Runtime: 112 minutes
Directed by: Edmund Goulding
Starring: Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker, Taylor Holmes
From: 20th Century Fox
I'd love to have a soda pop with Coleen Gray.
While I don't officially participate in noirvember, I always enjoy watching genre efforts once in awhile and a few times in November I play on watching some film noir. As the novel this is based on is also the source material for del Toro's movie coming out next month, this was the opportune time to discuss this famous effort.
In a carnival setting, Tyrone Power has the power to manipulate and pray on people w/ the power of speech... which is perfect for that universe. He ingratiates himself w/ Joan Blondell, who was a mentalist that does such stage acts as reading minds and seeing while blindfolded which of course is cleverly staged. Power also exploits-knowingly or not-his fellow co-workers, including Coleen Gray. As traveling carnivals like the one portrayed here are a thing of a past, it will never not be fascinating to see this unique world portrayed here. Of course there are still county fairs and random events which have rides, games, and food stands... however, they don't have the “sideshow freaks” or other elements that are really seedy. As that world is filled with bizarre people & misfits, no wonder it is so intriguing to my sensibilities. In particular, this show had a “geek” who did bad things to chickens-also, no wonder a police officer tried shutting down the carnival in one scene.
But only part of the movie is set in that world. I won't reveal where else the story leads except that it leads to several surprises & you realize the entire picture is devoted to deception and various people trying to take advantage of others-some are very slick in it and even the con men can be conned sometimes. Things can get rather dark, even by noir standards. Besides a different sort of story that touches on a variety of topics, the main cast all delivers, from Power, Blondell and Gray to Helen Walker as a psychiatrist. Even w/ an ending that was clearly modified from whatever was in the novel due to the Hays Code, this is a different noir from the usual which is well worth seeing if you are a genre fan. Now I am quite interested in seeing what del Toro does with this material-it could be something even better than what was seen by myself last night.
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