Customer Reviews
Something worth screaming about 
2008-05-12
I Wake Up Screaming is one of quite a few films that give the lie to the notion that Victor Mature couldn't act, with his likeable press agent very different in tone and delivery from many of his roles. But good as he is, it's Laird Cregar's creepy cop patiently and cheerfully (well, as cheerfully as he can manage) shadowing him and turning up everywhere like a bad penny who dominates the film - this is a guy who makes Hank Quinlan look like a poster boy for acceptable face of law enforcement without even raising so much as his voice. Terrific dialogue and a cast of likely suspects from Alan Mowbray to Elisha Cook Jr. actually gives this one a convincing whodunit element - you actually do start wondering if Mature could be guilty towards the end. Great stuff.
awful music 
2007-10-03
Following my film noir search I have to admit I really enjoy this movie, I only regret listening as love theme the main theme from Over The Rainbow by Harold Arlen. Very interesting collection this Fox Film Noir, 5 new other titles are on the way.
Among the Earliest "Gritty" Noirs, A Film That Paved The Way For More Memorable Examples of the Style 2007-08-17
As it originally emerged, Film Noir was as glossy as it was tough, a genre photographed in a remarkable visual style of light and shadow and offering cynical and often witty tales of slick anti-heroes and dangerous dames--and films like THE MALTESE FALCON, THIS GUN FOR HIRE, MILDRED PIERCE, THE BLUE DAHLIA, and DOUBLE INDEMNITY remain great classics of their kind. At the same time, however, 20th Century Fox was releasing a stream of "pulp" crime dramas. Often overlooked or flatly dismissed by critics, they would pave the way for the shift in Noir style that came in 1948 with the "true crime," gritty style of NAKED CITY.
The first of these 20th Century Fox films, based on a novel by Steve Fisher, was I WAKE UP SCREAMING. Jill and Vicky Lynn (Betty Grable and Carole Landis) are two sisters living in New York; Vicky is working as a waitress when she is noticed by promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature), who is soon convinced he can turn her into a star. But Vicky proves perfidious: once success is within her grasp she drops Frankie to pursue a career in Hollywood. Her career never comes to pass: she is found dead in her apartment, Frankie standing over her. And police inspector Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) makes it clear that he intends to nail Frankie for Vicky's murder.
Although the dialogue is clunky, the film structure is intriguing, often telling the story through flashbacks in a way upon the 1944 LAURA would improve. But the real power of the film is the sharp edge with which director H. Bruce Humberstone endows the film--and the truly memorable photography by Edward Cronjager, a truly gifted cinematographer who would receive no fewer than seven Oscar nominations during his long career. And then there are two powerhouse performances that drive the film: Carole Landis and Laird Cregar.
Originally from Wisconsin, Carole Landis began her career playing bit parts in such films as A DAY AT THE RACES--but in 1940 she had a major breakthrough in the film ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. In hindsight, it is obvious that Landis was a competent if slightly limited actress; at the time, however, she was generally dismissed by critics as just another pretty girl without significant talents. In a very real sense, I WAKE UP SCREAMING would be the high-water mark of her career; she was thereafter generally overlooked by the studio and often miscast. By 1948 her career was over, and she took her own life.
Laird Cregar, however, was a different matter, immediately recognized for his gifts. But Cregar was an extremely large man, weighing in at 300 pounds. It was a fact that limited his career, and although he appeared to tremendous effect in such films as THIS GUN FOR HIRE, HEAVEN CAN WAIT, and the exceptional THE LODGER, leading man status eluded him. Determined to cross the line, Cregar went on a crash diet and dropped over 100 pounds. It got him the lead in HANGOVER SQUARE, which many regard as his best film--but it also strained his health to the breaking point, and he died of heart failure in 1945.
In spite of its innovations, the firey performances of Landis and Cregar, and an unexpected plot twist that can still drop jaws today, I WAKE UP SCREAMING is a slightly awkward film, largely due to the flippant nature of its dialogue and the "goody goody" quality of the role assigned to Betty Grable, who reads here as somewhat saccharine. Nonetheless, this is a film that fans of Film Noir cannot afford to miss, for it points the way to the new style. The quality of the picture is a bit hit and miss, but the DVD has a surprising number of bonuses--including a memorable audio commentary by film historian Eddie Muller. In comparison to such contemporary films as THE MALTESE FALCON and the slightly later LAURA, it is pretty mild stuff--but the film has a historical importance in terms of the Noir movement, and fans of the genre will find it indispensible. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
I Wake Up Screaming 
2007-06-25
One of the first Hollywood whodunits to build an atmosphere of torment and menace around its two protagonists, Humberstone's enthralling psychological thriller opens with two police interrogations that quickly establish character, motives, and the events leading up to the murder via flashback. Mature and Grable give complex performances as a pair thrown together by circumstance and drawn into a love affair, but the film really belongs to Cregar, whose brutish portrayal of an unscrupulous policeman was a career high. This stunningly photographed, ominous early noir will leave you "Screaming."
