Nightmare Alley - Film Noir And The American Dream
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INDEX
Page numbers in italics refer to photographs.
Accused, The, 199, 201–3, 282–83nn23–34
Ace in the Hole, 254
Act of Violence, 97, 100–104, 187, 272nn30–31
amnesia in, 78–79, 100, 104
function of disability in, 101, 270n2
and informing, 100, 101, 104
advertisements, 5, 135, 251, 275n4
African Americans, 11–12, 178
Hollywood representation of, 155, 277n5
and jazz, 16, 155, 156–57, 172–73, 178, 245, 290n46
rarely featured in film, 154, 158
agency, 126, 208
and American Dream, 3, 20–21, 143–44
automobiles and, 134
as noir theme, 20–21, 46
psychiatric stripping of, 98, 205
women and, 197, 199, 280n10
Aldrich, Robert, 150, 284n42
Algren, Nelson, 174
alienation, 48, 76, 97, 289n34
and individualism, 69, 249
as noir theme, 14, 77–78, 92
Alton, John, 70, 95, 96, 176
American Dream, 4, 5, 12, 47, 75, 142, 198
agency at core of, 3, 20–21, 143–44
automobiles and, 134, 152
as chimera and sham, 64, 249, 260
and criminality, 4, 199, 226
and domesticity, 99–100, 101, 258, 260
in hitchhiking films, 135, 144
and individualism, 4, 135
jazz and, 156, 170, 179
No Man of Her Own depiction of, 62, 64
in portraiture films, 107–8, 126
The Prowler depiction of, 221, 249–50, 255, 260
pursuit of as nightmare, 10, 199
pursuit of happiness and, 2, 17
red noir films on, 221, 226, 234, 242–43
and self-reinvention, 45, 79, 105, 115, 250
Try and Get Me! depiction of, 249–50
of upward mobility, 10, 63, 231, 259
amnesia, 15, 271n22
in dream films, 37–40
in identity films, 47, 49–50, 59
in vet noir films, 77, 78–79, 88, 92, 93–96, 97, 99, 100, 104
Anatomy of a Murder, 174
Andersen, Thom, 225, 288n25
Anderson, Edward, 136
Andrews, Dana, 81, 109, 111
Angelus (Millet), 127–28, 274n22
antifascism, 12, 221, 285–86n3
anxiety, 13, 14, 161, 270n10
automobiles and, 152
postwar, 12, 13, 78, 97
Appointment with Danger, 277n7
Arlen, Harold, 156
Armored Car Robbery, 289n38
Armstrong, Louis, 158, 170, 172, 278nn21–22
art forgery, 4, 16, 274n21, 275n27
and authorship, 122
in La chienne, 120–21
in Crack-Up, 106–7, 127–30
in Laura, 110, 112
and originality, 107, 127–28, 129–30, 131
in Scarlet Street, 122–25
Ashley, Edward, 163, 165
Asphalt Jungle, The, 220–21, 239–44, 289n38, 289–90nn40–43
as heist film, 239, 240, 289n38
atomic bomb, 12, 151, 161
authenticity, 4–5, 107, 179, 220–21
authorship: cinematic, 17, 106, 119, 185, 215–16, 218
and forgery, 122
and identity, 120, 124
automobiles, 16, 132–53, 275n2
and American Dream, 134, 152
as amoral space, 16, 133, 135, 137, 148, 150, 152, 199
and autonomy, 134, 143, 151
and commodification, 133, 134, 135, 142, 150
criminals and, 135, 136, 146, 148, 149
as domestic space, 133, 135, 136–37, 139, 148
and freedom, 16, 132, 135, 136, 148
and guns, 140–41, 145, 147
and identity, 133, 134, 135, 137
loss of, 135, 145
and masculinity, 147
and mobility, 16, 139, 142, 143, 144
in postwar period, 133–34, 135, 152
and risk, 135, 145, 147
and roadside restaurants, 143, 275n3
and sexuality, 135, 137, 140
and sovereignty, 143, 145
as Trojan horse, 16, 135, 148, 149, 151
