Since I have been posting content about William Lindsay Gresham's novel Nightmare Alley for the last month, it seemed appropriate to end the month by giving some thoughts about the new film version by Guillermo del Toro. This will not be a full-fledged post like my recent piece on the 1947 film. John Stanifer has …
Continue reading Notes on Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley
When I helped lead a presentation for Inkling Folk Fellowship on William Lindsay Gresham's novel Nightmare Alley, there were some sub-topics I wasn't sure would come up. There was a chance we would talk about the movie Shadowlands, or about how Gresham's spiritual journey compared to C.S. Lewis' spiritual journey. Since the 1947 movie Nightmare …
Continue reading What Makes a Noir Novel? Considering Nightmare Alley
Even by cult film standards, the 1947 film Nightmare Alley has an odd history. Released in 1947 to disappointing reviews and meagre earnings, it disappeared almost completely until 20th Century Fox released it on DVD in 2005. Kim Morgan, who co-wrote the 2021 remake directed by Guillermo del Toro, has noted that a lawsuit had …
Today, I was part of a presentation by Inkling Folk Fellowship about Nightmare Alley, a bestselling noir novel by William Lindsay Gresham recently made into a film by Guillermo del Toro. Readers familiar with Shadowlands, the movie about C.S. Lewis' marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham, may know that William Gresham was her first husband. Gresham's …
In my concluding thoughts post about high church Christianity and art, I ended by saying that "good art must serve the work." This point may best be summed if we remember the famous quote from Chariots of Fire where Eric Liddell describes how he reconciled his Olympic aspirations with his calling to be a missionary. …
G. Connor Salter 