"I Wake Up Screaming" Review

 

by Daniel White

In 20th Century Fox's nifty who-done-it I Wake Up Screaming (1941), discovering who murdered Carole Landis is just one of several mysteries this feisty little thriller offers up for the viewer to decipher. For instance, why does the tune, "Over the Rainbow" play incessantly (one might say annoyingly) in the background? Didn't MGM have the rights to that song? How the hell did Darryl Zanuck manage to get his hands on a popular ditty that belonged to Leo the Lion?

Another head scratcher: In a film starring Hollywood's most popular song and dance gal from the forties, Betty Grable, how come the only musical number was given to Carole Landis? One more befuddlement: The movie is based on the book I Wake Up Screaming, by Steve Fisher; why would anyone swap such a jazzy, eye-catching title with the banal Hot Spot (thankfully, they switched back to the original, but not before it appeared on the movie poster that accompanies this review)? Finally, and probably the most baffling: How much hair grease does it take to tame Victor Mature's unruly locks?

Directed by the efficient, if unremarkable H. Bruce Humberstone, I Wake Up Screaming is a thoroughly satisfying tale that has just enough disquieting touches to merit a film noir nod. One of the biggest (heh heh) of those is a creepy Laird Cregar as a police detective obsessed with murder victim Vicky Lynn (Landis). Whether lurking outside the restaurant where she works or calmly appearing before a startled Victor Mature in his bedroom upon waking, Cregar emanates a quiet sociopathic quality that's disturbing.

The film stars Betty Grable and Carole Landis playing a pair of working-class sisters trying to make it in New York City on the eve of WWII. Landis is a "hash slinger" working in a diner, when sports-promoter Frankie Christopher (Mature) spots her. On a whim, he decides to turn the ambitious blonde beauty into a celebrity, to the dismay of her more practical-minded sister, Jill. Both ladies are very, very good, with Landis scoring points as the conniving, doomed Vicky and Grable gratifying as the warm-hearted, if wary, Jill. Betty Grable made this flick just as she was achieving superstardom as Twentieth Century Fox's newest musical comedy sensation. Not until How to Marry a Millionaire over a decade later would she appear on celluloid without warbling a tune while hoofing in an elaborate dance number. I would have enjoyed more of Betty sans song, she's a solid dramatic player, quick with a comic retort and brimming with spirit and amiability.

While I Wake Up Screaming was a box-office winner, it probably wasn't as big a success as her musicals were. She was far more profitable as a songbird and terpsichorean than straight dramatic performer. Still, we're lucky to have Miss Grable in I Wake Up Screaming, an eerie, extremely well-made mystery about the death of a centerfold (a 1940's variant, anyway) and the men surrounding her, one of whom is responsible for her demise.

With Alan Mowbray, Alyn Joslyn, a spooked (and spooky) Elisha Cook Jr., and outstanding and fitting film noir cinematography from Edward Cronjager, I Wake Up Screaming is available on YouTube.