used, 139, 142–43, 275n6. See also convertibles; hitchhikers; hitchhiking films; lam films
automobility, 133, 135, 147, 152
and criminality, 136
and mobility, 16, 134, 142, 261
autonomy, 99, 148, 181, 183
automobiles and, 134, 143, 151
Babener, Liahna, 111, 112, 273n4, 273n8
Bacall, Lauren, 65, 68
Balkun, Mary McAleer, 5
Barnes, George, 234
Barrymore, John, Jr., 28, 265n15
Basinger, Jeanine, 191
Baudry, Jean-Louis, 21
Beaumont, Hugh, 83, 281
bebop, 158, 276n1, 277n7
Belafonte, Harry, 172, 173, 278nn24–25
Bel Geddes, Barbara, 211, 284n44
Belton, John, 4, 93
Bennett, Bruce, 179, 189
Bennett, Joan, 70, 106, 117, 121–22
Benson, Sally, 48, 188, 267–68n11
and No Man of Her Own, 61, 64, 268n12, 268nn15–16, 268n18
Bernhardt, Curtis, 97, 100, 205, 272n27, 272n29
Bernstein, Elmer, 176–77, 279n32
Berry, John, 211, 284n42
Bessie, Alvah, 286n7
Be Still, My Love (Truesdell), 202, 203, 282nn26–27, 283nn32–33
Best Years of Our Lives, The, 13, 77, 81–82, 270n1, 287n20
betrayal, 53, 88, 170, 239
and blacklist era, 221, 240–41
and secrets, 229, 237
Beverly, William, 135
Bezzerides, A. I., 227
Biberman, Herbert, 285–866n3, 286n7
Biesen, Sheri Chinen, 112, 189, 273n8
Bigamist, The, 147, 215, 216–18, 285nn51–55
Big Combo, The, 77, 174–76
Big Heat, The, 187
Big Night, The, 28–30, 44, 265nn13–18
Black Angel, 165–67, 278n17
blacklist, 17–18, 221, 228, 240, 247, 286n13
fight against, 244–45
onset of, 223–24
red noir films on, 245–47, 255
studio heads and, 223, 247
testifying and informing during, 223, 290nn43–44
use of “fronts” during, 223, 224, 255. See also red scare and witch hunt
blackness, 184
jazz and, 16, 154, 155, 160, 161, 166, 178, 180
Black Path of Fear, The (Woolrich), 31
Blankfort, Henry, 290n45
Blind Alley, 264n1
Blo
ck, Libbie, 211, 284n46
Blue Dahlia, The, 78, 82–84, 270nn9–11
Blue Gardenia, The, 168–70
Blues in the Night, 156–58, 277nn5–6
blues music, 156–58, 160, 167, 177, 179, 182
blues philosophy, 173
“Body and Soul” (song), 181, 233
Body and Soul, 5, 220, 231–34, 249, 288nn24–30
Boehm, Sydney, 97
Bogart, Humphrey, 65, 67, 68, 88, 268–69n22
and Hollywood Ten, 222–23
Bolton, Muriel Roy, 58, 188, 267n8
Bond, Anson, 214
Boone, Richard, 115
boxing, 231–33, 288n27
Brackett, Leigh, 188
Brandell, Jerrold, 42
Brecht, Bertolt, 286n7
Bredell, Woody, 51
Breen, Joseph, 254, 256, 284n40, 285n49
Breen, Richard, 277n7
Breen Office. See censors
Brick Foxhole, The (Brooks), 84, 270n12
Bridges, Lloyd, 250, 255
Brill, Lesley, 43, 266n26
Britton, Andrew, 276n13
Brodie, Steve, 54, 85, 139
Broe, Dennis, 139, 225, 230, 264n10, 286n10, 287n22
Brook, Vincent, 264n7, 277nn5–6
Brooks, Richard, 84, 270n12
Browder, Earl, 224, 286n11
Brown, Royal, 273n5
Brute Force, 225–26, 287n15
Buhle, Paul, 220, 224, 290n45, 290n47
Butler, David, 154, 158, 159, 276n1, 277n9, 279n29
Butler, Hugo, 255, 265n13
Caged, 207–10, 284nn40–41
Cagney, James, 148
Cain, James M., 11, 133, 188, 286n6
Campbell, D’Ann, 280n2
Cantor, Paul, 142, 277n14
capitalism, 4, 240, 261
and crime, 17, 220, 228, 234–35, 240–41, 249
Force of Evil on, 234–37, 249
Marx and Engels on, 227, 235–36
