Post by london777 on Dec 26, 2019 1:33:22 GMT
Although Bruce Humberstone had 56 director's credits, I suspect this moderately interesting murder mystery is his best work. But I stand to be corrected by our film historians here. He was a studio maid-of-all-work who turned his hand to many genres. The only other film of his I can recall is Madison Avenue (1961), a supposed exposé of the advertising racket but pulled its punches. (Came too early).
What makes I Wake Up Screaming interesting is that it is 20th Century Fox's first venture into Film Noir. In fact, it is a very early example of the genre from any studio. I would call it a proto-noir, released the same year as other proto-noirs like High Sierra and Johnny Eager.
*** SPOILERS ***
Its plot still follows a classic who-dunnit formula from 1930s murder mysteries. Various suspects are presented in turn for the audience to think "yes, it must be him/her", only to be cleared in turn. I cannot think of any real noirs that do this, can you?
Victor Mature is our protagonist in a hole, not only with a stack of evidence against him but with the jealously vindictive inspector in charge of the case concocting some more. But Mature remains jaunty. We never feel he is trapped and desperate as in classic noir.
There is no femme fatale. True, Carole Landis, the murder victim, causes a lot of grief by her selfish behavior, but she is the main sufferer nor does she intentionally hurt others.
The score adds no Noir feeling, consisting of Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" and "Over the Rainbow" repeated ad nauseam.
What is Noir is much of the camerawork, the extensive and successful use of flashbacks. and of course the character of the lethally obsessive police inspector, played by Laird Cregar, though his dying speech is a bit lame. For it to be done well, see Double Indemnity. And the final "trap" to catch the murderer was beyond juvenile. Like something out of a Charlie Chan film, of which Humberstone directed a number.
One noir-like twist that I liked is that the Big Bad was not the actual murderer. He just seized the opportunity to be nasty.
Of course, no-one set out to make a "film noir" in those years (the genre was not retrospectively recognized as such for another two decades). But some directors must have had noirish instincts. The title is one clue that Fox had no such aim. They thought they were making a "thriller" and chose this title to liven things up, despite the fact that no-one speaks that phrase nor does anyone wake up screaming. Indeed we get the impression that Mature sleeps very soundly, as he gets up next morning ready for another day of police-baiting and wisecracking. But, given a decent script and a stellar cast, Humberstone produced a notable footnote in the history of Film Noir.
One sad foreshadowing is that the Carole Landis character is warned by her sister, Betty Grable, that if she ruthlessly pursues a glamorous career in Hollywood, it will end in grief. And of course that is exactly what happened to Landis herself, who could not handle the publicity and pressure of stardom and committed suicide at the age of 29. The lines which jarred me were when, protesting to Grable that he had never loved her sister Landis, Mature says that had he even liked her he would not have promoted her career that way, as no-one would do that to a friend. Could have been from the script of Sweet Smell of Success.
What makes I Wake Up Screaming interesting is that it is 20th Century Fox's first venture into Film Noir. In fact, it is a very early example of the genre from any studio. I would call it a proto-noir, released the same year as other proto-noirs like High Sierra and Johnny Eager.
*** SPOILERS ***
Its plot still follows a classic who-dunnit formula from 1930s murder mysteries. Various suspects are presented in turn for the audience to think "yes, it must be him/her", only to be cleared in turn. I cannot think of any real noirs that do this, can you?
Victor Mature is our protagonist in a hole, not only with a stack of evidence against him but with the jealously vindictive inspector in charge of the case concocting some more. But Mature remains jaunty. We never feel he is trapped and desperate as in classic noir.
There is no femme fatale. True, Carole Landis, the murder victim, causes a lot of grief by her selfish behavior, but she is the main sufferer nor does she intentionally hurt others.
The score adds no Noir feeling, consisting of Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" and "Over the Rainbow" repeated ad nauseam.
What is Noir is much of the camerawork, the extensive and successful use of flashbacks. and of course the character of the lethally obsessive police inspector, played by Laird Cregar, though his dying speech is a bit lame. For it to be done well, see Double Indemnity. And the final "trap" to catch the murderer was beyond juvenile. Like something out of a Charlie Chan film, of which Humberstone directed a number.
One noir-like twist that I liked is that the Big Bad was not the actual murderer. He just seized the opportunity to be nasty.
Of course, no-one set out to make a "film noir" in those years (the genre was not retrospectively recognized as such for another two decades). But some directors must have had noirish instincts. The title is one clue that Fox had no such aim. They thought they were making a "thriller" and chose this title to liven things up, despite the fact that no-one speaks that phrase nor does anyone wake up screaming. Indeed we get the impression that Mature sleeps very soundly, as he gets up next morning ready for another day of police-baiting and wisecracking. But, given a decent script and a stellar cast, Humberstone produced a notable footnote in the history of Film Noir.
One sad foreshadowing is that the Carole Landis character is warned by her sister, Betty Grable, that if she ruthlessly pursues a glamorous career in Hollywood, it will end in grief. And of course that is exactly what happened to Landis herself, who could not handle the publicity and pressure of stardom and committed suicide at the age of 29. The lines which jarred me were when, protesting to Grable that he had never loved her sister Landis, Mature says that had he even liked her he would not have promoted her career that way, as no-one would do that to a friend. Could have been from the script of Sweet Smell of Success.
). Here is part of what I wrote in a recent review on the weekly thread.
