Nightmare Alley - Film Noir And The American Dream

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Nightmare Alley - Film Noir And The American Dream Page 46

by Mark Osteen


  Meyer, Leonard, 128

  Meyerowitz, Joanne, 186

  Mijolla, Alain de, 22

  Miklitsch, Robert, 275n25

  Mildred Pierce, 188–91, 216, 280nn7–10

  Milestone, Lewis, 228, 285–86n3, 286n7, 287n22

  Millet, Jean-Francois, 127–28, 274n22

  Mills, Katie, 134

  Minturn, Kent, 272–73n1, 274n21

  mirrors, 62, 96, 116, 117, 119, 125

  mise-en-scène, 31, 189, 234, 256, 285n51

  mistaken identity. See switched-identity films

  Mitchell, David T., 77, 78, 270n5

  Mitchum, Robert, 54, 85

  mobility, 3, 15, 47, 140

  automobiles and, 134, 137, 142, 143, 144

  class, 2, 58, 62

  and identity, 20

  social, 3, 4, 12, 16, 141, 189. See also upward mobility

  modernist art, 127, 274n23

  modernity, 3, 4–5, 14, 150–51

  Moffat, Kathie, 185

  money, 62, 170–71, 260

  Monroe, Marilyn, 241

  Moorehead, Agnes, 66, 208

  More Than Night (Naremore), 14

  motherhood, 17, 149, 186, 187–88, 191, 214

  Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPAPAI), 222, 228, 287n20

  Motion Picture Association of America, 222

  Munby, Jonathan, 236, 288–89n32

  Murder, My Sweet, 77, 266n26, 275n1

  Murray, Albert, 173

  music: in The Big Combo, 174–75

  in Black Angel, 166, 278n17

  blues, 156–58, 160, 167, 177, 179, 182

  crime jazz scoring, 174, 279n29

  and flashbacks, 161–62

  inaudibility of, 154, 276n2

  and memory, 163, 169

  in Nightmare, 167

  in Nocturne, 163–64

  swing, 156, 158, 174, 178, 277n7. See also jazz

  My Name Is Julia Ross, 48, 58–60, 267nn6–9

  Nadelson, Theodore, 88, 99, 101

  Naked City, 226–27, 287n16

  Naremore, James, 13, 14, 224, 291n2

  Navasky, Victor, 223, 224

  Neale, Steve, 12, 187, 264n11

  negative footage, 19, 264n1

  Nelson, Ralph, 196

  Ness, Richard, 110

  Neve, Bria, 287–88n23

  Nichols, Dudley, 122

  Night Holds Terror, The, 147–48

  Nightmare, 167–68, 278n19

  Nightmare Alley, 1, 6–10, 249, 263–64nn2–6

  on identity and mobility, 11, 15

  nightmares. See dreams

  Night Shift (Wolff), 180

  Nocturne, 163–65, 191, 278n16

  No Man of Her Own, 48, 60–65, 267–68nn11–20

  and censors, 64, 268n19

  source novel for, 61, 62, 64, 268n13, 268n17

  Norden, Martin, 270n1

  Notorious, 13

  Not Wanted, 214, 277–78n15, 285nn48–49

  objectivity, 16, 107

  O’Brien, Edmond, 50, 146, 149, 160, 216

  Odds against Tomorrow, 172–74, 278–79nn24–28, 289n39

  O’Donnell, Cathy, 81, 138, 138

  oedipal complex, 24, 25–26, 27, 28, 263n3

  Oliver, Kelly, 14, 264n2

  Ophuls, Max, 211, 284n42

  organized crime, 220, 234–35, 240–41, 289–90nn41–42

  originality, 106, 107, 127

  and forgery, 107, 127–28, 129–30, 131

  Ornitz, Samuel, 286n7

  Orr, John, 3

  Osborne, Robert, 267n9

  outlaw road movies, 135

  Out of the Past, 5, 48, 54–58, 77, 266n26, 267nn4–5

  Outrage, 203–4, 283nn35–36

  Pagano, Jo, 180, 250, 279n36

  Painter’s Daughters, The, 130, 275n28

  Palmer, R. Barton, 207, 283n37

  Parker, Eleanor, 207, 209

  Parker, Francine, 215

