In addition to the superbly photographed, fast-paced, totally riveting noir classic I Wake Up Screaming (1941) in which a super-attractive Betty Grable, aided by heavy-handed Victor Mature, has a hard time escaping the minions of the law led by the magnificent Laird Cregar, Fox has also issued the not-half-as-exciting re-make, Vicki (1953), which the studio virtually threw away on its original release so that all attention could be focused on The Robe and CinemaScope.
Vicki starts most promisingly. In fact Jean Peters makes a far more seductive "Vicki" than Carole Landis. Unfortunately, Elliott Reid makes an extremely weak hero, and Jeanne Crain is no Betty Grable. Although Richard Boone makes a fair stab at the Laird Cregar part, it all comes to a most unsatisfactory and unsatisfying climax when the murderer is flaccidly unmasked by an all-too-familiar ruse and then tamely led away without any of the promised action and excitement the script has been leading us to expect!
Vicki starts most promisingly. In fact Jean Peters makes a far more seductive "Vicki" than Carole Landis. Unfortunately, Elliott Reid makes an extremely weak hero, and Jeanne Crain is no Betty Grable. Although Richard Boone makes a fair stab at the Laird Cregar part, it all comes to a most unsatisfactory and unsatisfying climax when the murderer is flaccidly unmasked by an all-too-familiar ruse and then tamely led away without any of the promised action and excitement the script has been leading us to expect!