Directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Tyrone Power, Coleen Gray, Joan Blondell and Helen Walker. Cinematography by Lee Garmes, written by Jules Furthman based on William Lindsay Gresham's novel of the same name ... NIGHTMARE ALLEY.
WARNING SPOILERS!
With as much tea as I am about to spill, there will still be some leaves I'll leave out for you to discover for yourself. Not much, but, enough to steep some more for.
What you're about to read is my rundown/take on one of my favorite films, based on one of my favorite books, starring one of my favorite actors, Tyrone Power in the 1947 film adaptation of the 1946 book of the same name ... NIGHTMARE ALLEY.
Tyrone Power and NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947) definitely fall in the category under which I began and continue my CINEMA COFFEE blog pieces in the first place ... #ForMyMom (if you're new, here's the story behind these.) As Tyrone Power was an actor I discovered through my mom during that point I thought I knew every Classic Film actor from the Golden Age of Hollywood while she was watching his biography on the Biography Channel. Not realizing I was seeing his face (with Loretta Young) in my teens all along! Tyrone Power and I became quickly acquainted as I played catch up to who he was and the films he made, causing him to be one of the earliest actors I began (and have since completed) watching their entire film filmography.
There isn't a Tyrone Power film I haven't seen. I'm quite proud. ONE of our favorite Tyrone Power films ... THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1946). My mom, as did I, would almost melt into the screen when he came onscreen. When he and co-star Gene Tierney are in the study alone together, when he tries to reach in for a kiss, my mom would always exclaim, "he even *looks* like he smells good!" ... Yes. Yes, he did.
My love for him and his films played out nearly every week in the original OLD TIME RADIO-esque inspired shows I'd write and perform for fun with friends, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ... Hollywood: 1930s, '40s and '50s, on my YouTube Channel several years ago. Lucky enough to talk about him in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957) on TCM a few years back across from Robert Osborne. Tyrone Power is a dream conversation. And a dream to watch.
Now, before you go any further, I should explain the spoiler alert. Not only is this a spoiler alert for the film, but really, the book itself. If you've read my CINEMA COFFEE blog pieces before, or follow me on social media, you know my no-spoilers rule. This is an exception to that rule for anyone who has ever been curious about the novel vs. film.
And that's exactly what this is. If you want an essay, a detailed in-depth read on the film, the recent Criterion release of the film is a far superior and more suitable fit for that. Highly recommend.
Now, before you go any further, I should explain the spoiler alert. Not only is this a spoiler alert for the film, but really, the book itself. If you've read my CINEMA COFFEE blog pieces before, or follow me on social media, you know my no-spoilers rule. This is an exception to that rule for anyone who has ever been curious about the novel vs. film.
And that's exactly what this is. If you want an essay, a detailed in-depth read on the film, the recent Criterion release of the film is a far superior and more suitable fit for that. Highly recommend.
Now. Grab your coffee or choice of beverage, we're really about to Gossip, Girl. Here's where I come in ...
BOOK VS. FILM
If you don't know already, I'll tell you, RANDOM HARVEST by James Hilton is one of my favorite books of all time. I'm talking top five, if not in my top two, favorite books ever. I loved the film RANDOM HARVEST so much growing up, it has always stayed with me, closely. Because of my love for the film, I knew I had to read the book one day. When that day came, somewhere around 2010, I couldn't get the pages out of my mind. For a while. A long while. I felt as if I had lived on those pages every page I turned, continuing to live on those pages after I went away. It never left me. I still think about those pages and live in them often.
Much like "Charles" in RANDOM HARVEST, book vs. film, Stan is relatively young in the book (NIGHTMARE ALLEY) vs. Tyrone Power when he made the film (but who cares when it's Tyrone Power?!). In the book when we meet Stan, he's only 21, and he's blonde (not a deal breaker ... It's Tyrone Power!!), and while Stan does age a bit in the book, again, more like RANDOM HARVEST, he's so young when we meet him, as the years go by, he's still, in loose terms, young, in years than experience. Stan is described as a looker, which he is, and he knows it. He uses this as much to his advantage in his ability to get people to believe what he's saying than he uses his words to manipulate them.