  Parks, Larry, 286n7

  Parsonnet, Marion, 193

  past, 20, 37, 48, 105, 259

  and future, 94

  and present, 5

  patriarchy, 17, 204, 205

  Patrick, Jack, 287n21

  Paxton, John, 84, 86

  Peck, Gregory, 37, 266n21

  Pegler, Westbrook, 290n48

  Pelizzon, V. Penelope, 72, 73, 74, 269n26

  Perry, Eleanor, 188

  Petrified Forest, The, 25

  Pevney, Joseph, 164, 227, 231

  Phantom Lady, 159, 171, 192, 271n20, 272–73n1, 277nn9–12, 281n12

  photography, 9, 82, 139

  and cinema, 73, 76

  Piano in the Band (Curran), 276–77n4

  picaro figure, 143, 276n11

  Pichel, Irving, 286n4, 286n7

  Planer, Franz, 31

  Polan, Dana, 65, 69, 268n21

  Polonsky, Abraham, 17, 220, 289n34

  blacklisting and wiretapping of, 224, 238, 289n35

  and Body and Soul, 231, 234, 288n26, 288n30

  and Force of Evil, 234, 238, 289nn35–36

  and Odds Against Tomorrow, 278n24, 278–79n27

  Popular Front, 87, 221, 271n15, 276–77n4

  Porfirio, Robert, 159, 160

  portraiture films, 4, 16, 106, 131, 261, 272–73n1

  La chienne, 106, 116, 119–22, 126, 274n17

  The Dark Corner, 106, 113–15, 273nn9–11

  I Wake Up Screaming, 106, 107–9, 115

  Laura, 106, 109–12, 273nn3–8

  Scarlet Street, 106, 116, 122–26, 274nn19–20

  Vicki, 115–16, 274n13

  The Woman in the Window, 36, 106, 116–19, 266n19, 274nn14–18

  Possessed, 205–7, 283–84nn37–39

  Postman Always Rings Twice, The, 133

  posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 33, 170, 272n32, 279n38

  in vet noir films, 79, 82, 85–86, 88, 89, 90, 98

  postwar period, 20, 82, 135, 217–18

  anxieties of, 12, 13, 78, 97

  and automobiles, 133–34, 152

  and identity, 4, 5, 97

  and jazz, 12, 154, 155, 158, 163

  and memory, 104, 105

  paranoid atmosphere of, 97, 221, 226

  Preminger, Otto, 110, 174, 273n8, 274n14

  press. See media

  Prime, Rebecca, 226

  prison, 75, 136, 207–10, 211

  Prowler, The, 239–40, 255–60, 291nn5–6

  American Dream in, 221, 249–50

  psychiatrists and psychiatry, 6, 11, 22, 23, 202, 211

  and patients’ agency, 98, 205

  psychoanalysis, 2, 5, 73–74

  and detective work, 22, 39, 264n5

  in dream films, 21, 22, 24, 25, 37, 38, 41, 42, 266n25, 266nn21–22

  in femme noir films, 206–7, 284n39

  in Nightmare Alley, 8, 9, 10

  Public Enemy, The, 4

  pursuit of happiness, 1, 3, 5, 48, 76, 107, 260

  and American Dream, 2, 17

  and consumerism, 6, 249

  Quart, Barbara Koenig, 215

  Raft, George, 164, 165

  Railroaded!, 281n18

  Raines, Ella, 34, 159, 192

  Rainey, Ma, 180

  Raksin, David, 110, 174, 289n36

  rape, 201, 202–4, 282–83n28

  Raphael, 273n10

  Ray, Nicholas, 137

  Reagan, Ronald, 222

  realism, 80, 225, 231

  reality, 33

  and representation, 107, 108, 131

  redemption, 20, 47, 211

  returning veterans and, 95, 96, 97, 99

  “red noir,” 224–25, 247, 249

  Body and Soul, 5, 220, 231–34, 249, 288nn24–30

  Brute Force, 225–26, 287n15

  Force of Evil, 220, 234–39, 249, 288–89nn32–36

  Naked City, 226–27, 287n16

  The Prowler, 221, 239–40, 249–50, 255–60, 291nn5–6

  The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, 220, 228–31, 287–88nn
20–23

