#Black And White Version Of Nightmare Alley Coming To Theaters

Since film noir originated as a black-and-white style, drawing from earlier German Expressionist films such as Fritz Lang’s “M” (look for an article spotlighting that one in our Daily Stream column soon), it’s all too fitting for a neo-noir film like “Nightmare Alley” to get the black-and-white treatment. Del Toro told Variety:

“Although we shot ‘Nightmare Alley’ in color, we lit it as if it were black and white. You can see exactly the same level of design, and we wanted to give viewers this special vantage as a take of the classic noir genre that the film is part of.”

On Twitter this week, another choice del Toro quote from an upcoming interview with Little White Lies editor David Jenkins was also circulating. In it, the director downplays the “Coca-Cola commercials of noir,” such as “Venetian blinds and a husky voiceover.” He instead describes noir as the “grittiness that comes out of American realism,” and “the poetry of disillusionment and existentialism.” He also echoes an earlier quote we heard from him where he mentions “the flip side of the American dream.”

What can I say? You’re speaking my language, Mr. del Toro. Here’s the official synopsis of “Nightmare Alley” via Searchlight Pictures:

“In ‘Nightmare Alley,’ an ambitious carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is.”

“Nightmare Alley” is in theaters now.