Strange Love of Martha Ivers on, 189, 231
Try and Get Me! on, 250, 291n2
Carnovsky, Morris, 88, 227
Carroll, Madeleine, 192
Caruth, Cathy, 79
Caspary, Vera, 112, 273n3, 273n7
Cassavetes, John, 147
cathartic cure, 22, 25, 42
Caught, 5, 211–14, 284–85nn44–47
censors, 137, 188
and The Accused, 282–83n28
and The Bigamist, 218
and Caged, 284n40
and Damned Don’t Cry, 282n20
and Gilda, 199
and No Man of Her Own, 64, 268n19
and Not Wanted, 285n49
and The Prowler, 256
and Scarlet Street and, 274n20
and Thieves’ Highway, 287n17
and Try and Get Me!, 254, 291n4
and The Underworld Story, 290n46, 290n50
Ceplair, Larry, 222, 224, 271n17
Chamberlain, Howland, 29, 237
Chandler, Raymond, 11, 270n9
Chase, The, 31–34, 44, 45
chien andalou, Un, 40
chienne, La, 106, 116, 119–22, 126, 274n17
children, 187–88, 189, 253
Chopra-Gant, Mike, 13, 78, 270n11
Christopher, Nicholas, 22
class, 226, 241, 255
mobility between, 2, 58, 62
Naked City on, 226, 287n16
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers on, 220, 228, 230, 287n22
Cobb, Lee J., 19, 227
Cochran, Steve, 31, 198
Cockrell, Marian, 192
Coffee, Lenore J., 188
Cohn, Harry, 192, 215
Cold War, 78, 79, 97, 100, 144
Cole, Lester, 97, 285–86n3
and Hollywood Ten, 272n25, 286n7
Collins, Ray, 127
Collins, Richard, 283n38, 286n7
Comandini, Adele, 25, 265n10
Committee for the First Amendment, 222–23, 244
commodification, 228–29, 232, 234, 246
of art and artist, 109, 120, 123
automobiles and, 133, 134, 135, 142, 150
of women, 170, 190, 193, 199, 211
Communists and communism, 12, 176–77n4, 286n11
Hollywood Left and, 221, 271n17, 290–91n1
community, 3, 48, 69, 215–16
complicity, 199, 200–201, 204
Condemned, The (Pagano), 250
condensation, 14, 22, 24–25, 43, 264n2, 265n9
Conference of Studio Unions, 222
conformity, 3, 16, 18, 240
Conrad, William, 232
consumer goods, 2, 5, 6, 10, 261
consumerism, 6, 12, 249, 251
Conte, Richard, 169, 175, 227, 271–72n23
conversion narratives, 20, 23, 47
convertibility, 134, 138–39, 140, 152
convertibles, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 151, 201
and convertibility, 16, 134, 138–39
as means of empowerment, 147–48
as sign of mobility, 144, 275n4
Cook, Elisha, Jr., 159
Cook, Pam, 204
Cooper, George, 85
Cooper, Maxine, 150
Corey, Jeff, 226
Corey, Wendell, 199, 201
Cornered, 78, 86–87, 271nn15–17, 285–86n3
Cortesa, Valentina, 227
counterfeiting, 16, 62
Cover Girl, 192
Cowie, Elizabeth, 280n1
Cowl, Jane, 63
Crack-Up, 106–7, 127–31, 274–75nn21–27
Craig, James, 170
Crain, Jeanne, 115
Crawford, Joan, 189, 197, 205
Cregar, Laird, 108, 115
crime and criminality, 17, 24, 25, 130, 242–43
and American Dream, 4, 199, 226
automobiles and, 135, 136, 146, 148, 149
capitalism and, 17, 220, 228, 234–35, 240–41, 249
as left-handed form of human endeavor, 17, 220, 243
noncriminals and, 289–90n42
organized, 220, 234–35, 240–41, 289nn41–42
and upward mobility, 63, 220–21, 259
crime jazz, 174, 279n29
Criss Cross, 160, 277nn11–12
Cromwell, John, 208
Cronyn, Hume, 225
Crooked Way, The, 78, 95–97
Crossfire, 84–86, 270–71nn12–14
HUAC and, 86
Crowther, Bosley, 287n18
Cullen, Jim, 2, 3, 47
Cummings, Robert, 31, 202
