Moviecut—Screaming Mimi

source: Screaming Mimi

Screaming Mimi

There are only two VERY BIG reasons to watch this film. The same two reasons that made Monroe, Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and Diana Dors envious of Anita Ekberg. Gypsey Rose Lee, with her trademark lisp and ill fitting false teeth, butchers "Put the Blame on Mame."

Some good performances and an intriguing storyline make this low budget Fifties thriller worth catching. My only complaint is that it feels sort of truncated, like too much had to be condensed, or perhaps censored from the original pulp novel by Fredric Brown. Anita Ekberg is perfect as the sad Virginia/Yolanda, who inspires practically every man she meets to fall in love with her. She has a vulnerable, almost naive quality, that arouses a male protective attitude very understandable in her two admirers, Doctor Green and reporter Sweeney. Philip Carey is adequate as Sweeney, but Harry Townes walks off with the movie in the complex role of the hopelessly obsessed psychiatrist.It's a performance to be studied and appreciated over and over again. Maybe not a genuine classic, but pretty good. It would have probably seemed pretty daring for the time it was made. Definitely worth seeing.

Despite its unpromising title and the somewhat jaded presence of Gypsy Rose Lee (who theatrically tends to over-act and who, alas, is so obviously now well past her prime), this little thriller engages the attention, thanks to its engrossing script, some fascinating performances (however did director Gerd Oswald get such a skillful study out of Anita Ekberg?), atmospheric direction and moody photography. Even the music score skilfully creates just the right mood of horror and suspense - although I'll admit that the night club numbers are somewhat of a let-down, both musically and choreographically. But maybe they were supposed to be just that - namely second rate? All in all, director Oswald has created an unusually absorbing programmer out of very limited resources.

Swedish sex symbol of late 50's and 60's Anita Ekberg sadly died on 11th January 2015,so to honour her jaw-dropping physical beauty I decided to watch "Screaming Mimi".Frederic Brown 1949 novel has been adapted into a movie twice:Gerd Oswald's "Screaming Mimi" in 1958 and more loosely Dario Argento's first giallo "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" in 1970.I must say that dancing scenes of Anita Ekberg in "Screaming Mimi" are very sensual.The beginning of the film probably inspired infamous shower scene in "Psycho"(1960).The film is well-shot and genuinely entertaining with some gleefully perverse overtones.If you like low-budget noir cinema,Italian gialli or krimi movies it's a must-see.8 Screaming Mimis out of 10.

Bodacious, gloriously-maned Ekberg and her magnificent dog Devil (dubbed a great dame and a Great Dane)are the goodies in this fifties pop-psych piece with its is-she/isn't-she-crazy scenario. Looking like a gorgeous amazonian goddess (purportedly only 5'7" without heels), the mighty Ekberg makes all the human males in her orbit look mousy and malleable as she sashays from loony bin to gin den, her emotions and motivations as mysterious as the titular statuette around which it all revolves. The movie has an offbeat tone and texture and a tendency to unbalance the viewer with the unexpected: asylum-escapee Ekberg doing her shackled-slave dance routine in El Madhouse nightclub; Gypsy Rose Lee putting the blame on Mame in an awkward, abortive fringe-dress shimmy; the famed stripster's shacked-up status with a cute little hipster. Fans of such censor-bound lesbian depictions should love this cinematic morsel, as will devotees of no-budget noir!