Watch I Wake Up Screaming For Free

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

As Good As It Gets

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

To begin with - (Unless I missed something while I was repeatedly nodding off) - No one.... I repeat.... No one in this WTF-film ever woke up screaming, ever. Nope. They sure didn't.And, let me tell ya - I kinda wish that someone had done some serious screaming in this "Noir" rubbish-film - 'Cause this picture really needed something (anything) to wake its dreary story (and me) up.And, speaking about the prevalence of police harassment and Gestapo-style interrogation taken by the NYPD throughout the story-line - This demented "Noir" dud certainly brought all of that business right down to the level of laughably preposterous absurdity in no time flat.(You really gotta see this utter-nonsense movie to know what I'm talking about here)Anyway - The only people who I would ever recommend this asinine picture to would be those who I had absolutely no respect for, whatsoever.

Just go with it -- suspend all disbelief and enjoy! Her sister may have just been murdered, but lovely Betty Grable giggles as she makes with a hacksaw on big lug Victor Mature's handcuffs! Laird Cregar menaces as a giant, obsessed detective who purrs philsophically! All that and Elisha Cook Jr.! Fox staff composer Cyril J. Mockridge provides the score -- giddy alternating repetition of 'Over the Rainbow' and Gershwin pastiche ('Rhapsody in Blue'?), as love theme and underworld suspense motif, respectively. Sounds as slapped-together-in-a-hurry as the film looks -- in a good way! The crazy pace and goofy energy are this film's admirable strengths.Watch for the not-even-close/no-time-to-get-it-right rear projection as Cregar and Mature take an uncomfortable drive uptown in a convertible. Otherwise the design and lighting/photography are swell.Ace perennial English butler Allan Mowbray gets to expand his comic and dramatic range as a flamboyant aging stage actor/superb physical coward. Charles 'oh yeah, that guy' Lane appears as his typical taciturn, semi-bald, bespectacled self in the role of the cooperative florist -- not quite the usual 'angry authority' bit he played hundreds of times on film and TV into the 1990s. (Lane, a founding member of SAG, passed in 2007 at age 102 -- one of the last survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.)This is a good film to study regarding the phenomenon of 'star quality' -- never was Victor Mature's self-admitted aggressive lack of interest in Acting more apparent, or more perfectly utilised!

Considering its recognised status as one of the very earliest film noirs, it's remarkable how many characteristics of the classic style are featured in "I Wake Up Screaming" (aka "Hot Spot"). Themes including sexual obsession, betrayal and entrapment are very prominent and its big city setting, numerous flashbacks and witty dialogue are all used to great effect. A portrait of a beautiful woman is a standard noir motif which was due to become more frequently used in later years and the expressionistic cinematography in this movie is both aesthetically pleasing and incredibly effective in establishing the mood of the piece.Well known New York City sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is at a restaurant one night with actor Robin Ray (Alan Mowbray) and gossip columnist Larry Evans (Allyn Joslyn) who are both very impressed with good-looking waitress, Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis). Much to the amusement of his friends, Frankie claims that he could successfully promote Vicky and make her a star and soon starts to introduce her to some influential people. Vicky subsequently achieves some success as a model and one day announces to a surprised Frankie that she's had a screen test and is leaving for Hollywood without him. Shortly after this act of betrayal, Vicky is found dead and Frankie becomes the prime suspect.Frankie is subjected to some aggressive questioning by a group of detectives in an interrogation room and one of them, Detective Inspector Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), is especially menacing. He has a reputation for never losing a case and openly threatens Frankie with the electric chair (aka the hot spot). Due to a lack of hard evidence, Frankie is eventually released but although Vicky's sister Jill (Betty Grable), Frankie's friends (Ray and Evans) and a switchboard operator at Vicky's apartment house, Harry Williams (Elisha Cook Jr.) are all considered as suspects at various points in the investigation, Cornell continues to pursue Frankie relentlessly.Jill and Frankie fall in love and soon realise that the only way they'll be able to have any future together will be if they can find the real killer. When the culprit is caught, however, further interesting revelations follow.This movie is a visual treat with a whole series of clever compositions of light and shadow being used to enhance the atmosphere and two sequences are particularly impressive. Initially, the interrogation room which is bathed in darkness with the intense spotlight being pointed directly in Frankie's face emphasises how trapped this innocent man is and later, on the staircase in Vicky's apartment building, when he stands covered in a huge grid of shadow, it reinforces his status as a person who's been framed.Ed Cornell is the character that makes the strongest impression in this movie as not only is he physically imposing but also, with his soft voice and creepy behaviour, everything he does seems so calculated and sinister. His habit of turning up in people's rooms unexpectedly is particularly disconcerting and he also puts psychological pressure on certain suspects by trying to get into their heads. Laird Cregar is ideally cast as Cornell and provides the film's standout performance. Victor Mature and Betty Grable also excel in their roles."I Wake Up Screaming" with its terrific pace, great one-liners and some neat twists, is extremely entertaining and a superb example of early noir.

When the model Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) is found murdered in her apartment in New York, the promoter of sports Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) becomes the prime suspect of Inspector Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) and is brought to the precinct for interrogatory. Christopher discloses how he promoted the career of Vicky when she was a waitress after making a bet with his friends Robin Ray (Alan Mowbray) and Larry Evans (Allyn Joslyn). After reaching the stardom, Vicky tells Christopher that she would leave him to go to Hollywood and on the next day, she was killed. Ed Cornell insists that Christopher is the killer and frames him, and Christopher can only have the support of Vicky's sister, Jill Lynn (Betty Grable), who has fallen in love with him. Who Killed Vicki? "I Wake Up Screaming" is a film-noir with a story of unrequited love and obsession and "Over the Rainbow" as the music theme (after "The Wizard of Oz" of two years before). Laird Cregar is scary in the role of Inspector Ed Cornell and the final twist surprises and is well resolved. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Quem Matou Vicki?" ("Who Killed Vicki")