Where the Sidewalk Ends

"Only a woman's heart could reach out for such a man!"

1950 1h 35m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 213

CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

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A police detective's violent nature keeps him from being a good cop.

“Only a woman's heart could reach out for such a man!”

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Cast

Dana Andrews
Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon
Gene Tierney
Morgan Taylor
Bert Freed
Det. Sgt. Paul Klein
Gary Merrill
Tommy Scalise
Karl Malden
Det. Lt. Thomas
Tom Tully
Jiggs Taylor
Ruth Donnelly
Martha
Craig Stevens
Ken Paine

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Otto Preminger
Writers: Ben Hecht
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

76 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Otto Preminger, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cyril J. Mockridge. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Louis R. Loeffler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney and Bert Freed carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Only a woman's heart could reach out for such a man!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0043132 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Otto Preminger directs. Joseph LaShelle behind the camera. Cyril J. Mockridge scores. Louis R. Loeffler cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

176 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Otto Preminger, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Cyril J. Mockridge. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Louis R. Loeffler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney and Bert Freed carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Only a woman's heart could reach out for such a man!".
7IMDB entry: tt0043132 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 15 themes, including "new york city", "taxi", "taxi driver", "man woman relationship".
9Released under 17 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle
Original score: Cyril J. Mockridge
Editing: Louis R. Loeffler
Costume design: Oleg Cassini
Makeup / hair: Ben Nye
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

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Otto Preminger

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-02-25
★ 8/10
Your job is to detect criminals, not to punish them. American city film noir directed by Otto Preminger with the screenplay written by Ben Hecht. The adaptation is from the novel "Night Cry" written by William L. Stuart and Joseph LaShelle provides the cinematography for the New York City shoot. It stars Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tully & Karl Malden, with support coming from Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens & Neville Brand. Tough New York cop Mark Dixon (Andrews) is constantly in trouble with his superiors for his heavy-handed treatment of suspects. When disaster strikes during an altercation with Ken Paine (Stevens), Dixon chooses an unethical route and attempts to frame a gangster nemesis called Tommy Scalise (Merill). However, things don't go according to plan and not only does Dixon find himself falling in love with Paine's wife, Morgan Taylor-Paine (Tierney), but also that he is now mired in a quagmire investigation which sees Morgan's father, Jiggs (Tully), accused of the crime he himself is responsible for. Where The Sidewalk Ends was the final film noir piece that Preminger made for 20th Century Fox in the 1940s. Then a director for hire, the film sees Preminger re-teamed with Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Joseph LaShelle, Ben Hecht and art director Lyle Wheeler, all of whom produced the excellent "Laura" in 1944. Whilst linking the two films together is understandable given the makers and the genre/style involved, the two are very different movies. Which to my mind makes a mockery of some critics looking unfavourably on "Sidewalk" because of the regard "Laura" is held. "Sidewalk" is more grittier, more violent and certainly darker (this is one troubled chip on the shoulder copper), in short this is big city noir and some way away from the socialite leanings of the more glossy "Laura". There's a lot of quality involved here. Preminger astutely paces the story and manages to make Dixon sympathetic, thus fully doing justice to Hecht's tough and tight script that unravels in a world of cop shops, cafés, street side apartments and underworld hang-outs. All of which is given the perfect low-key (almost seedy) photographic treatment by the always visually appealing LaShelle. The cast, too, are doing great work. Tierney is a beguiling beauty throughout, something that works off of Andrews' more chiselled featured and emotionally conflicted portrayal rather well. It's arguably one of Andrews' best & most convincing performances, for Dixon carries around with him much pain and bitterness due to his father having been a criminal. In a perverse bit of writing, Dixon essentially finds himself investigating himself, throw in a burgeoning romance with sharp kickers attached, and, shades of patricide, then it's a character in need of depth. Andrews steps up to the plate and layers it to perfection to give noir one of its finest policeman protagonists. The rest are effective, particularly Malden, Merrill and Brand, the latter of which is the tough guy actor who isn't William Bendix! If we have to pick flies? Then the ending carriers some Hollywoodisation baggage, and there's some implausibilities within the story. But really neither of those things stop the film from being the riveting offering that it is. So get out on that sidewalk with Dixon and see just what awaits us, and him, after Preminger has taken us for a murky stroll. 8/10
CinemaSerf2023-06-07
★ 7/10
"Dixon" (Dana Andrews) is an hard-nosed cop who likes to play by his own rules. Needless to say that puts him at odds with his superiors and ultimately leads to his demotion just as his contemporary "Thomas" (Karl Malden) is made lieutenant. Whilst all this disarray is distracting the police, criminal mastermind "Scalise" (Gary Merrill) is out to fleece wealthy sucker "Morrison" at a dice game but things at the game get a bit fraught and soon they have that man's body to contend with. "Dixon" likes to investigate with his fists and that leads him to a tragedy of his own, with even more complications as he is gradually falling in love with "Morgan" (Gene Tierney) who just happens to be a widow intricately connected with our story. We know who the culprits are, and we know who did what to whom - what helps this to work well is the way we are invited by Otto Preminger to take a perspective watching how the characters all deduce and find out. It's a violent story in a violent city and in the end you begin to wonder if the end does/did justify the means as the cat and mouse game nears it's lively finale. None of the actors here really stand out, but I think that works better at creating a genuine sense of teamwork (amongst the cops and the gang) and the dialogue is sparing enough to let the frequent action do most of the heavy lifting. It's got a grittiness to it that I felt added authenticity to this story of petty criminality and ruthlessness and I did enjoy watching it.