Vicki (film)


Vicki is a 1953 film noir directed by Harry Horner and starring Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid and Richard Boone. It was based on the novel I Wake Up Screaming, written by Steve Fisher.

Plot

Vicki Lynn is a waitress who is transformed into a fashion model by press agent Steve Christopher. When Vicki is murdered, detective Ed Cornell tries to blame the crime on Christopher.
In fact, the cop knows who the real killer is, but he is so hopelessly in love with the dead girl Vicki, who herself despised him, that he intends to railroad an innocent man to the electric chair. With the help of Vicki's sister Jill, Christopher tracks down the real killer, Harry Williams and exposes the crooked cop Cornell, who had manipulated Williams into murdering Vicki.

Cast

Vicki is a remake of the 1941 film I Wake Up Screaming starring Betty Grable, Victor Mature, and Carole Landis.

Reception

Film critic Bosley Crowther certainly did not like the screenplay, but seemed to appreciate the acting. He wrote, "Meanwhile, the rest of the performers—Jean Peters, as the girl who gets killed; Jeanne Crain, as her misgiving sister; Mr. Reid and several more—make the best of Harry Horner's brisk direction to make it look as though they're playing a tingling film. It might be, indeed, if the story were not so studiously contrived and farfetched, and if Mr. Boone did not wear a label that virtually says, 'I'm IT.'"