Orson Welles watched this one for sure 2007-04-21
Nobody seemed to have noticed the striking common points between Ed Cornell, the big, fat, rotten policeman, and Hank Quinlan from Touch of Evil (1958). Orson was a genius, but he used the good old classics to inspire him.
I Wake Up Screaming 2007-03-25
Promoter Frankie Christopher being grilled by police in the murder of model Vicky Lynn recalls in flashback: First meeting her as a waitress Frankie decides to parlay her beauty into social acceptance and a lucrative career. He succeeds only too well: she's on the eve of deserting him for Hollywood...when someone kills her. Now Frankie gets the feeling that Inspector Ed Cornell is determined to pin the killing on him and only him. He's right. And the only one he can turn to for help is Jill the victim's sister who's been cool toward him...System Requirements:Running Time: 82 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 024543244547 Manufacturer No: 2234454
I love these old movies 2007-01-28
Fox has a complete series of these "Film Noir" films. I have three of them to date and love all three. I will continue to buy as I find them. It's definitely worth the time and money.
Moody thriller with plenty going for it including one memorable performance... 2007-01-03
Tough policemen do not spend all their time slapping the villains around... Sometimes they are ruthless and crooked too in more subtle ways...
Such a cop is the character in "I Wake Up Screaming." The story is that of a detective who conceives a hopeless passion for a waitress - hopeless because she, not even knowing he is a policeman, is terrified of him from the beginning... He murders her, then uses his police force influence to shift the blame on to the hero...
Laird Cregar played the detective - a magnificently sinister performance, though how the New York police department allowed a detective as overweight as Cregar to remain on the strength, passes belief...
The film was remade, in 1953, as "Vicki," and the detective was more believable because he was played by Richard Boone, that awkward, fleshy-nosed heavy who did not become an actor until after leaving the U. S. Navy at the end of World War II, but who has developed into one of the best menaces in the business...
A terrific "B" film noir 2006-09-23
No one smokes in it and there is very little rain on the night streets, but a 1941 Fox release called I WAKE UP SCREAMING is definitely a film noir--and a very good one. Working with a Dwight Taylor screenplay, director Bruce Humberstone (who directed four Charlie Chan films at Fox) has a terrific noir cast--atypically cast Betty Grable is Jill Lynn. Her fashion model sister, Vicki (Carole Landis), is found murdered. Leading the suspects is sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature), along with oily detective Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) and hotel desk clerk Elisha Cook. Jr. There is also a gossip columnist (Alan Mowbray). Maybe Jill herself is the killer in an act of jealousy. Possibly Jill and Frankie did the crime together.
I WAKE UP SCREAMING has wonderfully atmospheric New York City locales. The movie has beautiful B&W photography by Edward Cronjager, who worked in Technicolor with Ernst Lubitsch a couple of years later on HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943). And it has very suspenseful plotting, with the classic noir flashback device. Vicki's body is discovered in the opening scenes. For most of the movie, Frankie and Jill are being interrogated in two police offices under harsh lights, while also being given "the third degree" by the pesty Cornell all over Manhattan. The ending is a real surprise, or was to me.
I WAKE UP SCREAMING also makes beautiful use of "Over the Rainbow" (borrowed from MGM?) and the classic Fox "Street Scene" theme. This is an 82 minute "B" movie and no classic, but is still a gripping and rewarding entry in the Fox Film Noir DVD series with an outstanding cast and crew. It is certainly worth your time, if you like film noir. The underrated Grable does excellently in a non-musical role. Humberstone had just completed SUN VALLEY SERENADE with her. DVD bonuses include an audio commentary by noir expert Eddie Muller, a deleted scene, and alternate HOT SPOT opening titles. This movie is currently selling for only $10 brand-new from Amazon, so it is probably a better sales item than a rental.
Rest easy after I Wake Up Screaming (recommended) 2006-09-10
From the title, it would appear that I WAKE UP SCREAMING is a 1941 thriller with blood curdling scenes to keep you awake at night. Actually, this is a noir mystery -- a whodunit. The title overstates the action which is still quite good -- just not frightening.
Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is under the hot lights as prime suspect in a murder investigation of waitress Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis). With flashbacks reminiscent of BAREFOOT CONTESSA (1954), each man in the life of the victim recalls his encounter with Vicky.
Jill (Betty Grable) takes center stage as she discovers Frankie standing over her sister's body. Wanting to believe his innocence, the two work together to find out what really happened while Police Inspector Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) is relentlessly on the heels of Frankie. In the end, all the pieces neatly fall in place.
Mature has a difficult role. The way he is hounded, it would seem he would wake up screaming every night. Instead, he remains level-headed but belligerent. Landis only appears as a memory so beautiful Grable (who at one time was the highest paid Hollywood actress with legs insured for one million dollars) is the real star.
If you like mystery and suspense you can rest easy after I WAKE UP SCREAMING. (4.5 stars)
Movie quote: "What's the good of living without hope?" "It can be done."
