A Trailer a day keeps the Boogeyman away! I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941)

i+wake+up+screaming+lobby+card

This energizing piece of playful film noir directed by H. Bruce Humberstone (The Crooked Circle 1932, Charlie Chan ) is based on a novel by pulp writer Steve Fisher with a script by Dwight Taylor.

I Wake Up Screaming stars the swarthy Victor Mature  sandwiched between two lovely ladies, Betty Grable and Carole Landis and co-stars Laird Cregar and Elisha Cook Jr.

With a fantastic musical landscape by Cyril J Mockridge and you’ll hear the familiar melody Street Scene by Alfred Newman played over the main titles as well as this trailer… It gets me humming all over the house!

The stunningly shot frames with noir style shadows, odd angles and low lighting are lensed by cinematographer Edward Cronjager.

Annex - Landis, Carole (I Wake Up Screaming)_01

Cregar in Frankie's room

Grable and Landis I Wake Up Screaming

I Wake up Sceaming Cregar and Mature

I wake up Screaming -mature being grilled

i-wake-up-screaming

A model Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) dies mysteriously and Inspector Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar This Gun For Hire 1942, Hangover Square 1945) is obsessed with Frankie Christopher’s (Victor Mature) part in the murder!

Told in flashback we see how Frankie meets Vicky who’s first waiting tables, then introduces her to the right social circles. When she’s about to head for Hollywood to become a rising starlet, someone kills her. Inspector Cornell wants Frankie to go down for the murder, and the only one he can turn to for help is Vicky’s sister Jill (Betty Grable) who isn’t exactly crazy about the guy….
Sadly the beautiful Carole Landis who had starred in One Million B.C. (1940) with Victor Mature died of an overdose and the headlined stories about her death read like this “The Actress Who Could Have Been…But Never Was.”

 

Your ever lovin’ MonsterGirl

3 thoughts on “A Trailer a day keeps the Boogeyman away! I Wake Up Screaming (1941)”

  1. Joey, I’ve been battling a miserable bout of sinusitis all week, but you’ve perked me up big-time with your swell trailer for I WAKE UP SCREAMING! It’s a shame that two of our favorite stars, Carole Landis and Laird Cregar, died way too soon, but at least they had a great body of work to remember them by. I hope you and Wendy and all you care about will have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, dear pal!

    P.S.: In case you’re interested, I WAKE UP SCREAMING was one of my earliest TotED posts, way back in 2011 just for fun! :-)

    http://doriantb.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-wake-up-screaming-obsession-you-are.html

    Reply

    1. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours peaches!!!! As soon as I decided to do the trailer I knew that you would float over to the Drive In because of your love for Cregar and Landis… It is SUCH a shame to have lost two fine people way TOO SOON… I will absolutely go over and read your early post for I WAKE UP SCREAMING at Tales of The Easily Distracted. In fact… on this sunny day I thought a bit of shadow and mystery would be a nice way to start off… So here I come I WAKE UP SCREAMING… with Victor Mature, Betty Grable, the beautiful Carole Landis and awesome Laird Cregar in one of the FIRST FILM NOIRS and what a film it is…. Cheers kitten and thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  2. Pingback: 31 Flavors of Noir on the Fringe to Lure You In! Part 1 - The Last Drive In

Leave a Reply