FILM 2143: NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947)

TRIVIA: Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck found this movie so generally distasteful that he eventually took it out of circulation; but it was theatrically re-released in 1956-1957, did good business, particularly in the drive-in circuit, and received wide distribution; after Power's premature death in 1958, widespread public demand for it on television resulted in its initial telecast in New York City Saturday 10 January 1959 on WRCA (Channel 4), followed by Salt Lake City Tuesday 27 January 1959 on KTVT (Channel 4), by Wichita Wednesday 28 January 1959 on KTVH (Channel 12), by San Francisco/Oakland Tuesday 3 March 1959 on KTVU (Channel 2), and soon spreading far and wide as a result of its extraordinarily high ratings. Its 2005 DVD release as part of the Twentieth Century Fox "noir" series brought "Nightmare Alley" back once again into even wider circulation.

According to Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation, charlatans and grifters in the new age/mystic con would use the phrase "Are you a friend of Stan Carlisle?" or a variation on it to confirm that the person they were talking to was in the same line of business.

Tyrone Power's second film after serving as a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII.

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