A terrific, star-studded film noir morality play that once represented the best of what Hollywood offered on the regular.
With a nationwide sneak preview tonight and a full-on theatrical debut beginning Thursday night at 6:00 pm, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley is very much a filmmaker in mastery of the sandbox of his choosing, using fortune and glory to craft a deeply old-fashioned star-driven potboiler. The film is a remake of a Tyrone Power-starring film noir, faithful in broad narrative strokes but its own thing (or at least its own adaption of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel) thanks to plenty of spit and polish. Whether or not it deserves or receives awards season love or Oscar nominations, it’s a fine example of the high-end, high-quality Hollywood product we’d get slightly more regularly if audiences actually showed up. Set in the 1940’s, Nightmare Alley concerns an ambitious carny (Bradley Cooper) who ends up within a traveling circus. Stan works for the clairvoyant (Toni Collette) and her alcoholic husband (David Strathairn) and eventually takes a liking to young(er) Molly (Rooney Mara) whose gimmick is electrocuting herself. One complication leads to another over the film’s slow-burn and richly atmospheric first act, with Stan and Molly eloping together to put their skills in mimicking clairvoyance to better use among higher-class clientele.
