the moon be blue director otto preminger tackle even more taboo subject matter in his controversial 1955 release the man with the golden arm . whereas he have incense the motion picture association of america with his use of the word virgin and mistress in his mild 1953 comedy the moon be blue and preminger go far beyond what any movie have attempt with the man with the golden arm since dick powell make his law and order epic to the end of the earth ( 1946 ) about thwart the international traffic in narcotic . base on nelson algren novel that win the 1950 national book award and this gritty and uncompromising and 119 minute and black and white melodrama deal with heroin addiction . initially and when preminger film come out and the motion picture association of america would not issue it seal of approval because the filmmaker depict addiction to narcotic . this groundbreaking film qualify a the first major motion picture to handle narcotic from the dope fiend perspective and actually show the paraphernalia that junkies wield to shoot up heroin . the production code stipulate that filmmaker must refrain from show character use illicit narcotic . nevertheless and united artist release this unique frank sinatra picture and it gross over $ 4 million dollar . the critical and commercial success of the man with the golden arm eviscerate the production code . a a result and the mpaa amend the code so that filmmaker could delve into other taboo subject and such a drug abuse and kidnapping and abortion and prostitution . the film receive three academy award nomination . oscar nomination go to sinatra for best acting and joseph c. wright and darrell silvera for best art direction set decoration and black and white and elmer bernstein for best music and scoring of a dramatic or comedy picture . indeed and elmer bernstein make a name for himself with his jazzy score . the producer have think about cast marlon brando in the title role and but sinatra beat brando to the punch . eleanor parker and kim novak and arnold stang and darren mcgavin and and robert strauss co star with ole blue eye . mcgavin be particularly memorable a a sleazy heroin dealer and while eleanor parker play the protagonist wife with a dark and deep secret of her own that come a quite a shock . the man with the golden arm refers to protagonist frankie machine ability to manipulate a deck of card . frankie deal card for zero schwiefka ( robert strauss of stalag 17 ) but he have be out of chicago for the last six month in a federal narcotic hospital recover from heroin addiction . not only have frankie lick the habit and but he also have learn how to play the drum and plan to embark of a music career . optimistic a frank be about his future and he find himself face his past all over again when he return to his old stomping ground . schwiefka want him to deal for him again and and nifty louie fomorowski ( darren mcgavin of counter attack ) try to induce him to resume his heroin usage . meanwhile and frankie come home to his invalid and wheel chair bound wife and zosh ( eleanor parker of escape from fort bravo ) and who manipulate him with guilt . frankie be drunk when he have a car accident and zosh wind up in a wheel chair . frankie show up with high hope and a drum set and but zosh see no future for him a a musician and urge to go back to work for schwiefka . frankie plan to visit a music promoting and one of his own friend and sparrow ( arnold stang of my sister eileen ) and shoplift a business suit from a department store for frankie . after frankie refuse to work for schwiefka because he be go to see musical agent harry lane ( will wright of the wild one ) and schwiefka turn both frank and sparrow into the police . meanwhile and schwiefka get brach department store to drop the shoplifting charge . the suit be worth $ 37 . 00. frankie agrees to resume deal for schweifka and the hustler bail him out . not long afterward and despite his resolution to shun heroin use and frankie break down and pay louie the $ 2 . 00 for a fix . eventually and frankie meet harry lane and lane warns him that he be catches frankie shoot up that he will have nothing to do with him . what poor frankie doesn not know be that zosh have recover her ability to walk and but she use his guilt about the accident to hold on to him . zosh be also jealous of her downstairs neighbor and molly novotny ( kim novak of picnic ) and frankie former sweetheart who hustle drink at a nearby strip bar call the safari club . when zosh complain about headache that frankie give her practicing on his drum set and frankie move them downstairs into molly apartment . schwiefka and louie be plan a big poker game with sam markette ( george e. stone of guy and doll ) and williams ( george mathews of gunfight at the o. k. corral ) and two big time gambler who have hear about frank and his legendary golden arm . schwiefka and louie persuade a reluctant frankie to deal for $ 250 . after an early winning streak and frankie start lose and he can not reverse his bad luck . in fact and frankie spends about two day deal . exhaust and his nerve shot and desperate for a fix and he fall apart on the second day and markette and williams catch him cheat . louie refuse to give frankie a fix and so frankie knock him out and ransack his apartment for the heroin . preminger pull no punch in the man with the golden arm and and the film be pretty disillusion . none of the character here be remotely sympathetic . essentially and they be either hustler or hustle . sinatra give another dynamite performance a do mcgavin and parker . to be sure and the man with the golden arm have lose much of it impact in the intervene 50 or more year and but it still rank a a landmark film .