I WAKE UP SCREAMING
US, 1941, Black and white, 78 minutes.
Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, Alan Mowbray, Allyn Joslyn, Elisha Cook Jnr.
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone.
I Wake Up Screaming was a rather sensational title for a 1941 film. It was the name of the original novel on which the film was based (by Steve Fisher). It was remade as Vicky in 1953 with Jean Peters, Jeanne Crain and Richard Boone.
The film anticipated the film noir of the middle and late 1940s with the focus on the femme fatale, police corruption, obsession, the use of black and white photography, especially for light and shadow.
The plot is a murder mystery, presented in a serious of flashbacks as Victor Mature is being interviewed and as Betty Grable is being interviewed. Gradually, the characters come to life: Vicky, the waitress who is promoted by Victor Mature to become a glamorous personality and star, Betty Grable as her office-working sister (although she does get the opportunity to wear a bathing suit in one scene!). Laird Cregar, who was to die within four years, had a short career playing sinister characters, a man of rather large presence who could be menacing rather than sympathetic. Elisha Cook Jnr, who was to appear in many film noir, such as The Maltese Falcon, portrays the killer.
1. A film noir of the early 40s? 20th Century- Fox production and style? Black and white photography? Light and shadows?
2. The New York setting, the clubs, apartments, police precincts, hotels? The musical score - and the contemporary songs, the use of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' as background?
3. The title - and its references? To Jill? To Frankie?
4. The basic plot: Vicky, her work in the diner, her attitude towards Frankie, accepting the invitation to the dinner, glamorised successful? The beginnings of her career? At the dinner, the attention from Robin, from Larry? The murder - and suspicions on Frankie, his being interrogated? The suspicions on the journalist, and his having met Vicky on the day she died? The actor and his infatuation with her, her despising of him? Her relationship with her sister? The ultimate revelation of Ed Cornell being infatuated with her, having a shrine to her in his home? The pieces coming together?
5. Jill, the office worker, simple, giving information to the police, her relationship with her sister, wary of her success, her falling for Frankie, their meetings, suspicions? Helping him to uncover the murderer? The set-up with Harry? The happy ending? Betty Grable in this kind of role?
6. Frankie, promotions, boxing, actor friends, the wealthy? The attack by Cornell, pursuing him, grilling him? His getting away from the police? Investigations, the notes, the letters? His relationship with Jill? The final confrontation with Harry?
7. Cornell, being seen outside the window, his interrogating Frankie, standing in the shadows, coming into the light? His persistence, his home, Frankie discovering the shrine? Cornell arriving, his illness, his explanations, suicide?
8. The actor, pompous? The journalist, wanting stories, phoning in about Jill and Frankie at the club? Suspicious characters?
9. Harry, at the hotel, his infatuation with Vicky, his alibis, supported by Cornell, the truth, the confrontation? His confession? The role of the police?
10. An old-fashioned melodrama, murder mystery, characters, film noir?
