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.

Neil Doyle ANITA EKBERG almost sleepwalks through her role of a disturbed woman who somehow finds herself in the midst of murder and mayhem in SCREAMING MIMI ('58), the title referring to a statue that is some sort of fetish that turns up at every killing. Miss Ekberg is also a statue here, towering above most of the cast except for PHILIP CAREY, the handsome male lead who shares one thing in common with Anita--he's a lifeless presence.It's hard to get involved with these characters, especially since the story itself is a murky enough affair with some psycho-babble underpinnings in the convoluted storyline. On the plus side, the B&W photography of rainswept streets and dark shadows is impressive and the production aspects aren't too shabby.GYPSY ROSE LEE manages to be lively enough as a nightclub proprietress, but her shimmy to "Put the Blame On Mame" is a pretty sorry attempt at the song made famous by Rita Hayworth.The story starts out on a promising note, but quickly becomes an inept psychological thriller under Gerd Oswald's routine direction and moves toward a conclusion that lacks whatever punch it might have had because much of the disclosed information was already revealed.This is an easily forgotten item that capitalizes solely on ANITA EKBERG's physical charms which are an eyeful for male fans but her acting is sub-par for a story that requires much more from an actress than mere physical presence and an overly generous bosom. She was much more fortunate a few years later to find herself in "La Dolce Vita". As for PHILIP CAREY, his stone-faced approach to acting doesn't help matters here.Summing up: Hopelessly confusing and dull, when it should have been tight and suspenseful.

sol1218 ****SPOILERS***** Somewhat confusing psychological thriller set in and around Laguna Beach California. With the voluptuous and beautiful Anita Ekberg as the haunted and troubled Virginia Wilson AKA Yolanda the exotic dancer. Virgina was committed to the Highland Sanitarium due to the shock and trauma that she suffered after she was attacked in a Laguna Beach out-door shower by and escaped knife-wielding maniac who was shot and killed by her step-brother Charlie, Romney Brent. Virginia's psychiatrist at the sanitarium Dr. Greenwood, Harry Townes, realized that she was hopelessly insane but at the same time fell madly in love with her. Dr. Greenwood did his best to get Virginia out into the free world by faking a death certificate with her name on it. Outside and with a new name "Yolanda" and working at the El Madhouse nightclub run by Joann " Gypsy", Gypsy Rose Lee, she was the biggest and hottest hit in town. Doing a dance number with a skimpy outfit on that was nothing more then a display of her God-given natural attributes filled the place to capacity every night that Yolanda was on the stage. One night going home Yolanda was attacked by a slasher who cut her in the side but was chased away by her pet dog "Devil" a giant Great Dame. It turned that the slasher who attacked Yolanda struck a month before killing a co-worker of Yolanda's at the El Madhouse nightclub dancer Lola Lane. Also found at the crime scene where Yolanda was slashed was a statue of a woman called "The Screaming Mimi". Dr. Greenwood now calling himself Mr.Green is very concerned about Yolanda and feels that she may become a mental case again and need to be institutionalized. Even though she was not supposed to be out of the Highland Sanitarium in the first place. Mr. Green sees what a mistake he made to get Yolanda out and as much as he tries to get her help on his own and as much he cares and loves her in the end it would cost Mr. Green his life for that fatal misjudgment on his part.News reporter Bill Sweeney, Philip Carey, who's put on the story of the "Night Slasher" also falls in love with Yolanda but soon sees that there's something wrong with her and that statue "The Screaming Mimi" was also found at the site of the murder of dancer Lola Lane. Swenney tracks down what that statue is all about it leads him straight to Laguna Beach. It's there where he finds out that it was non other then Yolanda who posed for the sculpture who made "The Screaming Mimi" and he was Yolanda's step-brother Charlie. Pre Psycho-like thriller that has it's good and bad points with the best thing going for it is it's star Anita Ekberg. Miss.Ekberg with her goddess-like body and eye popping measurements or vital statistics of 39-22-36 made it impossible to keep your eyes off the screen even for a second whenever she was on it. It's really hard to judge Anita Ekberg's acting in the movie since her acting is the last thing your interested in.With reporter Sweeney finding the out secret of "The Screaming Mimi" it's only a matter of time for the truth to come out about Yolanda as well as her lover and the former Dr. Greenwood AKA Mr. Green. It's that truth about Yolanda that will give the movie it's surprising and shocking ending.The movie was a bit contrived but the acting was more the adequate with excellent black and white film-Noir photography. But by far it was Anita Ekberg that really made "The Screaming Mimi" well worth your time, as well as your libido, watching the film.

lazarillo This film could be considered one of the missing links between American film noir and the suspense and horror films that would become so popular in continental Europe over the next two decades (i.e. the German "krimis", the Italian "gialli", the horror films of Bava and Argento). It's technically a late period film noir, but rather than having the traditional pessimistic tone and hard-boiled, voice-over narrative, it is completely off-the-wall and chock-full of the suggested depravity and lurid psycho-babble that would characterize the later European films. Interestingly, it was apparently based on the same Fredric Brown novel as Dario Argento's "Bird with Crystal Plummage" (although at least one of these movie was obviously only loosely based on the source novel because they don't really resemble each other too much). It also features European sex symbol Anita Ekberg as a voluptuous stripper (who looks like she could eat Edwige Fenech or one of the other later European sex kittens). Rare for the time, it even has a psycho-killer, called "The Ripper", who leaves the epononymous "screaming mimi" dolls next to his/her butchered female victims. Not a great movie perhaps, but I really dug it.