As for the rest of the read ... Whew! Wow! Whoa ...
BOOK VS. FILM
If you don't know already, I'll tell you, RANDOM HARVEST by James Hilton is one of my favorite books of all time. I'm talking top five, if not in my top two, favorite books ever. I loved the film RANDOM HARVEST so much growing up, it has always stayed with me, closely. Because of my love for the film, I knew I had to read the book one day. When that day came, somewhere around 2010, I couldn't get the pages out of my mind. For a while. A long while. I felt as if I had lived on those pages every page I turned, continuing to live on those pages after I went away. It never left me. I still think about those pages and live in them often.
Much like "Charles" in RANDOM HARVEST, book vs. film, Stan is relatively young in the book (NIGHTMARE ALLEY) vs. Tyrone Power when he made the film (but who cares when it's Tyrone Power?!). In the book when we meet Stan, he's only 21, and he's blonde (not a deal breaker ... It's Tyrone Power!!), and while Stan does age a bit in the book, again, more like RANDOM HARVEST, he's so young when we meet him, as the years go by, he's still, in loose terms, young, in years than experience. Stan is described as a looker, which he is, and he knows it. He uses this as much to his advantage in his ability to get people to believe what he's saying than he uses his words to manipulate them.
As for the rest of the read ... Whew! Wow! Whoa ...
The book **as a whole** will seem familiar in the 1947 adapt, as in, you'd recognize certain scenes as what they are in the book on-screen, even as far as some dialogue straight from the book itself.
MEET THE PLAYERS
As for Stan ... umm ... He's got some issues. I mean ... issues. I mean ... ISSUES. It's a very adult book in language and subject, but not without being compelling in its storytelling. The book, really, plays out like a film. I mean, imo (in my opinion), it's written as if there was a script in mind. As if it were a visual film for the imagination as the pages turn. It's a heavy but worth the results read.
We spend more time with Stan, Molly, Lilith and Zeena. We get to visit their backstories by being allowed inside why they are the way they are. In short, we are involved with seeing the process of how they shape up as the people they are to us in the film—through their backstories—moving fluently with the book. Personally, in the film, I appreciate how their flashbacks/backstories do not get in the way of the movement and the momentum of the storyline. In other words, it still pushes the story ahead. It propels the story forward. Does that make sense??
As for Stan ... umm ... He's got some issues. I mean ... issues. I mean ... ISSUES. It's a very adult book in language and subject, but not without being compelling in its storytelling. The book, really, plays out like a film. I mean, imo (in my opinion), it's written as if there was a script in mind. As if it were a visual film for the imagination as the pages turn. It's a heavy but worth the results read.
We spend more time with Stan, Molly, Lilith and Zeena. We get to visit their backstories by being allowed inside why they are the way they are. In short, we are involved with seeing the process of how they shape up as the people they are to us in the film—through their backstories—moving fluently with the book. Personally, in the film, I appreciate how their flashbacks/backstories do not get in the way of the movement and the momentum of the storyline. In other words, it still pushes the story ahead. It propels the story forward. Does that make sense??
Loving the film as is—no, really—and as trusted in the hands we are with the new upcoming adaption with Guillermo del Toro, I take NIGHTMARE ALLEY film and book personally. As if I wrote and directed both the novel and film. But one of the best parts of the book I enjoyed was getting to know Molly better.
In the book, again, imo, she is more dimensional. Not to take away from her character or Coleen Gray's performance in the film, while reading the book, you'll see how perfect she is in the role of the character. Coleen's "Molly" is pretty accurate. She's meek and eager to please Stan, thinking he's really in love with her and that one day they will get married. But we see Stan is just stringing her along for "one more job and then we'll be in the big time." But, in the book, we're allowed inside Molly's life prior to the carnival show, her upbringing, and how she got into the traveling carnival.
