Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

morrison-dylan-fan 2011:Talking to a fellow IMDb'er,after watching Dario Argento's amazing 1970 film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage,I was shocked to learn,that Argento had actually done a partial "unofficial" adaptation of a novel called The Screaming Mimi,which had received an official screen adaptation,with a US film in 1958. After reading the fascinating comments from a fellow IMDb'er,and also hear film reviewers Kim Newman and Alan Jones give thrilling comments about the movie in their audio commentary for Crystal Plumage,I decided to search on Amazon Uk for a DVD or VHS of the title. Sadly,despite being extremely keen on seeing the film,I discovered that the title appeared to be unavailable on DVD or Video…from anywhere!Late 2013:Being cheerful about finally getting hold of the title which would see Dario Argento,Tony Musante and Ennio Morricone team up for the first time (1969's The Love Circle),I decided to search for the original adaptation of their fantastic Giallo,and was happily caught by surprise,when I stumbled upon a DVD of the film,which would at last allow me to hear the Mimi scream.The plot: Going for an outdoor shower with her pet dog Rusty after enjoying a wonderful swim,Virginia Wilson is confronted by an escaped convict,who attempts to stab her with a knife.Hearing his daughter scream for her life,Virginia's step-brother Charlie Weston, (an artist who makes miniature stature's) quickly grabs a gun and shoots the attempted murderer dead.Faced with the knowledge of having been a potential murder victim,and also witnessing a killing,Wilson experience's a nervous breakdown,and finds herself unable to wipe the moments of that day from her memory.Feeling that his step-sister is in desperate need of help,Weston arranges for Virginia to be placed in a mental hospital,where she is closely looked after by Dr.Greenwood. Despite being a doctor who does things "by the book,Greenwood finds himself falling deeply in love with Virginia.Knowing that they both might have to wait years before she's officially "cured",Greenwood decides to fake Wilson's death,so that she can get out of the hospital,and run away with him.Years later:Keeping their relationship under-wraps,Virginia changes her name to Yolanda Lange and becomes the star attraction as a dancer in a popular night club.Catching the eye one night of a local journalist called Bill Sweeney,Wilson/Lange begins to fear that she has also caught the eye of her past,when a stranger begins stabbing women in a similar manner that was used in the attempted murder of Virginia…View on the film:Entering the movie,in what appears to be a rather tight swimsuit,Anita Ekberg gives a shimmering performance as Virginia Wilson and Yolanda Lange.For the two sides of her character,Ekberg gives each of them subtle alterations,with the psychological issues in Virginia's mind,being kept under cover by Youlanda's swagger and powerful eroticism,which along with giving Youlanda complete control of the night club's inhabitants,also leads to her appearing to be on the target list of a revived psychotic killer.Taking a different angle to his excellent adaptation of Fredric Brown's novel The Screaming Mimi than the one that Dario Argento would take a decade later,Robert Blees combines a thrilling,proto-Giallo edge with a gritty Film Noir atmosphere,with Blees gradually showing the impact that the new killing spree is having on Virginia/Yolanda,as Youlanda's extravagant shell is melted away,and Virginia's psychological issues are shown in their rawest form.Made just as the "Hays Code" was at last starting to lose its grip on the industry,Blees shows a sharp eye for placing subtle undertones under the films skin,with hints of S&M,lesbianism and drug use bubbling away as a Giallo killer stalks a Film Noir world.Placing Blees undertones at the centre of the movie,director Gerd Oswald shows an unexpected glee in the highly stylised,eye-catching vicious murder scenes which is matched by Oswald giving each of the gorgeous Anita Ekberg's dances a strong whiff of S&M.Along with the daring Giallo elements,Oswald also soaks the title in a striking Film Noir atmosphere,with Yolanda's night club being filled with darken corners where the killer may be hiding,with Oswald also covering the long,empty streets in a doom-laden mist,as Bill Sweeney begins to realise that he must stop the Mimi from screaming,before the killer strikes again.

boblinds A fascinating mess, but still fascinating.The other reviews already point out the oddball merits of this low-budget potboiler quite effectively, save one.The musical score recycles Leonard Bernstein's score for the great Elia Kazan film, "On the Waterfront.""!! It's quite disturbing to hear the unique music of a cinematic masterpiece underscoring a lurid little thriller that never "could have been a contender."Unfortunately, they use the Red Norvo combo to backup Ekberg's pseudo-bump-and-grind routines. It would have rocketed this flick to lunatic genius if she had been jugg-ling to Bernstein's pounding tympani. Too bad they missed that one.

