Alias Nick Beal | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Farrow |
Screenplay by | Jonathan Latimer |
Story by | Mindret Lord |
Produced by | Endre Bohem |
Starring | Ray Milland Audrey Totter Thomas Mitchell George Macready |
Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
Edited by | Eda Warren |
Music by | Franz Waxman |
Production company | Paramount Pictures |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Alias Nick Beal is a 1949 American film noir mystery starring Ray Milland, Audrey Totter and Thomas Mitchell (although third-billed, Mitchell plays the leading role). Directed by John Farrow, it is a retelling of the Faust myth, [1] and is also known as Dark Circle, Strange Temptation and Alias Nicky Beal.
Joseph Foster is an honest district attorney who wants to clean up the criminal underworld, but cannot catch their leader, Frankie Faulkner, no matter how hard he tries. After a foiled attempt to obtain critical evidence to convict an underling of Faulkner's named Hanson, Foster is left reeling.
In exasperation at another frustrated attempt, he cries out that he would sell his soul to put Faulkner behind bars. At that moment he receives an invitation to meet with a smooth talking stranger named Nick Beal at a seedy bar beside the docks. With Beal's aid he gets evidence to convict Faulkner's cohort Hanson.
Foster is encouraged by a circle of powerful admirers to run for governor. He accepts, with Beal acting as a Mr. Fixit, despite the uneasiness of his wife Martha and his good friend Reverend Garfield. Foster begins his rise to power in the company of Donna Allen, a fallen woman who is sent by Nick to entice him. Foster gets elected but resigns, sickened by the compromises he has made at Beal's instigation, forfeiting his soul. As he is preparing to leave with Beal for the Island of Lost Souls, his wife and Garfield arrive and are able to thwart Foster’s promise to Beal to accompany him. Beal then disappears into the foggy darkness from whence he came.
A 1949 review of the film in The New York Times held that, "Due to the fine acting and the wily direction, the story plays exceptionally well, but the script tends to be somewhat wobbly and indecisive upon reflection." [2]
A contemporary review by Film4 contended "Milland is outstanding as the personification of evil—a talent often obscured by his charm and early juvenile good looks." [3]
Kino Lorber released a region A Blu-ray edition of the film through their Kino Lorber Studio Classics label on July 13, 2021. [4]
Ray Milland was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945), which won him Best Actor at Cannes, a Golden Globe Award, and ultimately an Academy Award—the first such accolades for any Welsh actor.
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.
Easy Living is a 1937 American screwball comedy film, directed by Mitchell Leisen, written by Preston Sturges from a story by Vera Caspary, and starring Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, and Ray Milland. Many of the supporting players became a major part of Sturges' regular stock company of character actors in his subsequent films.
Audrey Mary Totter was an American radio, film, and television actress and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s.
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Mr. Bug Goes to Town is an American animated Technicolor feature film produced by Fleischer Studios, previewed by Paramount Pictures on December 5, 1941, and released in California and New York City in February 1942. The film was originally intended to be an adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the Bee, but Paramount was unwilling to purchase the rights from Samuel Goldwyn, and instead developed an original modern story loosely inspired by the book.
I Walk Alone is a 1947 film noir released by Paramount Pictures starring Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott, with a supporting cast featuring Wendell Corey, Kirk Douglas, and Kristine Miller. The film was produced by Hal B. Wallis, and directed by Byron Haskin.
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The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 American film noir directed by Tay Garnett and starring Lana Turner, John Garfield, and Cecil Kellaway. It is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by James M. Cain. This adaptation of the novel also features Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames and Audrey Totter. The musical score was written by George Bassman and Erich Zeisl.
Ganja & Hess is a 1973 American black horror film written and directed by Bill Gunn and starring Marlene Clark and Duane Jones. The film follows the exploits of anthropologist Dr. Hess Green (Jones), who becomes a vampire after his intelligent but unstable assistant (Gunn) stabs him with an ancient cursed dagger. Green falls in love with his assistant's widow, Ganja (Clark), who learns Green's dark secret.
The Werewolf of Washington is a 1973 horror comedy film written and directed by Milton Moses Ginsberg and starring Dean Stockwell. Produced by Nina Schulman, it satirizes several individuals in Richard Nixon's administration.
Cotton Comes to Harlem is a 1970 American neo-noir action comedy film co-written and directed by Ossie Davis and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx. The film, later cited as an early example of the blaxploitation genre, is based on Chester Himes' novel of the same name. The opening theme, "Ain't Now But It's Gonna Be", was written by Ossie Davis and performed by Melba Moore. The film was one of the many black films that appeared in the 1970s and became overnight hits. It was followed two years later by the sequel Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972).
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a 1936 American drama film based on the 1886 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, and C. Aubrey Smith. The first film produced by David O. Selznick's Selznick International Pictures, it was the studio's most profitable film until Gone with the Wind. The film is directed by John Cromwell.
Born to Be Bad is a 1950 American film noir melodrama directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan and Zachary Scott. It features Fontaine as a manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It is based on the bestselling novel All Kneeling by Anne Parrish (1928).
No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1948 British gangster film adapted and directed by St. John Legh Clowes from the 1939 novel of the same name by James Hadley Chase. It stars Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, and Linden Travers, with unbilled early appearances from Sid James, as a barman, and Walter Gotell, as a nightclub doorman.
Slaughterhouse Rock is a 1988 American supernatural horror film directed by Dimitri Logothetis, and starring Nicholas Celozzi, Tom Reilly, Donna Denton, Hope Marie Carlton, Tammara Hyler, Steven Brian Smith, Ty Miller, and Toni Basil. Its plot follows a college student who travels to Alcatraz Island with his friends, after having recurring nightmares of a rock band that was killed there.
A Bullet for Joey is a 1955 film noir directed by Lewis Allen and starring Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. The picture involves a gangster who sneaks into Canada to kidnap a scientist for the communists. The supporting cast features Audrey Totter, Peter van Eyck, George Dolenz and Peter Hansen.
This is the complete filmography of actor Audrey Totter. Originally a radio actress, she entered motion pictures in 1944 and became known for her portrayals of Femme fatales and hard-boiled dames. She is best remembered for her appearances in such features as Lady in the Lake (1947), The Unsuspected (1947), and The Set-Up (1949). She later found equal success in television with recurring roles on such syndicated sitcoms as Our Man Higgins, Cimarron City, Dr. Kildare, and Medical Center.