  Thieves’ Highway, 220, 227–28, 287nn17–19

  Try and Get Me!, 221, 239–40, 250–55, 291nn2–4

  The Underworld Story, 221, 245–47, 249, 290n46, 290nn49–50

  red scare and witch hunt, 11, 100, 222, 240, 286n10

  fight against, 222–23, 244–45, 255

  mass media and, 224, 245, 290n48

  paranoid atmosphere during, 12, 97, 221, 226. See also blacklist

  reenactment, 79, 80, 162

  in vet noir films, 88, 99, 102, 103–4

  Reis, Irving, 129

  religion, 5, 8, 10

  Renoir, Jean, 106, 119, 120

  Renov, Michael, 186

  representation, 16, 106–7, 124

  and reality, 107, 108, 131

  Reville, Alma, 191

  Richards, Robert, 97, 101, 272n30

  Richards, Silvia, 188, 205, 210, 272n30, 283n37

  and HUAC, 223

  Ride the Pink Horse, 77, 88, 90–92, 191, 271nn19–21

  Ringel, Shoshana, 264n5

  Ripley, Arthur, 31

  Rivkin, Allen, 283n29, 283n34

  Road House, 181–84

  Roberts, Allan, 281n16

  Roberts, Bob, 231

  Roberts, Marguerite, 188

  Roberts Production, 231

  Robert Stillman Productions, 250

  Robinson, Edward G., 106, 116, 117, 132, 167

  Rogers, Shorty, 174, 279n29

  Romm, May E., 266n21

  Rooney, Mickey, 170, 171

  Ross, Barney, 288n26

  Rossen, Robert, 17, 156, 220, 228, 231, 285n3, 288n30

  and HUAC, 223, 286n7

  Rothberg, Michael, 80

  Rudolph, Eleanor, 163

  Rugolo, Pete, 174

  Russell, Harold, 270n1

  Ruthven, K. K., 120

  Ryan, Robert, 84, 85, 100, 172, 211, 213, 288n27

  Sagoff, Mark, 128

  Salt, Waldo, 286n7

  Santos, Marlisa, 43, 49–50, 59, 72, 93, 94

  Scarface, 4

  Scarlet Street, 106, 116, 122–26, 274nn19–20

  Scheib, Ronnie, 204, 283n36, 285n54

  Schoenfeld, Bernard, 284n41

  Schwartz, Hillel, 124, 130

  Scott, Adrian, 84, 86, 271n15, 285–86n3, 286n7

  Scott, Lizabeth, 89, 229

  Screen Actors Guild, 222

  Screen Writer, 286n6

  screenwriters: and blacklist, 222, 223, 224, 255

  and control over product, 215, 224, 286n6

  women as, 58, 180, 187, 188, 192, 214

  secrets, 228–29, 230–31

  Seiter, Ellen, 216, 285n55

  Sekely, Steve, 70, 75

  self-division, 53–54, 65–66

  self-reflexivity, 67, 106, 116

  self-reinvention, 3, 5, 37, 48, 69, 123, 249

  after trauma, 80, 261

  and American Dream, 45, 79, 105, 115, 250

  and dreams, 20, 21, 37, 47

  Emerson and Franklin on, 2–3, 47, 92

  noir critique of, 2, 4, 15–16, 20, 47, 76

  in Out of the Past, 54–55, 58

  portraiture films on, 15, 107, 112, 113, 131

  in Spellbound, 38, 39, 42, 43

  vet noir films on, 79, 91–92, 95, 97, 101, 105, 142

  Selznick, David O., 266n27

  Set-Up, The, 231, 288n27

  sexuality: The Accused on, 199, 201

  automobiles and, 135, 137, 140

  female, 169, 197, 199, 201, 203, 214, 217

  Gilda on, 193, 194, 195, 197

  jazz and, 16, 154–55, 159, 160–61, 165, 175, 176, 277n9, 277n11

  marriage and, 193, 195, 203, 217

  Outrage on, 204, 283n36

  Shadoian, Jack, 4, 51, 150, 276n9

  Shane, Maxwell, 167

