36. Nightmare Alley; movie review

 

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Cert 15

150 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, injury detail, language

Tyrone Power was one of the great swashbuckling matinee heroes of the 1930s and 40s and was one of the regulars of the Sunday afternoon TV movies by the time I was a child.

His unfeasible good looks made him an unlikely choice for the 1947 movie Nightmare Alley, based on William Lindsay Gresham's novel.

It is a film which trawled the sleazy world of the old-style carnivals and he played conman Stan Carlisle who saw an opportunity in fleecing punters with a fake psychic show.

Move on to 2022 and one of Hollywood's most handsome men, Bradley Cooper, follows in the footsteps of Power in Guillermo del Toro's re-crafting of Nightmare Alley.

Cooper excels as a vagabond who is first seen burning a dead body before arriving at an old fashioned carnival/freak show in search of work.

Its owners don't care about dubious backgrounds, so he takes some labouring from the strongman (Ron Perlman) before being offered a more permanent job by the carnival's boss (Willem Dafoe).

The latter's star attraction is what he calls a geek - a man who is locked in a cage and then eats live chickens when they are thrown into a pit.

Cooper's Carlisle is appalled at how low this apparently half-human has become but puts the thought to the back of his mind when he sees possibilities thrown up by two con artists (David Strathairn and Toni Collette).

They teach him how to 'play' a crowd and his burgeoning ambition reels in another carnival performer (Rooney Mara) and an intriguing psychotherapist (Cate Blanchett).

The stars keep on coming with Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen emerging as Carlisle moves to his next decisive chapter.

Guillermo del Toro's movie is very fast-moving. Blink and a key piece of its complex jigsaw may be missed.

Its 1940s sets look great and it feels as edgy as the noir movies of that decade.

But it is also slightly too smart for its own good. Characters are introduced at dizzying speed and then disappear almost as quickly.

Nevertheless, Cooper and Blanchett are worth the entry fee alone. Who knows, they might have a chance in award season.

Reasons to watch: Stand-out from Bradley Cooper

Reasons to avoid: Complex story structure

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? An entire working carnival was built on the Twentieth Century Fox backlot just for shooting scenes for Nightmare Alley's 1947 original.

The final word. Guillermo del Toro: "We went to Leo DiCaprio who was attached for a little bit. And then when we went to Bradley, immediately after, we had to change the screenplay and adjust it to him. It’s almost like tailoring a suit. We had to change the character to suit the person playing it." The Playlist

 

Share this post