When exotic dancer Anita Ekberg is attacked when outside of Gypsy Rose Lee's night club, and another girl is killed, crime reporter Phillip Carey finds a connection in a statue called "Screaming Mimi". But what does it mean?
It's based on the novel by Fredric Brown, (1906-1972) remembered for funny science fiction, grungy mysteries, and super-short stories ("The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door."). The grunge is present in this movie, although it is coded. The brownstone buildings in the neighborhoods that Miss Ekberg lives in may be pristine, the streets spotless, the club Gypsy Rose Lee runs may be shiny, but compare them with their real-life equivalents in the era, and contemporary audiences would have known it. It may have its moments, but Miss Lee singing "Put the Blame on Mame" is not one of them. Still, you have to admire any mystery with a character named McGuffin.
It's based on the novel by Fredric Brown, (1906-1972) remembered for funny science fiction, grungy mysteries, and super-short stories ("The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door."). The grunge is present in this movie, although it is coded. The brownstone buildings in the neighborhoods that Miss Ekberg lives in may be pristine, the streets spotless, the club Gypsy Rose Lee runs may be shiny, but compare them with their real-life equivalents in the era, and contemporary audiences would have known it. It may have its moments, but Miss Lee singing "Put the Blame on Mame" is not one of them. Still, you have to admire any mystery with a character named McGuffin.