Screaming Mimi (1958)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

Robert Blees (screenplay)
Fredric Brown (novel)

Release Date:

8 August 1958 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

Suspense around every curve!

Plot:

Exotic dancer Virginia Wilson (Anita Ekberg) sees a man get shot moments after he tries to knife her in a shower (two years before "Psycho")...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Exotic Dancer | Nightclub | Psychiatrist | Dancer

Cast

Anita Ekberg	...	Virginia Wilson / Yolanda Lange
Philip Carey	...	Bill Sweeney
Gypsy Rose Lee	...	Joann 'Gypsy' Masters
Harry Townes	...	Dr. Greenwood / Bill Green
Linda Cherney	...	Ketti
Romney Brent	...	Charlie Weston
Red Norvo	...	Red Yost
Red Norvo Trio	...	Musical Ensemble
Alan Gifford	...	Captain Bline
Oliver McGowan	...	Walter Krieg
Stephen Ellsworth	...	Dr. Joseph Robinson
Vaughn Taylor	...	Raoul Reynarde
Frank J. Scannell	...	Paul, the Bartender

Runtime:

USA:79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Sage Productions

Trivia:

The Red Norvo Trio (the musicians in Joann's club) is really a quartet.

Quotes:

Bill Sweeney: How tall are you, Yolanda?
Virginia Wilson aka Yolanda Lange: With heels or without?
Bill Sweeney: With anyone. Me, for instance.

Movie Connections:

Version of L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo (1970)

Soundtrack:

Put the Blame on Mame

A "missing link"

This film could be considered one of the missing links between American film noir and the suspense and horror films that would become so popular in continental Europe over the next two decades (i.e. the German "krimis", the Italian "gialli", the horror films of Bava and Argento). It's technically a late period film noir, but rather than having the traditional pessimistic tone and hard-boiled, voice-over narrative, it is completely off-the-wall and chock-full of the suggested depravity and lurid psycho-babble that would characterize the later European films. Interestingly, it was apparently based on the same Fredric Brown novel as Dario Argento's "Bird with Crystal Plummage" (although at least one of these movie was obviously only loosely based on the source novel because they don't really resemble each other too much). It also features European sex symbol Anita Ekberg as a voluptuous stripper (who looks like she could eat Edwige Fenech or one of the other later European sex kittens). Rare for the time, it even has a psycho-killer, called "The Ripper", who leaves the epononymous "screaming mimi" dolls next to his/her butchered female victims. Not a great movie perhaps, but I really dug it.