In the book, again, imo, she is more dimensional. Not to take away from her character or Coleen Gray's performance in the film, while reading the book, you'll see how perfect she is in the role of the character. Coleen's "Molly" is pretty accurate. She's meek and eager to please Stan, thinking he's really in love with her and that one day they will get married. But we see Stan is just stringing her along for "one more job and then we'll be in the big time." But, in the book, we're allowed inside Molly's life prior to the carnival show, her upbringing, and how she got into the traveling carnival.
This happens when the father comes in. Whom we are introduced to before he dies during Molly's youth. The father was someone Molly was very close to. So close, she sees her father ... ahem ... "playing house" with a woman when the dad nor the woman had any idea she was in the room. At Molly's age, during the time this happens, she doesn't know what's going on and thinks they're ... um ... "exercising", is funny, and starts laughing ... and that stops that.
Discovering Molly in the room, the dad treats the situation (such as it is) with as much calmness as he can, though embarrassed, resulting in Molly leaving the room. As paragraphs pass on, her dad dies, leaving Molly without any direction to turn, and is thus how she gets taken in under Zeena's wing (which is sort of a long story about how this happens). |
Zeena, we get to see a little more into her life and marriage to Pete. But it's Stan ... Stan is ... Stan is ... Did I tell you Stan has issues?
WE NEED A RESOLUTION
WE NEED A RESOLUTION
We meet Stan much as we do in the film. And, with all the lines you don't really have to read through in the film, Stan sleeps with Zeena, one because he's never slept with a woman before and has always wanted to, but, in his words (not verbatim), whenever he's "about to start" it doesn't feel right, and he backs out of it.
Enters this inner struggle he has with Zeena. Stan wants her both as a woman—just to settle his own personal score—and also, most importantly than anything else to him, to get the code from her. And in the book, as opposed to the film, Zeena is not bent out of shape when she finds out Stan is sleeping with Molly. Yep. He sleeps with Molly (as we know in the film, no matter what they do not say directly). Not all that surprising, in the book, they don't get married afterward ... film code 'n' all, ya know.
As the pages continue to turn (it is a page-turner), we more or less see, hear and read Stan's thoughts. It is his thoughts we spend company with most during the read. In those thoughts, when his eyes fall upon Molly up close or from a distance, we see, hear, and know Stan's attraction to Molly, and after his affair with Zeena, he realizes his mind has really been fixed on Molly subconsciously all along ... But, once he's slept with her, Molly, it really boils down to it being good for business. He himself wants to leave "the carny" and branch out on his own into "the big time," which he does, and soon, stringing Molly along with him, for him means hustling rich people out of their "dough."
Enters this inner struggle he has with Zeena. Stan wants her both as a woman—just to settle his own personal score—and also, most importantly than anything else to him, to get the code from her. And in the book, as opposed to the film, Zeena is not bent out of shape when she finds out Stan is sleeping with Molly. Yep. He sleeps with Molly (as we know in the film, no matter what they do not say directly). Not all that surprising, in the book, they don't get married afterward ... film code 'n' all, ya know.
As the pages continue to turn (it is a page-turner), we more or less see, hear and read Stan's thoughts. It is his thoughts we spend company with most during the read. In those thoughts, when his eyes fall upon Molly up close or from a distance, we see, hear, and know Stan's attraction to Molly, and after his affair with Zeena, he realizes his mind has really been fixed on Molly subconsciously all along ... But, once he's slept with her, Molly, it really boils down to it being good for business. He himself wants to leave "the carny" and branch out on his own into "the big time," which he does, and soon, stringing Molly along with him, for him means hustling rich people out of their "dough."
We quickly learn, in Stan's mind, no one in the world is on the up-n-up, no one can be trusted, and everyone can be conned or tricked. He trusts no one and feels he is superior to everyone. Because, to Stan's mind, only he knows the score. He resents everyone he comes in contact with, going into detail in his mind about how little everyone else is.
