Nightmare Alley

After being out of circulation for many decades, at last Nightmare Alley gets its first UK home video release in the Masters of Cinema Series by Eureka! with a newly restored high-definition progressive transfer that makes every noir shadow look pristine.

The extras comprise a filmed Introduction (9min) by writer and noir specialist Woody Haut, who declares Nightmare Alley to be "one of the darkest films of an already dark genre," in which "everyone...is either corrupt, venal, obsessive or gullible" (although this is not strictly true of many of Stanton's carnival colleagues). Haut also contributes a further 25 minutes of background on the film, including director Goulding's notoriety for bisexual orgies and "casting couch activity", and the fame of writer Gresham's wife for her subsequent relationship with C S Lewis (the inspiration for Shadowlands).

Film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini provide the full length audio commentary, which is not only well informed, but also, owing to a definite prickliness in their interactions, unexpectedly entertaining - it is the film academics' equivalent of a cockfight. The disc also features the film's original trailer, which is amazingly plodding by today's standards, optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, and both a 157-page continuity/dialogue script and a 17-page musical cue sheet, both in pdf format.

Last, but not least, there is a 32-page booklet with a new essay on the film by Haut and a shorter piece on the subsequent "cursed" careers of many of those who worked on the film.