After the slaying of New York glamour girl Vicki Lynn (Jean Peters), zealous homicide detective Lt. Ed Cornell (Richard Boone) insists on canceling his vacation and heading the investigation.
At police headquarters, Cornell grills Steve Christopher (Elliott Reid), the promoter responsible for Vicki's career, and Jill Lynn (Jeanne Crain), Vicki's sister.
Christopher relates how he met Vicki several months before, with influential columnist Larry Evans (Max Showalter, as Casey Adams), returning from the opening night of a new play starring their friend, Robin Ray (Alexander D'Arcy). Christopher and Evans meet Vicki at the cafeteria where she works, and assure Vicki that Christopher, a successful publicity man, could help her become New York's top model.
Back at the police station, Jill tells Police Capt. J. 'Chief' Donald (John Dehner), the head of homicide, that during the next few months, Vicki's fame grew. The chief asks if any men had bothered Vicki, and Jill remembers that one mysterious man would hang around the cafeteria, staring intently at Vicki. Jill is horrified when Cornell enters the room and she recognizes him as the man she described. Cornell insists that Christopher is the killer, but he and Jill are released because Harry Williams (Aaron Spelling), the switchboard operator at Jill and Vicki's building, is missing and is presumed to be the killer.
The next day, Jill moves into a new apartment, she discovers a note from Christopher to Vicki. Jill gives Christopher the note, but Cornell grabs it and handcuffs Christopher. Jill knocks Cornell unconscious, admits that she loves Christopher, and the couple embraces. Christopher then asks Jill to meet him at a repair shop to remove the handcuffs, but when she arrives, she is arrested. Hoping that Jill will lead him to Christopher, Cornell has her released.
Evans admits that just before Vicki was killed, he escorted her to her apartment, and Harry was not at the desk. Evans climbed up the fire escape and upon entering Vicki's apartment, smelled cigarette smoke but dismissed it. Realizing that Harry must have murdered Vicki, Christopher enlists police sergeant McDonald and Jill to help trap him, and soon after, the addled Harry, who secretly loved Vicki, confesses.
Harry also reveals that Cornell was aware of his guilt but let him go. Enraged that Cornell tried to frame him, Christopher goes to the detective's apartment, and is astonished to find a shrine of candles and flowers in front of photographs of Vicki. Cornell admits he was in love with Vicki and blames Christopher for taking her away from him. Christopher tells Cornell that Vicki had no interest in him, and Cornell, in despair, begs Christopher to shoot him. Christopher cannot do it, however, and Mac arrests the crestfallen detective. In the daylight, Christopher and Jill kiss and hold hands as they walk along the street, impervious to the fact that Vicki's posters are being covered with those of a new glamour girl.
A 1953 American Black & White film-noir crime film directed by Harry Horner, produced by Leonard Goldstein, screenplay by Dwight Taylor, based on Steve Fisher's novel "I Wake Up Screaming" (1941), cinematography by Milton R. Krasner, starring Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid, Richard Boone, Max Showalter, Alexander D'Arcy (as Alex D'Arcy), Carl Betz, Aaron Spelling, and John Dehner. Final screen appearance of Izetta Jewel.
Jean Peters soon gave up acting to marry Howard Hughes.
It's notable to see TV's Paladin, Richard Boone, acting with radio's Paladin, John Dehner.
An early sequence shows the Circus Gardens, which opened in 1953, with Ocean Park standing in for Elizabeth, N.J.
This is a (nearly scene-for-scene) routine remake of the "I Wake Up Screaming" (1941) starring Betty Grable, Victor Mature, and Carole Landis.
The classic movie "Laura" (1944) is playing in the all-night movie house, and the lines are from the police interrogation scene featuring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. In a reference to that movie, this film opens with a view of Vicki's portrait, which looks eerily like Laura's portrait, same pose, same dress, as if Gene Tierney's head was replaced by Jean Peters' head.
On Vicki's bedroom wall is a print of the painting "Pinkie" by Thomas Lawrence. Jeanne Crain starred in "Pinky" (1949). The other famous painting in the movie is, Blue Boy, by Thomas Gainsborough.
Soundtrack music:
"Vicki" - Written by Ken Darby and Max Showalter
"I Know Why (and So Do You)" - Music by Harry Warren, Lyrics Mack Gordon, Performed by Jean Peters
"How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You?" - Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics Harold Adamson, Performed by Jean Peters
"Give Me the Simple Life" - Music by Rube Bloom
Intriguing, imperfect but beautiful remake of an undeservedly obscure classic 40s obsession-murder thriller. This feisty, low budget, part whodunit and part film-noir, rises above its material, with some excellent touches. Worth a look primarily for completists.
29 авг 2024