The issues that Stan has, we'll get to momentarily, are issues that he has carried with him throughout his life that's built up, causing it to grow until he's cynical about everyone and everything. |
THE MIND GAME
With the amount of time we spend in Stan's personal thoughts, what he thinks about people he comes in contact with, particularly those who want to contact their loved ones who have passed on, seeking him as the "go between" medium as "advertised" (eventually leading up to Stan getting a preaching license so he can "technically" pass himself off as and present himself as a preacher), we hear what he really thinks of those who believe in religion or gospel or God.
To Stan, it's all a mind game, and he's the only one who knows how to play ... Until he meets Lilith, who really is Stan's equal, who really meets Stan toe-to-toe ... and he likes it.
LILITH COMETH
With the amount of time we spend in Stan's personal thoughts, what he thinks about people he comes in contact with, particularly those who want to contact their loved ones who have passed on, seeking him as the "go between" medium as "advertised" (eventually leading up to Stan getting a preaching license so he can "technically" pass himself off as and present himself as a preacher), we hear what he really thinks of those who believe in religion or gospel or God.
To Stan, it's all a mind game, and he's the only one who knows how to play ... Until he meets Lilith, who really is Stan's equal, who really meets Stan toe-to-toe ... and he likes it.
LILITH COMETH
How Stan meets Lilith is a bit different in the book, as he's seeking professional treatment for the thoughts that cloud his mind (and it's no wonder with the mind we are revealed to living inside Stan!). With Lilith, it's almost as if, for the first time, there is someone who is not only matched with him in his coldness—She succeeds it. She's even more manipulative, more ruthless, more devious than Stan. Without consequence.
Lilith, who too is revealed more in the book, though, through her own dialogue than in flashback, we find had a rough upbringing, as she retells the story to Stan one night, of how a gang of boys cornered her in her younger years "having their way with her" one boy at a time over and over again. That's hard to read. She's very distant and cold about it. As if she has no feelings about it whatsoever. (I couldn't possibly imagine what she must've gone through emotionally. Really hard to read.)
Lilith, who too is revealed more in the book, though, through her own dialogue than in flashback, we find had a rough upbringing, as she retells the story to Stan one night, of how a gang of boys cornered her in her younger years "having their way with her" one boy at a time over and over again. That's hard to read. She's very distant and cold about it. As if she has no feelings about it whatsoever. (I couldn't possibly imagine what she must've gone through emotionally. Really hard to read.)
Lilith's ruthlessness, her coldness, the depths in which it runs, Stan doesn't realize until, like the film, his last séance goes wrong, which sort of plays out the same way in the book as it does in the film. Except ... where Molly's concerned, as we find her naked when pretending to be Grindle's lost love comes back from the other side to him (we find out in the book that Grindle's lost love died during a back-alley abortion when they were younger).
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When he (Grindle) gets too close to Molly, grabbing onto her in desperation, regret, raw emotions, and as Stan puts it "for a piece of ---," Molly wants out and screams for Stan to help get him off her.
And it is important to know and take note that this whole Rev. Carlisle business Stan has set up, Molly starts to see through as time passes. Never quite comfortable with what they are doing, she begins to learn the routine of Stan's constant talk of "one more job," which edges her to be more vocal about her disapproval of what they are doing when Stan starts conning people into believing they're talking to a loved one from the other side because she knows what that is like from experience. Longing for her—and missing her dad—she doesn't think toying with someone about that is right.
And it is important to know and take note that this whole Rev. Carlisle business Stan has set up, Molly starts to see through as time passes. Never quite comfortable with what they are doing, she begins to learn the routine of Stan's constant talk of "one more job," which edges her to be more vocal about her disapproval of what they are doing when Stan starts conning people into believing they're talking to a loved one from the other side because she knows what that is like from experience. Longing for her—and missing her dad—she doesn't think toying with someone about that is right.
