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IMDbPro

Nightmare Alley

  • 19471947
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
13K
YOUR RATING
Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, and Helen Walker in Nightmare Alley (1947)
The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.
Play trailer2:26
1 Video
99+ Photos
DramaFilm-Noir
The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
13K
YOUR RATING
    • Edmund Goulding
    • Jules Furthman(screen play)
    • William Lindsay Gresham(novel)
  • Stars
    • Tyrone Power
    • Joan Blondell
    • Coleen Gray
    • Edmund Goulding
    • Jules Furthman(screen play)
    • William Lindsay Gresham(novel)
  • Stars
    • Tyrone Power
    • Joan Blondell
    • Coleen Gray
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 157User reviews
    • 97Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:26
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos121

    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Tyrone Power in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Coleen Gray in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Coleen Gray and Mike Mazurki in Nightmare Alley (1947)
    Coleen Gray and Mike Mazurki in Nightmare Alley (1947)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tyrone Power
    Tyrone Power
    • Stanton Carlisle
    Joan Blondell
    Joan Blondell
    • Zeena Krumbein
    Coleen Gray
    Coleen Gray
    • Molly
    Helen Walker
    Helen Walker
    • Dr. Lilith Ritter
    Taylor Holmes
    Taylor Holmes
    • Ezra Grindle
    Mike Mazurki
    Mike Mazurki
    • Bruno
    Ian Keith
    Ian Keith
    • Pete Krumbein
    Florence Auer
    Florence Auer
    • Jane
    • (uncredited)
    Bonnie Bannon
    Bonnie Bannon
    • Knife Thrower's Assistant
    • (uncredited)
    George Beranger
    George Beranger
    • The Geek
    • (uncredited)
    Oliver Blake
    Oliver Blake
    • Hobo
    • (uncredited)
    June Bolyn
    • Maid in Grindle House
    • (uncredited)
    Paul Bradley
    • Man in Spode Room
    • (uncredited)
    Chet Brandenburg
    Chet Brandenburg
    • Carnival Patron
    • (uncredited)
    James Burke
    James Burke
    • Rural Marshal
    • (uncredited)
    George Chandler
    George Chandler
    • Hobo at Stan's Left Hand
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Cheshire
    Harry Cheshire
    • Mr. Prescott
    • (uncredited)
    Edward Clark
    Edward Clark
    • J.E. Giles
    • (uncredited)
      • Edmund Goulding
      • Jules Furthman(screen play)
      • William Lindsay Gresham(novel)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation, charlatans and grifters in the new age/mystic con would use the phrase "Are you a friend of Stan Carlisle?", or a variation of it, to confirm that the person they were talking to was in the same line of business.
    • Goofs
      The recording machine that creates a major plot point is a Wilcox-Gay disc cutter that could record at 78 or 33 rpm on a maximum disk size of ten inches. It cut at a fixed 96 lines per inch. Unfortunatly those specs limited recording time to about 3 minutes at 78 rpm and only a bit more at 33. A real professional would have used something like a Presto which cut 12-inch discs or a broadcasting machine like a Scully that could cut 16-inch disks. Even the FBI used disk cutters in pairs so one could begin recording when the others had used up all their blank disk surface. A much more likely device would have been a wire recorder which despite its limited fidelity could record speech for an hour. These units were not cheap but Dr. Ritter was obviously wealthy. Her Wilcox-Gay recorder had a retail price at that time of about $100.00 and was among the lowest-priced recorders sold.
    • Quotes

      McGraw: Wait. I just happened to think of something. I might have a job you can take a crack at. Course it isn't much and I'm not begging you to take it, but it's a job.

      Stanton Carlisle: That's all I want.

      McGraw: And we'll keep you in coffee and cake. Bottle every day, place to sleep it off in. What do you say? Anyway, it's only temporary, just until we can get a real geek.

      Stanton Carlisle: Geek?

      McGraw: You know what a geek is, don't you?

      Stanton Carlisle: Yeah. Sure, I... I know what a geek is.

      McGraw: Do you think you can handle it?

      Stanton Carlisle: Mister, I was made for it.

    • Connections
      Featured in Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      Sobre las olas (Over the Waves)
      (uncredited)

      Music by Juventino Rosas

      Played during the opening carnival scene

    User reviews157

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    Nightmare Alley
    Nightmare Alley is a remarkable film- it hardly blinks in showing a cynical, scheming "preacher" doing his thing.Given the norms of Hollywood at the time, or almost at any time,it does give you a lot to consider.Tyrone Power is brilliant, and the movie is actually quite close to the powerful (hard to find!) novel.In the best tradition of a movie that examines the dark side of society in an effectively muckraking way, it is a rare gem. I found the movie all the more effective for the fact that while Tyrone Power is in a quite uncharacteristic role. It is obvious he is strongly committed to the film and delivers a chilling, scary, thought provoking performance. The glimpses of the brutality of contemporary circus/side show life are in themselves interesting and disquieting. It is a rare film and even rarer book, but really worth the time.
    helpful•68
    12
    • larry-319
    • Dec 21, 2004

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 28, 1947 (United States)
      • United States
      • The Criterion Collection
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • State Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA
    • Production company
      • Twentieth Century Fox
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 50 minutes
      • Black and White

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    Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, and Helen Walker in Nightmare Alley (1947)
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