With Halloween over but still lingering in our devilish minds, #BNoirDetour on Sunday 11/1 presents a day-after treat with a title that sounds like pure horror but a film that’s pure noir, based on an original story by Dashiell Hammett.
I Wake Up Screaming (1941) features the dark and shadowy camerawork a good noir needs along with a murder mystery plot complete with twists, turns, and tough-talking cops. The reliance on flashbacks adds to the effect.
Our central male character is Victor Mature’s Frankie Christopher, a promoter who shifts from managing fighters to fashion models–or rather just one model, Miss Vicki Lynn (Carole Landis). He raises her from waitress to gorgeous gal about town in a flash, and her career takes off. But soon her ego swells along with her bank book, and she declares her intention to head for Hollywood.
Before she she can strike out on her own, however, someone strikes her dead. And the prime suspect is jilted manager Frankie. The cops grill him, but he never changes his story: he’s innocent and he doesn’t know who did it.
One cop in particular, Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), is entirely certain Frankie did it, and he’s not above bending the law to prove it. (Cregar is the horror element in this film, brilliant in his taut, cruel performance and the most likely reason for the title.)
If Vicki Lynn is our femme fatale lite in this film, then our angel of goodness is her sister, Jill Lynn (Betty Grable). Her attitude toward Frankie shifts as the film develops, and she’s all one could want of a spunky yet prim young woman of the era. (I’d rather have more bad girls, but oh well.)
So there’s the pitch. Join #BNoirDetour on Sunday 11/1 at 9pm ET for I Wake Up Screaming.
B Noir Detour 
October 31, 2015 at 4:04 AM
Great piece on a movie I too like a lot (although here we’re still on koff koff October 30). I always thought it was a pity that Mature was so often presented by Hollywood as an action hero in historical epics that lay somewhere between Reeves and Heston. Where he really shone was in contemporary movies, and especially films noirs. It took me decades to realize that this oaf whom, in my childhood, I’d seen in dud B-sword’n’sandallers was the same very skilled actor I’d encounter in some very fine dramas.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 31, 2015 at 3:01 PM
Thanks for the praise, and I too prefer Mature in noir (except for Shanghai Gesture and its weird racism).
October 30?
LikeLike
November 4, 2015 at 1:18 PM
In reading this post, I realized I have only ever seen Betty Grable in light comedies, never in a noir. This noir sounds really good and, judging by the previous comments, Victor Mature alone is likely worth the price of admission. I want to join the Live Tweet sessions and I will as soon as life becomes a bit less cluttered. I’m sorry I missed this one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
November 4, 2015 at 3:32 PM
We’ll be happy to have you join in when life allows.
Meanwhile, you can use the YouTube link and watch the film. It’s a strange, fun ride.
LikeLike