Sombras da Loucura

A fairly close remake of the 1942 proto-noir "I Wake Up Screaming," "Vicki" was filmed and released 11 years later. During the picture's opening credits, however, with its elegant music and close-up portrait painting of a beautiful murder victim, "Vicki" may instead bring to mind another Fox noir, 1944's "Laura"; I'd swear that the typeface of the titles of the two films is even the same! "Vicki" features a cast of "lesser names" than did "IWUS," but follows the same basic plot path. Here, Jean Peters plays the title role, originally portrayed by Carole Landis, of Vicki Lynn, a pretty NYC model who is murdered while on the verge of her big Hollywood break. Jeanne Crain fills in for Betty Grable, playing her sister (a huge upgrade in terms of looks and acting ability, I feel), and Elliott Reid (I know...who?) takes over for Victor Mature, as the publicity man who gets Vicki's career started. Richard Boone here plays Ed Cornell, the maniac cop on the case (a debatable improvement on Laird Cregar's hulking presence), while future TV mogul Aaron Spelling (!) plays a wacky hotel clerk, taking the part once essayed by the great Elisha Cook, Jr. So yes, lesser names, perhaps, but the presence of Jeanne Crain, one of the greatest of screen beauties, always helps carry a picture...for this viewer, anyway. "Vicki" is a fairly compact film with little flab. It is well played by all and features a moody score by Leigh Harline. Director Harry Horner, a man better known in Hollywood for his contributions as an art director and production designer, acquits himself quite well here, lavishing great attention on his use of light and shadow. Watching the film, I was also reminded, by Carl Betz' presence as a sympathetic cop, of another Fox noir that I had recently seen, "Dangerous Crossing" (a superior film to this one), which also stars Betz and Crain. In all, "Vicki" is a lesser noir, but still great fun. Oh...at the film's tail end, one of the characters is revealed as being a nutjob for having constructed a shrine to Vicki in his living room; perhaps I should consider scrapping the Jeanne Crain shrine that I was going to build in mine....