During this final "ghost trip" gone wrong with Grindle, while Stan wrestles Grindle's grasp away from Molly, he knocks them both out, Molly and Grindle, and hightails it out of there while they're passed out, straight to Lilith, who, after Stan tells her what happened, as in the film, throws everything back on Stan, recalling everything that's transpired between her and Stan (yes, they slept together ... And Stan was *hooked* on Lilith), as an occurrence that happened in his mind only because of his mother fixation ... Wait. Did we talk about the mother?
To make a long story short, Lilith, who is privileged to know behind the curtain of Stan's relationship with both his mother and father, who, to Stan's own account, and we are an audience to when his backstory unfolds, fought ... a lot. As Stan's father was aware of the man his wife, Stan's mother was having an affair with. A man Stan believed to be a family friend until he discovers his mom having her affair in the woods with her lover ... and watches them ... the entire time. And, according to Lilith, not the same way Molly saw her father, but, in jealousy, as Stan wanted to be the man his mother was with ... that Stan was using his affair with her, Lilith, as a representation of his mother, seeing his mother while with Lilith sexually ... I almost dropped the book! WHAT THE -----?!?!?!? STAN. HAS. ISSUES!
Back up to date, after the bundle with Grindle and the threat from Lilith if Stan tries to tie her into any scandal should he get caught, Stan really goes out of his head.
He becomes a hobo, and the voice he hears grows louder, eventually landing him in trouble with the law, as, before you know it, he's killed a man ... Bringing the book full circle as his life's journey of circumstances lands him right to Zeena again years later, down the road. |
FILM VS. BOOK
Zeena's remarried and we even get to spend a chapter with Molly, who does finally get married and has a baby (Stan never sees Molly again after the night with Grindle).
Zeena and her husband give Stan a place to stay for a day, and they more or less reconcile about what actually happened to Pete, as Zeena tells Stan she knew the truth about the bottle Stan gave Pete after it all quieted down, she searched her mind over and it revealed itself to her. She knew Stan killed Pete. But tells him it's so long ago, she doesn't hold a grudge over it yet, in a sympathetic way, he can't stay there, he can't stay with them, he had to get out of town, in case the cops come looking for him.
The hubs and Zeena see Stan off to the station, separately from Stan and from a distance. They don't want to take any chances of being caught as an accessory if Stan is caught, talking amongst themselves as they watch Stan board the train, in hopes he's able to clean his life up.
But, waiting for us in the final pages, again, much like the reveal in RANDOM HARVEST, we don't find out Stan's become a "geek" until the very last page, the very last line, to the end of the book.
Zeena's remarried and we even get to spend a chapter with Molly, who does finally get married and has a baby (Stan never sees Molly again after the night with Grindle).
Zeena and her husband give Stan a place to stay for a day, and they more or less reconcile about what actually happened to Pete, as Zeena tells Stan she knew the truth about the bottle Stan gave Pete after it all quieted down, she searched her mind over and it revealed itself to her. She knew Stan killed Pete. But tells him it's so long ago, she doesn't hold a grudge over it yet, in a sympathetic way, he can't stay there, he can't stay with them, he had to get out of town, in case the cops come looking for him.
The hubs and Zeena see Stan off to the station, separately from Stan and from a distance. They don't want to take any chances of being caught as an accessory if Stan is caught, talking amongst themselves as they watch Stan board the train, in hopes he's able to clean his life up.
But, waiting for us in the final pages, again, much like the reveal in RANDOM HARVEST, we don't find out Stan's become a "geek" until the very last page, the very last line, to the end of the book.
CONCLUSION
I mean, the book ... is incredible. It is an absolute must read. Even if, like I, you find it hard to imagine anyone else as Stan than Tyrone Power.
To be fair, being so attached to the film, it was hard for me to cast anyone else in my mind as I read along. Tyrone Power really makes this role. From my opera glasses, I don't think anyone else at that time could've done it quite like Ty.
With such a highly recommended read (providing this at all made sense) I hope you'll find the time to read book and watch the film. With a large pot of coffee.
(For those tuning in to the #SummerUnderTheStars lineup on #TCM, find my recommends, including for #TyronePower's day, August 22nd, 2021 here!)
