SimonJack Chester Morris had a long career in Hollywood and on television, but he never made it as a leading man. In "Blind Alley," he plays Hal Wilson, a hardened criminal and killer. His performance seems overdone on the one hand, and not convincing on the other. But as the object of the wiles of Dr. Shelby, Wilson is interesting, even though his background is very familiar and predictable for such characters. This is a fine role for Ralph Bellamy who plays a very good Dr. Shelby. Similar plots to this one have made it into films, with criminals taking up temporary residence in a home. But, this is the only one I can think of that has a psychiatrist-psychologist as one of the captives. And, Shelby's clever way to get Wilson to unravel is the heart of this crime mystery. He whips his Freudian psychology on Wilson All the rest of the cast give good performances. Ann Dvorak is especially good as Mary, the moll of Wilson.

whpratt1 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.

Neil Doyle This B-film from the late thirties can probably be considered way ahead of its time, dealing as it does with a psychiatric solution for the climax of the story. Hollywood would go much further with such themes in the '40s with the advent of films like "Spellbound", "Possessed" and "The Snake Pit".RALPH BELLAMY is a pipe-smoking psychiatrist with a calm, cool demeanor who appears undisturbed when a psychotic serial killer (CHESTER MORRIS) and his gang intrudes on family and friends during a quiet holiday weekend. When Morris turns out to have bad dreams, psychiatrist Bellamy goes to work tracing the events that trigger the nightmares. Director Charles Vidor uses reverse negative images imaginatively to depict the dream sequence which movie buffs can immediately solve without any explanations from Bellamy.ANN DVORAK is the gun moll acting tough with the house guests and confining the servants to the cellar, and MARC LAWRENCE is effective as one of the tough guys. MELVILLE COOPER has a role in which he's unusually heroic a year after playing the cowardly sheriff in "The Adventures of Robin Hood". SCOTTY BECKETT is a lively presence as the little boy who talks back to the bad men.But the pat solution is too simplistic and the fact that Morris is willing to even listen to Bellamy's sermonizing and psychiatric talk makes the whole thing quite unrealistic. The remake with William Holden had the same problem and the same glaring faults. Another distraction is CHESTER MORRIS who seems to be chewing the scenery in his over-the-top impersonation of the psychotic killer.

jandbclarke I saw this movie when I was seven, 'way back in 1939. I had never seen anything like the dream sequence and the psychiatrist's explanation. They both were shot from the camera's viewpoint, something I wasn't to see again until Robert Montgomery's version of Raymond Chandler's "The Lady In The Lake. This stuck in my cerebellum since. The remake, "The Dark Past," with Wm. Holden wasn't quite as good, but then I was older and more sophisticated when I saw that one. And, anyone who says Chester Morris couldn't act obviously hasn't seen "The Big House," "Three Godfathers" (not the John Wayne one), or any of the Boston Blackie movies. P.S. Where are the Boston Blackie movies?