review for Blind Alley on AllMovie

Blind Alley is a very dated psychological thriller, but it is also undeniably fascinating and, if one is willing to suspend disbelief sufficiently, really rather gripping. Alley deserves points for being one of the earlier films to really try to incorporate modern psychoanalytical thinking into its story and for using it to investigate the sociological underpinnings of the criminal mind. Unfortunately, as is almost always the case when this is attempted, it requires drastically oversimplifying the psychology to the point that it resembles fortune cookie sayings. Audiences in 1939 wouldn't have noticed this, but modern audiences, who have had decades to absorb psychological theory even if they don't truly understand it, are too sophisticated to accept the "pop psychology" approach employed here. More difficult to accept, however, are some severe lapses in logic; truly desperate criminals wouldn't make some of the errors in judgement that these do. However, if one can accept these flaws, Alley has many wonderful elements, including a great anguished criminal turn from Chester Morris and a deceptively powerful quiet performance from Ralph Bellamy. Charles Vidor's direction is excellent, and Lucien Ballard's cinematography is stunning, in both the showy dream sequences and in the more "mundane" segments that demonstrate his immense skill. Throw in some superb art direction, and the result is an intriguing, if imperfect, little gem.