I wake up screaming
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | I wake up screaming |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1941 |
| length | 82 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| script |
Dwight Taylor Steve Fisher (novel) |
| production | Milton Sparrow |
| music | Cyril J. Mockridge |
| camera | Edward Cronjager |
| cut | Robert L. Simpson |
| occupation | |
| |
I Wake Up Screaming (Alternative title: Hot Spot ) is in black and white twisted American thriller of H. Bruce Humberstone from 1941 based on the novel by Steve Fisher . The film is considered an early milestone in the history of film noir .
action
New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher is suspected of murdering model Vicky Lynn. He and Vicky's sister Jill are cross-examined by the police, led by sinister Lieutenant Ed Cornell, to investigate the circumstances.
Through flashbacks, the viewer learns that Christopher, together with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans, "discovered" the hitherto completely unknown waitress Vicky while visiting a restaurant some time ago. In the following months, contrary to Jill's concerns, Vicky is built up by them to become a celebrity known throughout the city. The day before she was murdered, Vicky informed the three that she had signed a film contract and would be leaving for Hollywood the next day. Then she insinuates Christopher then when they drive together with Jill that he would be happy to get rid of her because Jill is in love with him. When Jill comes to Vicky's apartment the following afternoon after work to accompany her to the train station, she finds Christopher bent over Vicky's corpse. He claims to have only just found the body himself.
Because there is nothing to prove to Christopher, he and Jill are ultimately released. The unyielding Cornell is obviously still convinced of Christopher's guilt. He persecutes him mercilessly and puts him under increasing pressure through psychological tricks. When Jill and Christopher get closer after a few days, she hands him a note that Christopher had written after driving together. In this he informed Vicky in an angry tone that he was glad to have her "out of the way" soon. Suddenly they are surprised by Cornell and his people who want to arrest Christopher in the face of this new index. However, Jill helps him escape.
Chased by the police, Christopher and Jill set out to find the real killer. They eventually find out that Vicky was killed in an attempted rape by Harry Williams, the caretaker of the apartment. Upon his arrest, Williams testifies that Cornell knew from the start that he was the killer. Angry, Christopher makes his way to Cornell's apartment to confront him. There he discovers that Cornell has set up the apartment like a shrine for Vicky. The desperate Cornell admits that he had been hopelessly in love with Vicky for a long time and wanted revenge on Christopher because he had "stolen" Vicky from him. Cornell then committed suicide with poison.
background
I Wake Up Screaming is a prime example of the evolving style and motifs of film noir in the early 1940s. Cinematographer Edward Cronjager already uses high-contrast, low-key lighting, which has become more and more common in subsequent films of the genre. The film also contains the first prototypes of estranged noir protagonists, corrupt officials and sexual obsessions, which became more and more clearly elaborated in the course of the following years.
After a few test screenings under the title Hot Spot , the production company 20th Century Fox changed the title of the film to I Wake Up Screaming, based on the novel of the same name. Under this title, the film opened on January 16, 1942 in American cinemas. In Germany the film was never released in theaters.
In 1953, director Harry Horner made a remake of the film called Vicki .
criticism
"The film is a significant but underrated example of the classic film noir cycle."
Web links
- I Wake Up Screaming in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael L. Stephens: Film Noir: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Reference to Movies, Terms and Persons , McFarland & Co, Jefferson (NC) 1995, p. 329.
- ↑ Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward (Ed.): Film Noir. An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition. Overlook / Duckworth, New York / Woodstock / London 1992, ISBN 978-0-87951-479-2 , pp. 141-142.
- ^ "The movie is a significant but undervaluated example of the classical film noir cycle." Geoff Mayer and Brian McDonnell: Encyclopedia of Film Noir , Greenwood Press, Westport 2007, ISBN 978-0-313-33306-4 , pp. 226– 228