Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 6-December-09
Spoiler Rating: Medium

I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

Your guess is as good as mine who the "I" refers to in I Wake Up Screaming. The movie has no first-person voice-over nor any character ringing the rafters in nocturnal terror. Still, it would be foolish to quibble with the title of one of the finest whodunits ever made. They could have called it "I Snore Like a Jackhammer" and I would crave repeated viewings — assuming, of course, that I would have watched a DVD with that name in the first place.

The centerpiece of the film is the knockout combination of Victor Mature and Betty Grable, two great-looking actors who look great together. (Check out their bathing suit scene if you doubt me.) Mature plays Frankie, one of those slick New Yorkers who makes a living on the make. When questioned by the cops about the murder of a model (Carole Landis), Frankie relates how he discovered her in a diner and brought her up in the world as an investment in business and pleasure. He is the primary suspect in the case because he was found with the body and has a motive: no longer satisfied with what Frankie could offer, his protégé was ditching him for Hollywood.

The victim's sister Jill (Grable) is also questioned and adds a few interesting details to the story. For starters, she once got a look at a stalker of her sister's who turns out to be none other than the police detective heading the investigation (Laird Cregar). Also, she has an ambiguous relationship with Frankie which might be interpreted as love. Does she have personal motives for helping him? Does the detective have personal motives for hounding him?

Watching Frankie and Jill try to slip through an ever-tightening net (or noose in one memorable scene), you think you have it figured out when you don't. I Wake Up Screaming maintains its mystery right up to the end when the stars' physical attractions prove to be more than window dressing. What lies at the heart of this crime is the hunger of flesh for flesh, which takes form as both love and something a lot more sinister.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.