Cummins, Peggy, 140, 141
Curran, Dale, 276–77n4
Dalí, Salvador, 40, 127–28, 274n24
Dall, John, 140, 141
Damarest, William, 170
Damned Don’t Cry, The, 197–99, 281–82nn19–20
Damone, Vic, 278n22
D’Andrea, Tom, 66
Danger! Women at Work, 281n18
Dark Corner, The, 106, 113–15, 273nn9–11
Dark Passage, 48, 65–69, 268–69nn22–23
Dark Past, The, 19, 24–25, 45
Dark Waters, 192
Da Silva, Howard, 83, 138, 245
Dassin, Jules: and Brute Force, 225, 226
and Hollywood Left, 17, 220, 221
and Naked City, 226, 287n16
and Thieves’ Highway, 227, 228, 287n19
and witch hunt, 224, 228, 234
Daves, Delmer, 65
Davidson, Michael, 77
Dead Reckoning, 88–90
de Bolla, Peter, 124
Decker, John, 274n19
Declaration of Independence, 2, 209
Dekker, Albert, 51, 150
DeLillo, Don, 5
democracy, 12, 220
Desperate, 139–40, 276n7
Detour, 142–44, 161–62, 276nn12–14
Deutsch, Helen, 137
Devil Thumbs a Ride, The, 144
Diana Productions, 14, 121–22
Dieterle, William, 282n28
Dietrichson, Phyllis,
185
Dimendberg, Edward, 132, 175
disability, 15, 77, 78, 93, 270n2, 270n5
cognitive, 77, 78, 80
and gender roles, 270n10
and jazz, 154, 168
and masculinity, 78, 83
moral, 77, 101
disabled veterans, 15–16, 77–79, 93, 105, 170, 214
and amnesia, 77, 78–79, 88, 92–97, 99, 100, 104
statistics on, 80, 270n6
stigma attached to, 272n24
and trauma, 78, 79, 80, 87, 88, 93, 97–98, 100. See also veterans
Diskant, George, 139
displacement, 14, 22, 25, 33, 264n2
Dmytryk, Edward: and Cornered, 86, 271n17, 285–86n3
and Crossfire, 84, 270–71nn13–14, 285–86n3
and HUAC, 223, 286n7
D.O.A., 160–61, 171
Doane, Mary Ann, 193, 213, 281nn15–17, 284n45
domesticity, 148, 179
and American Dream, 99–100, 101, 258, 260
automobiles and, 133, 135, 136–37, 139, 140, 148
heterosexual, 78, 86
women and, 186, 188, 190
Donatello, 114, 273n11
Double Indemnity, 13, 132, 133, 188, 275nn1–2
doubles, 49, 54, 55, 88, 93, 113, 116
Douglas, Kirk, 54, 228
Downs, Cathy, 113, 114
Dowson, Ernest, 111–12
Dozier, William, 271n15
Dratler, Jay, 273nn8–9
Dreadful Summit (Ellin), 265n13, 265n15, 265n17–18
dreams, 15, 22, 23, 107
and cinema, 21, 264n3
and emotion, 23, 44–45, 265n7
Freudian theory on, 20, 22–23, 24, 265n8
and guilt, 19, 26, 33, 36, 44–45
and identity, 20, 21
in jazz films, 162
and memory, 25, 41–42
as message from beyond, 26, 44
oedipal, 24, 25–26, 28
and reality, 33
and self-reinvention, 20, 21, 37, 47
as someone else’s, 19–20, 23, 33, 36–37, 40
trauma in, 26, 42–43, 44
and unconscious, 24, 28, 265n8
as warning, 33–34, 36–37, 44
dream sequences, 15, 20–21, 264n1
in The Chase, 32–34
in The Dark Past, 19, 24–25
in Laura, 110, 273n6
in Nightmare Alley, 15
in Possessed, 206
in Spellbound, 40–43, 266n24
in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, 34, 36–37, 44, 45
in Strange Illusion, 25–26, 44
in Stranger on the Third Floor, 21
in Try and Get Me!, 252
in The Woman in the Window, 118, 274n16
Duff, Warren, 277n7
Dunne, Philip, 222–23
Dürer, Albrecht, 129, 275nn26–27
Duryea, Dan, 106, 118, 166, 245
Dyer, Richard, 273n10
Einfeld, Charles, 288n26
Ellin, Stanley, 265n13
Ellington, Duke, 174
Ellison, Ralph, 173
Emerald Productions, 214, 215