Blind Alley (1939)

Psychology professor Ralph Bellamy finds himself the victim of the type of criminal he's been studying and teaching students about when a violent gangster (Chester Morris), newly escaped from prison, busts in on his evening dinner party, taking him and his family and his guests hostage. This is an early variation of "The Desperate Hours", but the criminal will find that the tables will be turned on him when Bellamy vows to his wife (Joan Perry) that he will use his knowledge to destroy Morris in order to save them all, especially after Morris shoots and kills one of Bellamy's favorite students in cold blood.It's very ingenious and well crafted, and Bellamy's description to Morris about how the brain works is quite interesting, focusing on the conscience and sub conscience parts and how the conscience refuses to allow the sub conscience to enter that part of the brain in fear of being destroyed. Even a criminal with a violent nature like Morris has an issue that could destroy him, and here, Bellamy uses Morris's dreams in order to get to that sub conscience. In one of the best filmed dream sequences in film history, Morris reveals through his sub conscience the fears he's been living with all of his life. This makes his mistress (a very nervous Ann Dvorak) angry and threatens more violence.Excellent both in its analytical matter and exposition that is never "teachy", "Blind Alley" is an early film noir where the mind is both the villain and the hero. The cast is uniformly excellent, although I'd have to describe Melville Cooper's character as a stupid fool whose actions could get everybody killed. Bellamy and Morris play each other like a chess game, an ironic twist of fate considering the chess board uniquely featured in Bellamy's den. This was remade less than a decade later as "The Dark Past" which explored even more of its film noir elements, but the original version is equally as thrilling.

Enjoyed this film starring Chester Morris, (Hal Wilson) who has escaped from a prison along with a group of criminals with him. Hal finds a home which is near water where he can make his escape by boat and takes over a home of Dr. Shelby, (Ralph Bellamy) who is a college professor and also a psychiatrist. Dr. Shelby has a house full of guests, his wife and young son and the home becomes one big nightmare for everyone. Shelby tries to calm Hal Wilson and decides to try and solve his mental problems because Hal has killed one person in his house and is capable of killing everyone in the house. The entire household is struggling to keep calm and at the same time try to keep alive. Great Classic 1939 film with all great veteran actors. Enjoy.

Ralph Bellamy had an unusually rich acting career that many people fail to notice some seventeen years after his death. I have had occasion (such as reviewing THE AWFUL TRUTH and TRADE WINDS) of noting his wonderfully goofy doofus characters. But he was also responsible for good dramatic performances, most notably as Franklin Roosevelt in the film SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO and later in the television series THE WINDS OF WAR, and even some dandy murderous villains from time to time. But then he was also filmdom's Ellery Queen. His lifetime Oscar, given to him at the tail end of his acting career, was well merited. Would that the Academy had done the same for other stars, such as the just deceased Richard Widmark.This film, BLIND ALLEY, was shown on Turner Classic Film Network last night, and I had never seen it - but I was aware of it. The plot of BLIND ALLEY was used a decade later for the early William Holden - Lee J. Cobb thriller THE DARK PAST. It is the Holden movie (where he plays the role played by Chester Morris here) that people see more frequently, probably because it is William Holden starring. This is unfair not only to Bellamy's well restrained thinking hero, Dr. Shelby, but also to Morris' villain, Hal Wilson. Morris was one of Hollywood's busiest leading men in the early talkies period, but by 1939 he was relegated to leads in "B" features. Bellamy was doing yeoman work in supporting roles in the late 1930s, when not returning to the Broadway stage. He was in the other lead role in this film (possibly the actual lead role). If Morris's lead here is a sign of his decline as a leading man, it was a sign of Bellamy's rise in film stardom when he played Dr. Shelby.Story is simple. Dr. Shelby is a psychiatrist, and a professor of psychiatry. His star pupil is Fred Landis (Stanley Brown), who is leaving college to start a new job in another state. Shelby invites Landis to his home for a going away party that night. Also in the house are Shelby's wife Doris and son Davy (Rose Stradner and Scotty Beckett), his close friend George Curtis and his wife Linda (Melville Cooper and Joan Perry), and a friend of the Curtises, novelist Dick Holbrook (John Eldredge), and two servants (Agnes - Anne Doran - and Harriot - Marie Blake). The household is enjoying the evening, awaiting the guest of honor, when their peace of mind is shattered. Enter escaped murderer Hal Wilson, his mistress Mary (Anne Dvorak), and his two gang members Buck (Marc Lawrence) and Nick (Milburn Stone). As you can see it is a good cast.Having killed three more people (two guards and a warden - played by John Hamilton of "Superman" fame) - in his escape, Wilson has nothing to lose about killing anyone else. His plan is to be rescued by a boat crossing the lake in back of Shelby's home. So he and his gang take over the house, split up the various hostages (Buck watching the Curtises and Holbrook; Stone watching Doris and Davy; and the two servants tied up in the basement). Wilson and Shelby stay in the living room on the first floor and in the Doctor's study. And gradually Shelby's curiosity as a psychologist concentrates on Wilson's peculiar and violent personality. In particular two of his fingers that seem paralyzed on his right hand. Wilson keeps denying it's nothing more than from an accident, but Shelby know the fingers don't look physically damaged.The hours pass and much comes out about personalities. And this is what made BLIND ALLEY more interesting to me than THE DARK PAST. The later movie did not deal with a secondary plot involving Mr. and Mrs. Curtis and Holbrook. Curtis is a prosperous stock broker, and has been married for some time to Linda, but the marriage has hit a rut. So she has been becoming all too close to Holbrook, much to Curtis's humiliation. But during the film it is Curtis who shows more guts in facing down the gang, in particular Buck (even attempting to attack him), while Holbrook reveals increasingly how cowardly he is. In the end Linda is far less enchanted by the novelist (ironically he writes adventure stories). The interesting casting of Melville Cooper (usually playing comic bits in his films) as a middle aged man who shows his real grit when the chips are down adds to the enjoyment of this second plot.As nerves grow tenser tragedy does strike when Fred Landis shows up, and confronts Wilson and Buck. Wilson shows his answer for all problems with a sickening smile on his face. Wilson however has been having an odd dream that effects him - he hates rain as a result. Mary makes the suggestion to Dr. Shelby that maybe he could cure Wilson of this returning nightmare he has. Shelby slowly probes away at it - I will leave it to the viewer to see the film to understand what the secret is.Although psychiatry in movies seems very superficial, one has to recall that there is a time constraint in film that forces some answer within sixty to ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes for the sake of the story line. Even so the solution of the dream, and of the basis for the evil that is Wilson, is well handled (including a very stylized flashback sequence). Bellamy does not strike a false note - however angry he really is at what has happened he remains the reasonable physician throughout the probing second half of the film. Morris matches him as a hateful figure, but one who one realizes is as helpless in his own way as his hostages and shooting victims usually are. The film is quite well made, and the stars certainly live up to the quality of the script.

I've seen BLIND ALLEY in 1946 when amercan films starts to come in europe after the war - I've never seen it again -In France nobody knows who was CHESTER MORRIS At this time i was looking at 400 films by year- Later films like DESPERATE HOURS with Bogart and PURSUED with Mitchum has remind me BLIND ALLEY (for PURSUED: when the kid is under the table-and for Desparate the psychanalyst subject between F March and Bogart) Am i wrong ? Chester Morris was not a very good actor i suppose but good enough for meNo dictionary french or english pays mention to his films (only tv) I'm know a movie poster collector and looking all the time for CHESTER'S FILMS NOIRS So, please, let me know about it - with thanksChichin