  Shaw, Artie, 156

  Shell, Marc, 62

  She Wouldn’t Say, 196

  Shockproof, 136, 137

  Simmel, Georg, 228–29, 240–41, 243

  singers, 16–17, 94, 96, 164, 179, 279n35

  in The Man I Love, 179–80

  in Road House, 182–83

  Siodmak, Robert, 34, 37, 50, 159, 160, 200

  Sirk, Douglas, 137

  Smith, Art, 91, 225, 232, 251, 255

  Smith, Bessie, 180

  Snyder, Sharon L., 77, 78, 270n5

  social mobility. See mobility

  social realism, 225, 231

  sodium pentothal, 98, 130, 272n26

  Sokolsky, George, 290n48

  Somewhere in the Night, 78, 79, 92, 93–95, 97, 271–72n23

  sovereignty, 211, 217

  automobiles and, 143, 145

  Soviet Union, 12, 104

  Sparshott, Francis, 124

  Spellbound, 37–44, 63, 266nn23–27

  dream sequence in, 40–43, 266n24

  patronization of women in, 45, 203

  psychoanalysis in, 37, 38, 41, 42, 266nn21–22, 266n25

  Spencer, Nicholas, 13, 273n6

  Spicer, Andrew, 281n17

  Stanfield, Peter, 156, 179

  Stanwyck, Barbara, 60, 132, 189, 199, 268n13

  States, Bert, 22, 41, 265n9

  Stillman, Robert, 253, 290–91n3

  Stone, Andrew, 147

  Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, The, 5, 34–37, 191, 266n19, 274n15

  dream sequence in, 34, 36–37, 44, 45

  Strange Illusion, 25–28, 27, 44, 45

  Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The, 228–31, 287–88nn20–23

  on class oppression and hierarchy, 220, 228, 230, 287n22

  Stranger on the Third Floor, 21

  Straw, Will, 12

  Street of Chance, 48–50, 271n22

  strikes, 12, 222, 264n10

  Strip, The, 170–72, 178, 278nn20–23

  subjectivity, 3, 16, 107, 163

  suicide, 29, 50, 60, 165, 168

  surveillance, 42, 65, 148, 204

  red scare and, 97, 100, 245

  Susman, Warren, 11

  Sweet Smell of Success, 176–78, 279nn31–33

  swing music, 156, 158, 174, 178, 277n7

  switched-identity films, 15, 47, 48, 49, 76, 107, 142, 266–67n1

  Dark Passage, 48, 65–69, 268–69nn22–23

  Hollow Triumph, 48, 69–76, 120, 249, 269nn25–29

  The Killers, 48, 50–54, 266n26

  My Name Is Julia Ross, 48, 58–60, 267nn6–9

  No Man of Her Own, 48, 60–65, 267–68nn11–20

  Out of the Past, 5, 48, 54–58, 77, 266n26, 267nn4–5

  Street of Chance, 48–50, 271n22

  syndicate films, 288–89n32

  Talman, William, 145, 146, 289n38

  technology, 2, 100, 147, 150, 153

  Telotte, J. P., 65–66, 69, 240

  therapeutic ethos, 2, 5, 6, 22–23, 249, See also psychoanalysis

  therapy, 5, 22, 157, 206–7, 284n39

  They Live by Night, 136–39, 158

  Thieves’ Highway, 220, 227–28, 287nn17–19

  Thieves’ Market (Bezzerides), 227

  Tierney, Gene, 109, 112

  Together Again, 196

  Toland, Gregg, 82

  Tourneur, Jacques, 54

  trauma, 26, 44, 78, 79, 97–98, 100

  in dreams, 26, 42–43, 44

  and flashbacks, 80

  and memory, 87, 98, 261

  and reenactments, 88, 102

  and reinvention, 93. See also posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  Trigo, Benigno, 14, 264n2

