everything you have heard about this movie is true.

best movie i've ever seen.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Alias Nick Beal (AKA: A few other titles...) is directed by John Farrow and adapted to screenplay by Jonathan Latimer from the Mindret Lord story. It stars Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell and George Macready. Music is by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Lionel Lindon.It's the Faustian legend filmed through film noir filters as Thomas Mitchell's politician unwittingly makes a deal with Ray Milland's suspicious Nick Beal.Nicholas Beal - Agent.It's all fogs, smogs and smoky pubs here, it's 1949 and John Farrow and his team are having a great time of things blending Faust with politico machinations. Narrative thrust comes by way of corruption and character disintegration, sprinkled naturally with your good old cinematic staple of good versus evil in bold type. Don't touch him! He doesn't like it! Milland is superb here, his Nick Beal is the ultimate Machiavellian Mannipulator, and the chief film makers really bring these traits to the fore. Beal is a bundle of smug grins and glinting eyes, he just appears in scenes, Farrow cunningly using various props and persons to suddenly unleash his little old devil when he is least expected. Around Nicky there are subtle changes of clothes and snatches of dialogue that hit the requisite devilish notes, Totter is our darling who is caught in Old Nick's trap, Mitchell (great) even more so.The last time I was here was quite exciting. City was on fire. Picked up quite a lot of recruits that night. Made quite a transportation problem.Lionel Lindon and Franz Waxman are also key components to what makes the pic work. Waxman (Sunset Blvd.) deftly shifts between big bass drums for thunder clap effects, to delicate swirls that give off other worldly - eerie - effects. Lindon (I Want to Live!) does great work isolating the eyes in light, while his fog and shadows work wouldn't be amiss in a Val Lewton picture. This is a criminally under seen movie, it's far from perfect because the collage of genre influences give it a very unbalanced feel, but there's so much fun, spookiness and technical craft on show to make it a must see movie for fans of the stars, noir and supernatural tinged pictures. 8/10

I had long wanted to check out this modern Americanization of the "Faust" legend and, at the same time, wondered at its apparent neglect over the years. Having done so now, I am honestly baffled by this as the film is superb in every respect – keeping also in mind that there are at least three other classic cinematic versions of its prototype i.e. F.W. Murnau's Silent FAUST (1926; which retains the original setting and period), William Dieterle's THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER aka ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY (1941; superbly rendered in terms of Americana http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033532/usercomments-20) and Rene' Clair's LA BEAUTE' DU DIABLE (1950; with the narrative, of course, re-set to France http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042235/usercomments-4). By the way, I purposely picked my birthday (17th August) to catch up with ALIAS NICK BEAL since I was to watch yet another variation on the theme – HAMMERSMITH IS OUT (1972), starring Richard Burton – anyway, as part of my ongoing tribute to that renowned thespian on the 25th anniversary of his passing! To begin with, the acting is impeccable: Ray Milland, at once charming and sinister in the title role who, not only has the penchant of never being seen entering or exiting a room but just suddenly be there Mrs. Danvers-style, but is also so evil that he threatens to blackmail the Faust character here soon after having opened the road to success for him!; Thomas Mitchell, reliable but at the same time a symbol of integrity, is actually the one to take the spotlight throughout; and Audrey Totter, the tramp with ambitions above her station who eventually reforms thanks to her proverbial heart of gold…but we also get George Macready and Fred Clark effectively cast against type as reverend and racketeer respectively! The eerie supernatural elements, then, are remarkably rendered without the use of special effects (complemented by noir-ish cinematography and an emphatic score). Among the most memorable moments we find Milland afraid of being touched and even more so of the Holy Scriptures (reprised in the film's splendid climax); the uncanny chat between Totter and Mitchell 'rehearsed' verbatim beforehand with Milland (incidentally, the blooming relationship between Mitchell and Totter is subtly mirrored in the scenes depicting Mitchell's growing estrangement from his wife); and Totter's drunken exchange with a bartender before she is picked up by Milland. The political element within the film is more of the idealistic Frank Capra variety (of which Mitchell himself was a stock performer) than the 'mature' level of the contemporaneous ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949) – although, watching this, I was immediately reminded of Raoul Walsh's James Cagney vehicle A LION IS IN THE STREETS (1953) which I only caught last month (in a retrospective of that star's work honoring the 110th anniversary of his birth). In conclusion, I would like to point out that director Farrow was an underrated film-maker from Hollywood's Golden Age and this is undoubtedly his most accomplished effort.P.S. Watching the not dissimilar THE SOUL OF A MONSTER (1944) – also with Macready – as part of the Halloween challenge, I was inspired to finally complete my review of this film

A rare film-strange considering its many virtues.Ray Milland is perfect as cool diabolical devil in disguise Nick Beal.Thomas Mitchell is a modern Faust who accepts evil methods as a means of becoming Governor (ironically to do good deeds when in office!)Audrey Totter plays an archetypal 40's "dame" splendidly-tough,sexy with pretty elastic principles,but with a conscience under the varnish.This movie is full of great scenes -director John Farrow always gets it just right-I don't think he ever reached these heights again-watch the moment in the apartment where Donna realizes with horror that both she and Foster are saying exactly the words Beal said they would,and the scene where Beal surprises Donna at the station by sliding the cigarette case down the bar.The only real minus for some audiences today is the "studiobound" production,though for me this enhances the claustrophobic "noir" atmosphere of the film.The splendid Franz Waxman score nicely complements the action.

Forget Double Indemnity - for me, this is the quintessential film noir. Ray Milland was never better, and all the cast are on top form. The editing's great, and there's not a wasted shot. Some say the ending's a cop out (see other comments for plot details), but it's hard to see how else it could have been done without compromising both the essence, and flavour, of the film.I last saw this classic on TV about 15 years ago, and as far as I know it's never been either repeated, or released on video or DVD. WHY???If anyone out there's got a recording they'd be willing to copy for me I'd love to hear from them. Maybe we can trade. Thanks.