Until then, À Bientôt!
I mean, the book ... is incredible. It is an absolute must read. Even if, like I, you find it hard to imagine anyone else as Stan than Tyrone Power.
To be fair, being so attached to the film, it was hard for me to cast anyone else in my mind as I read along. Tyrone Power really makes this role. From my opera glasses, I don't think anyone else at that time could've done it quite like Ty.
With such a highly recommended read (providing this at all made sense) I hope you'll find the time to read book and watch the film. With a large pot of coffee.
(For those tuning in to the #SummerUnderTheStars lineup on #TCM, find my recommends, including for #TyronePower's day, August 22nd, 2021 here!)
Until then, À Bientôt!
For my other CINEMA COFFEE blog pieces:
#ForMyMom Cinema Coffee ... | COFFEE CINEMA: Talking Streetcar | CINEMA COFFEE: "Et tu, Brute?" | CINEMA COFFEE: "La Chocolaterie" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Milk? I loathe milk!" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Elderberry Wine ..." | CINEMA COFFEE: "The choice I never had ..." | CINEMA COFFEE: "The smell of Mimosa" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Mighty like a Rose" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Don't cry on the rolls" | CINEMA COFFEE: "You're the first Kansas I ever met" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Everybody calls me Gracie" | CINEMA COFFEE: "What the devil are Belinskis?!" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Hello friends and enemies." | CINEMA COFFEE: "Stop remindin' me of heaven." | CINEMA COFFEE: "Even Gatsby could happen" | CINEMA COFFEE: "I made a wish" | CINEMA COFFEE: Audie Murphy | CINEMA COFFEE: Put The Blame on Mame | CINEMA COFFEE: "Just Singleton." | CINEMA COFFEE: "Where I Come From, Nobody Knows" | Film Therapy: Coping through Cinema | CINEMA COFFEE: Socks fall down | CINEMA COFFEE: "The moon's reaching for me" | CINEMA COFFEE: The Horne: Luso World Cinema Blogathon | CINEMA COFFEE: Aunt Bettye Lightsy | CINEMA COFFEE: I never lose | CINEMA COFFEE: "I have a mother!" | CINEMA COFFEE: THE SIGN OF GEMINI | CINEMA COFFEE: Venus Rising | CINEMA COFFEE: Stan vs Geek | CINEMA COFFEE: "Positively the same dame"
#ForMyMom Cinema Coffee ... | COFFEE CINEMA: Talking Streetcar | CINEMA COFFEE: "Et tu, Brute?" | CINEMA COFFEE: "La Chocolaterie" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Milk? I loathe milk!" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Elderberry Wine ..." | CINEMA COFFEE: "The choice I never had ..." | CINEMA COFFEE: "The smell of Mimosa" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Mighty like a Rose" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Don't cry on the rolls" | CINEMA COFFEE: "You're the first Kansas I ever met" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Everybody calls me Gracie" | CINEMA COFFEE: "What the devil are Belinskis?!" | CINEMA COFFEE: "Hello friends and enemies." | CINEMA COFFEE: "Stop remindin' me of heaven." | CINEMA COFFEE: "Even Gatsby could happen" | CINEMA COFFEE: "I made a wish" | CINEMA COFFEE: Audie Murphy | CINEMA COFFEE: Put The Blame on Mame | CINEMA COFFEE: "Just Singleton." | CINEMA COFFEE: "Where I Come From, Nobody Knows" | Film Therapy: Coping through Cinema | CINEMA COFFEE: Socks fall down | CINEMA COFFEE: "The moon's reaching for me" | CINEMA COFFEE: The Horne: Luso World Cinema Blogathon | CINEMA COFFEE: Aunt Bettye Lightsy | CINEMA COFFEE: I never lose | CINEMA COFFEE: "I have a mother!" | CINEMA COFFEE: THE SIGN OF GEMINI | CINEMA COFFEE: Venus Rising | CINEMA COFFEE: Stan vs Geek | CINEMA COFFEE: "Positively the same dame"