  Trojan horses, 16, 135, 148, 149, 151

  Truesdell, June, 202, 203, 282nn26–27, 283nn32–33

  Trumbo, Dalton, 17, 220, 285–86n3, 286n6

  blacklisting of, 223, 244

  and Gun Crazy, 141, 276n9

  and Hollywood Ten, 221, 276n9, 286n7

  and The Prowler, 221, 255, 256

  truth, 77, 98, 119, 130, 272n26

  Try and Get Me!, 221, 239–40, 250–55, 291nn2–4

  and censors, 254, 291n4
/>   Tucker’s People (Wolfert), 234

  Turney, Catherine, 188–89, 267–68n11

  and The Man I Love, 61, 180, 268n12, 268n16

  and No Man of Her Own, 58, 61, 64

  Two Mrs. Carrolls, The, 272–73n1

  Ulmer, Edgar G., 25, 142, 265n12, 277n14

  Underworld Story, The, 221, 245–47, 249, 290nn49–50

  and censors, 290n46, 290n50

  United States v. Paramount, 14, 223

  upward mobility, 2, 4, 5, 11, 60, 144, 249

  and American Dream, 10, 63, 231, 259

  automobility and, 142, 261

  convertibles as emblem of, 275n4

  crime and, 63, 220–21, 259

  jazz and, 155, 171

  Van Upp, Virginia, 191, 192–93, 196–97, 215

  Vaughan, Benjamin, 2

  verticality, 55, 272n27, 287n22

  Veteran Comes Back, The (Waller), 80–81

  veterans: emotional bonds of, 78, 82

  readjustment by, 80–86

  reintegration of, 80, 105. See also disabled veterans

  vet noir, 77–105, 107, 168, 270n5

  on American Dream, 93, 97, 100

  amnesia in, 77, 78–79, 88, 92, 93–96, 97, 99, 100, 104

  flashbacks in, 80, 82, 83

  identity in, 77, 78, 82, 89, 96, 97

  optimism in, 249, 261

  PTSD in, 79, 82, 85–86, 88, 89, 90, 98

  on reenactment, 88, 99, 102, 103–4

  restitution and revenge in, 86–92

  on self-reinvention, 79, 91–92, 95, 97, 101, 105, 142

  violence in, 103, 105

  vet noir films: Act of Violence, 78–79, 97, 100–104, 187, 272nn30–31

  Best Years of Our Lives, 13, 77, 81–82, 270n1, 287n20

  The Blue Dahlia, 78, 82–84, 270nn9–11

  Cornered, 78, 86–87, 271nn15–17, 285–86n3

  The Crooked Way, 78, 95–97

  Crossfire, 84–86, 270–71nn12–14

  Dead Reckoning, 88–90

  Ride the Pink Horse, 77, 88, 90–92, 191, 271nn19–21

  Somewhere in the Night, 78, 79, 92, 93–95, 97, 271–72n23

  Vicki, 115–16, 274n13

  Vidor, Charles, 194, 264n1

  violence, 11, 28, 53, 58, 84, 85

  jazz and, 154, 155, 161, 165, 168

  vet noir films and, 103, 105

  vision motif, 27, 29

  Vogel, Paul, 272n27

  Wagner, Dave, 224, 233, 290n47

  Wald, Jerry, 188, 197, 207, 281n19

  Wald, Malvin, 215, 285n50, 287n16

  Waldman, Diane, 274n23

  Waldorf Statement, 223

  Walker, Gertrude, 188, 197, 281n18

  Wallace, Henry, 224, 286n11

  Waller, Willard, 80–81, 270n8

  Wallis, Hal, 199

  Walsh, Raoul, 179, 180

  Wanger, Walter, 121–22

  Warner Bros., 188, 207, 280n10

  Warwick, James, 264n1

  Waxman, Philip, 265n14

  Webb, Clifton, 109, 114

  Weidman, Jerome, 197

  West, Nancy, 72, 73, 74, 269n26

  Wexley, John, 271n17

  White Heat, 148–49, 187

  Whorf, Richard, 156, 277n5

 

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