mary
Joan Perry	...	Linda Curtis
Melville Cooper	...	George Curtis
Rose Stradner	...	Doris Shelby
John Eldredge	...	Dick Holbrook (as John Eldridge)
Ann Doran	...	Agnes
Marc Lawrence	...	Buck
Stanley Brown	...	Fred Landis
Scotty Beckett	...	Davy Shelby
Milburn Stone	...	Nick
Marie Blake	...	Harriet

Storyline

Following a prison break, Hal Wilson, a ruthless killer takes refuge in the home of a psychiatrist, Dr. Shelby. While Wilson is attempting to make a safe getaway, Dr. Shelby is busily trying to analyze his captor and find out just what, in his dark past, made him the man he now has become.

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Plot Keywords:

psychiatrist | hostage | gunfire | home invasion | moll | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'étrange rêve

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

69 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was re-made as The Dark Past. It starred Lee J. Cobb as the psychiatrist and William Holden as the killer.

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Goofs

The gangster's fingers are supposedly paralyzed, but when he pushes the "Insanity and the Criminal Mind" book back onto the shelf, you can clearly see him flick it into place with one of his "paralyzed" fingers.

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Connections

Version of Blind Alley (1941)

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Soundtracks

"Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 in E flat major"
(1830-31) (uncredited)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Played on the piano by Rose Stradner

User Reviews

Killer Personality

When I wrote a review of the remake of Blind Alley that starred William Holden I had not yet seen this nor had investigated the Broadway play from where this film came from. I've come to some interesting conclusions as a result.

Chester Morris plays the killer role in Blind Alley which is a combination of The Petrified Forest and The Desperate Hours and the viewer will recognize parts of both those classics. Morris and his gang are on the run having just busted out of prison where they took the warden hostage and Morris kills him. He then takes refuge at the lakeside home of Ralph Bellamy and wife Rose Stradner who happen to be entertaining guests at the time.

Bellamy is a psychiatrist who teaches and after Morris coldbloodedly murders Stanley Brown one of his students he thinks the only way to save his and everyone else's lives is to get into his head. Bellamy is a cool customer doing this, especially with friends and family's lives at stake.

When Lee J. Cobb played the part of the psychiatrist in The Dark Past he was detached almost clinical in the way he probed at Holden. Bellamy is not looking at this as an experiment and now having seen both films I can say Bellamy's interpretation was superior.

Blind Alley originated as a play on Broadway by James Warwick with a 119 performance run in the 1935-36 season. Looking at that cast I saw that George Coulouris played the psychiatrist and this is one instance where we are so unfortunate that he did not do either movie version. Coulouris would really have been special in the part.

This film is a real sleeper from Columbia Pictures, don't miss it if ever broadcast again.