Alias Nick Beal

Joseph Foster is an honest prosecutor. He wants to bring down a criminal organisation he has pursued for years and has no evidence. One day, speaking in anger, he says he would give his soul to find a certain ledger. Shortly afterwards a man appears at the door. He gives his name as Nick Beal, brings the ledger and asks nothing in return. Foster wins the case. Then he stands for governor. Beal is beside him at every stage and makes everything easier each time. John Farrow directs. Thomas Mitchell plays Foster and Ray Milland plays Nick Beal. The narrative carries the Faust story into American politics. The devil here performs no supernatural display; he appears as a well dressed, calm and helpful man and forces nothing. The idea is that nobody makes a single large decision. Foster gives a small concession at every step and does not notice when he passed the point of return. The visual language belongs to noir: fog, docks, night and low light. The scene of Beal's first appearance is deliberately shot without clarity. Ray Milland does not play the character as menacing; the man is constantly courteous, and that is the most disturbing thing in the film. It is one of the few instances of noir joined to the supernatural and remained little known for a long time. Who it is for: viewers who like forties noir and narratives of moral collapse. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, the allegory is plain, and the ending is too tidy by the moral frame of its period.