Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Otto Preminger made four films noirs at Fox, all terrific. If we set aside the peerless Laura as more psychological mystery-romance than noir, there's plenty of evidence for judging Where the Sidewalk Ends the best of the lot (the other two being Fallen Angel, a study in small-town perversity, and Whirlpool, a delicious exercise in creepy psychology, slippery mise-en-scène, and daringly complicated point-of-view). It's a hard-edged tale of a borderline-vicious New York police detective, Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), with tortuous personal reasons for overzealousness in going after the bad guys. Much of the film unreels in one night, when the murder of a high-roller from out of town precipitates a string of events that lead to Dixon's becoming an accidental killer. Preminger's direction is taut, forceful, and fluid, especially when Dixon sets about creating an alibi for himself. Unfortunately, an innocent man gets implicated, with Dixon looking on, and the guilty cop's moral and psychological torment increases with each turn of the screw.

Tightly scripted by Ben Hecht, Preminger's film lacks the anguished poetry of Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground, another 1950 noir centered on a cop (Robert Ryan) addicted to ultraviolence, but its grip is relentless. Preminger had a shrewd instinct for tapping a certain thuggish strain in Andrews, whose performance here is arguably his best. They're reunited with Gene Tierney, as a woman caught in the sidewash of sordid goings-on, and Laura cameraman Joseph La Shelle, whose work has a luster beyond the accustomed semidocumentary look of Fox noirs. Gary Merrill, usually a bland nice-guy, relishes the chance to play nasty as Dixon's gangland bête noire Tommy Scalise, a homoerotic villain in the Tommy Udo vein with a menthol inhaler as fetish object. --Richard T. Jameson Amazon.com

 Dana Andrews, not bad
I probably never gave Dana Andrews enough credit, but apparently Preminger did. This is actually a very good story about a good guy who just can't seem to convince himself that good guys finish last. An extremely good movie for the time.

Andrews in this and "Fallen Angel" are not to be missed. And Linda Darnell in 'Angel': where's a time machine when you need it! January 15, 2008

 Where the Sidewalk Ends
A great bad cop noir, centering on psychological father-son conflict. Not as great a film as The Big Heat, which is in same tradition of bad cop noir but worth watching. The film commentary by a noir expert goes to the heart of noir and analyses why modern audiences love this genre. Only flaw is expert's flash comment on Gene Tierney's bipolar disorder. December 30, 2007

 One of the best film noir from 20th Century Fox
I ended up buying this DVD after checking it out from the library 4 or 5 times. The combination of Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews is irresistable (as they were in Laura). Dana Andrews once again plays a detective whose down on his luck and in trouble for working outside the law - a character he was born to play. Gene Tierney is the femme fatale who can freeze an iceberg with a single glance but melt a heart with a single smile. Another favorite of mine, Craig Stevens, has a small part of the guy who ends up dead due to the Andrews character's conduct. A good addition to any film noir collection. October 28, 2007

 Standard Film Noir
Not the greatest film noir, nor from Preminger, but very professionally made, very enjoyable, except for the last five minutes where the censor steps in. The quality of the film was excellent, as good as when I saw it 56 years ago. Well worth an entry into my film noir collection. June 19, 2007

 ...is where the gutter begins
Dana Andrews needed a director like Otto Preminger to bring out his best qualities: here, as a police detective who is haunted by his father's criminal past and enjoys roughing up suspects, he gets one of the best roles of his career. In this unusually well written film noir from Fox, Andrews accidentally kills a murderer he was sent to question and must cover up his crime; he falls in love with the murderer's widow (Gene Tierney), and then must scramble when her adoring father is blamed for the murder. The sense of atmosphere here is very fine, and the direction is stunning: there are some great shots in a car elevator, for example, and also in a steam room. Preminger de-emphasizes Andrews's handsomeness and brings out his more weary tough qualities; unfortunately, he can't seem to do much with poor Gene Tierney, who as always seems far too beautiful for the part she's playing. (Things are not helped by the stunning outfits designed for her by her husband Oleg Cassini, who has a small role in the film. Her fabulous plaid coat, for example, has a scarf made exactly to match it, which are both so eye-catching you are distracted by them in every scene they're in.) Gary Merrill, Bette Davis's husband, has a great unusual role as a very insinuating mobster that Andrews's detective can't stand; Karl Malden has a duller role as Andrews's by-the-book rival. March 16, 2007

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