#308: Carnival Games, Pt. 1 — Nightmare Alley (1947)

The Next Picture Show

Telegraph Road Productions

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Film History

4.6 • 819 Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guillermo del Toro has emphasized that his new NIGHTMARE ALLEY is not a remake of Edmund Goulding’s 1947 noir of the same name, but rather an attempt to more faithfully adapt the 1946 novel by author William Lindsay Gresham, about a carnival con artist who expands his hustle into spiritualism and subsequently opens himself up to disaster. Nonetheless, this week in preparation of our discussion of del Toro’s NIGHTMARE we’re taking a deeper look at Goulding’s, with an assist from our friend and critic Noel Murray, to see how it follows and diverts from the noir tradition, particularly in its trio of distinctive female characters and performances, and how the morality of its tacked-on ending undercuts its deeper themes. Plus, our recent episode on THE POWER OF THE DOG has inspired a lot of feedback, which we begin digging into with some thoughts on its Hitchcockian and literary connections. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about either version of NIGHTMARE ALLEY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Outro music: “Carnival Games” by Nelly Furtado Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Being a marketer is no sweat.
0:02.0	You just have to manage dozens of channels, launch hundreds of campaigns, score thousands of leads and...
0:06.0	Okay, fine. It's a lot of sweat.
0:08.0	Unless you have HubSpot's AI-powered marketing tools to help you do all that and more.
0:12.0	Get started at HubSpot.com slash marketers.
0:15.0	Do we really need another computer?
0:17.0	One that's faster. More powerful. Not everyone does.
0:20.0	But to reinvent music using a neural
0:22.1	processor, work off the grid with all-day battery, or bring your vision to life with AI-powered
0:26.8	co-creator, then a copilot plus PC can make a difference. A powerful AI computer is not for everyone.
0:33.3	But if you're trying to change the world, even if just your own, we built one for you. Microsoft Copilot Plus PCs powered by Snapchat, the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever.
0:43.2	Bachelor life varies with you switching settings.
0:45.1	Hello, Next Picture Show listeners. Here's a friendly reminder that if you enjoy the Next
0:48.9	Picture Show, you'll really enjoy getting more Next Picture Show by subscribing to our Patreon.
0:53.2	You can get our weekly newsletter for $3 a month and unlock bonus episodes for $5 a month. You also get access to
0:58.8	add free versions of the podcast. To subscribe to our Patreon, please visit patreon.com slash
1:04.1	Next Picture Show.
1:06.5	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
1:10.4	You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
1:17.1	We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.
1:24.2	Welcome to The Next Picture Show, a movie The Week podcast devoted to a classic film and how it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
1:30.6	I'm Tasha Robinson, here with Scott Tobias.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Telegraph Road Productions, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Telegraph Road Productions and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.