Episode 64: Nightmare Alleys

A day at the circus gets very noir as Dan and Keith walk down two different Nightmare Alleys. Carnie Stanton Carlisle has dreams of making the big time with a mentalist act, one he must purloin from his employers in the carnival, and that dream goes very well until it very doesn't. In 1946, swashbuckling actor Tyrone Power tried to break out of his usual type as the con man Stan, in a version that does well but perhaps strains against 1940s film regulations. Over seven decades later, spooky visionary Guillermo Del Toro takes another swing at the story, with Bradley Cooper leading an all-star cast, that has more freedom in its content but maybe it too relaxed in its pacing. Dan and Keith pull both apart to figure out a favourite, so come join.