Nightmare Alley

Stanton "Stan" Carlisle (Tyrone Power) is a roustabout who joins a traveling carnival and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena (Joan Blondell) and her alcoholic husband Pete. He eventually teams up with psychologist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker), whose sensitive information about Chicago's social elite he uses to swindle people, but their plan is exposed when his partner-in-crime, Molly Carlisle (Coleen Gray), betrays him. Defeated and struggling with alcoholism, Stan's world crumbles, forcing him to confront the consequences of his actions and the emptiness of his own ambitions.