Andrei In Laguna Beach, California, Virginia Weston runs to a bathhouse after a swim in the ocean. As her little dog starts yapping, an escaped inmate from a nearby mental institution steps out of the bushes, stabs the dog and then attacks Virginia. Alerted by Virginia's hysterical screams, her half brother, sculptor Charlie Weston, runs onto the front porch of his house and shoots the assailant. Charlie then drives Virginia, who is suffering from traumatic shock, to the Highland Sanitarium, where he commits her to the care of Dr. Greenwood. Over the next six months, Virginia falls under Greenwood's control and he becomes increasingly possessive of his voluptuous blonde patient. A short time later, Greenwood decides the time has come for them to leave the sanitarium, and they move to the city, where Virginia changes her name to Yolanda Lange and finds work as an exotic dancer at the El Madhouse nightclub. One night, Bill Sweeney, a reporter who covers the nightclub circuit for the local newspaper, comes to El Madhouse and is mesmerized by Virginia's sensuous dancing. After Virginia finishes her performance, Joann Mapes, the nightclub's proprietor, takes Bill backstage to meet her new star dancer. As Bill flirts with Virginia in her dressing room, he becomes intrigued by the nude statue of a frightened woman that he spots on her dressing table. Greenwood, now posing as Green, Virginia's manager, enters and after gruffly dismissing Bill, admonishes Virginia to follow his orders. On a dark street later that night, Virginia is attacked by a knife-wielding assailant. Before her Great Dane, Devil, can drive the assailant away, the man slashes Virginia across her stomach. After Virginia is taken to the hospital, Bill goes to the newsroom to review the file of Lola Lake, a dancer recently killed by "The Slasher." As Bill studies the article and accompanying photo, he is startled to see the statue of a nude, frightened woman lying next to Lola's body. When Bill goes to the hospital to question Virginia about the statue in her dressing room, she denies that it was ever there. Afterward, Bill discovers that Lola bought the statue at a gift shop owned by Raoul Reynarde. There, Raoul tells Bill that the statue is called "Screaming Mimi" and was created by a sculptor named Charlie Weston. After Bill buys Raoul's last statue, he sneaks into Virginia's dressing room and finds that her copy of the statue is gone. Once Virginia recovers, Capt. Bline, the officer in charge of the investigation into her attack, gives a party in her honor at El Madhouse, hoping that Virginia might be able to identify her assailant among the partygoers. Virginia never comes to the party, however, and instead walks Devil along the street of her attack. Sensing that Virginia would return there, Bill follows and meets her. After they passionately embrace, Bill takes Virginia back to his apartment, and as they make love, Virginia declares that he makes her feel "like a full person." The next morning, when Virginia awakens from a nightmare, Bill urges her to leave Greenwood and arranges to meet her at Virginia's apartment in one hour. When Bill arrives, however, Greenwood is there and Virginia, now cold and distant, insists on staying with him. After Bill storms out, Greenwood warns Virginia that she is "nothing" without him. Soon after, Bill receives a telegram from Charlie responding to his inquiry about the statue. Posing as an art dealer, Bill visits Charlie in Laguna Beach and learns that he modeled Mimi on his sister Virginia. Charlie explains that, just as he was beginning to sculpt the statue, Virginia was attacked and he was forced to commit her. Several months later, he received a letter from the sanitarium notifying him of his sister's death. Upon returning to the newspaper, Bill tells his editor, Walter Krieg, that he believes there is a link between Mimi and the slasher. Hoping that someone might be able to identify the statue stolen from Virginia's dressing room, Bill asks Walter to run a picture of it in the paper. After the police tap Virginia's phones, Bline and Bill listen in from the basement of her apartment building. Soon after, Greenwood calls from the lobby to see Virginia. Once inside her apartment, Greenwood chastises Virginia for keeping the statue, which he describes as "the fetish on which she has fixed her mania." Greenwood contends that because Virginia saw the statue right after her attack, she associated it with the attacker and then became fixated on those aggressive feelings, ultimately killing Lola after she bought a copy of the statue. Greenwood then explains that he attacked Virginia the night she met Bill in hopes of reversing her fixation. When Greenwood rifles through Virginia's drawer and finds her copy of the statue, she becomes enraged and commands Devil to attack him. Devil then lunges at Greenwood, sending him crashing though a window and onto the street below. As Bline, Bill and several police officers rush to the mortally injured Greenwood, Greenwood lies that he killed Lola, then beseeches Bill to take care of Virginia. Meanwhile, Virginia has slipped out of her apartment with Devil, and Bill tracks her to a run-down hotel on skid row. There, Bill states that he knows her real name is Virginia Weston and that she killed Lola. Just as Virginia sics Devil on Bill, the police arrive and subdue the dog. Virginia, now in a trance-like state, is led away into a waiting ambulance.

dougdoepke How did I miss this drive-in special back in 1958 when I hit those passion pits weekly. Yeah, it's lurid to the max, but it's also got some kinky touches carefully hidden during the Age of Ike when sex was summed up by Debbie and Eddie. Note the not-so-subtle innuendo that Lee's character has more interest in the cigarette girl than in handsome stud Carey. And what is that s&m chain doing on Ekberg's wrists as she writhes around during her so-called stage act, which we get to see not once but twice as though we may not have believed it the first time around. Then too, what's with Towne's kinky doctor who can't seem to decide just which of Ekberg's startling features he's most interested in. And finally, how did this bit of bizzaro escape the confines of a respectable studio, Columbia, and the co-producing team of Brown and Fellows. Say what you will, despite the sleaze, this low-budget piece of 50's movie-making has more inherent interest than 90% of its bigger contemporaries.I expect cult director Gerd Oswald is responsible for taking up the challenge and turning what could have been a routine crime drama into a genuine curiosity piece. Just watch his direction of the movie's centerpiece, and I don't mean Ekberg's Amazonian proportions-- in fact, her best scenes are those standing around looking comatose. No, this is familiar character actor Harry Towne's masterpiece. He was always good at slightly off-center characters, but here he out-does himself, delivering a masterfully kinky performance that really defies description. I've seen nothing quite like it in years of movie watching. Just what is going on inside those many tormented expressions. Watch the scene where he stands outside the colloquy between Carey and Ekberg when she must decide where her allegiance lies. Note the subtle array of emotions that react to what is being said. He could have just stood there and picked up his paycheck, but he didn't. Instead he created one of the more interesting obsessions to appear on the big screen in some time. I hope there's a special place in Hollywood heaven for unsung actors like Towne who deliver so much and get back so little. Anyhow the movie remains an interesting piece of esoterica, even if the title likely drove away more people than it brought in.