Synopsis
In Laguna Beach, California, beautiful Virginia Weston (Ekberg) and her dog run from the beach to the bathhouse outside her cottage. An escapee from a nearby mental facility stalks Virginia. The man stabs the dog which cries out and attacks the terrified Virginia. Virginia’s screams alert her brother in his nearby cottage. He grabs his rifle and kills the attacker.
Virginia, suffering from shock, is recovering in a sanitarium. Dr Greenwood, who is treating Virginia, is enamored with her. He declares her cured and takes her from the sanitarium. They change her name to Yolanda Lange, and she becomes an exotic dancer at the El Madhouse Night Club, owned by Joann Makes (Lee). Dr Greenwood, now Mr Green, acts as her manager and maintains close control of all her activities.
One night, Bill Sweeney (Carey), a reporter who covers night clubs, visits El Madhouse and is mesmerized by Yolanda’s sensuous dancing. Joann takes Bill backstage to meet Yolanda. In Yolanda’s dressing room, Bill is intrigued by Yolanda and by a nude statue of a frightened, screaming woman. Green enters and quickly dismisses Bill. He reaffirms his control over Yolanda, ordering her to follow his orders carefully.
That night, as Yolanda walks home with Devil, her huge Great Dane, she is attacked by a knife wielding man who slashes her stomach. Bill arrives at the scene to find Yolanda being taken away in an ambulance.
Bill reviews the file about the murder of a dancer, Lola Lake, who was killed by “The Slasher”. In a photo of Lola, the “screaming woman” statue lies next to her body. Bill visits Yolanda in the hospital. She denies ever having the statue. Bill visits the shop of Raoul Reynardi who sells the statues. Reynardi says the statues, called Screaming Mini, are made by sculptor Charlie Weston who lives in Laguna Beach. Bill buys Reynardi’s last statue. He searches Yolanda’s dressing room but does not find her statue.
Yolanda skips a party at the El Madhouse. Bill finds her walking the dog on the street where she was attacked. They go to his apartment where she stays the night. Bill wants her to live with him. She can get her things from her apartment, and he will meet her there. Green is at the apartment when Bill arrives. Yolanda has become distant and unresponsive to Bill. He leaves.
Bill meets with Weston, the sculptor of the statue. Weston tells him about the attack on Virginia and her hospitalization. Bill thinks that the statue has some link to the murder of Lola. He has a picture of the statue printed in the paper.
The police tap Yolanda’s room. They hear Green enter and chastise her for keeping the statue that is deeply fixed in her mind as part of her mania in association with the attacker. Her murder of Lola was a response to Lola’s possession of the statue. Green finds the statue and attacks Yolanda to help her release her feelings. She sets the dog on him. Green jumps back from Devil and crashes through the window. As Green lies dying on the sidewalk, he falsely tells Bill and the police that he killed Lola.
Virginia has run away with the dog. Bill tracks her to a cheap hotel. Bill confronts her with her real name, Virginia ‘Weston. Lola had a statue, and Virginia killed her. She sets the dog on him. The police arrive and subdue Devil. As the police take Virginia to an ambulance, she lapses into an unresponsive, trance-like state. Bill leans forlornly against a lamppost.
Discussion
Screaming Mimi is an offbeat mystery/thriller with a decidedly offbeat cast. The leads are a Swedish sexpot who later achieved international stardom and an actor who is best known for portraying a continuing character in a daytime soap opera. Leading the supporting cast is an icon of the Golden Age of Burlesque, whose story was made into a smash Broadway musical. Also among the players are a character actor who became an ordained Episcopal priest, a jazz vibraphonist, and a man whose stage name totally belies his ethnic heritage.
The sexpot is Anita Ekberg, whose breakout roll was to come in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960). Never known for her thespic abilities, Ekberg is adequate as the beleaguered heroine in Screaming Mimi. Leading man Phil Carey had a long career in films and television, including continuing roles in two prime time series: Tales Of the 77th Bengal Lancers (1956-57) and in the title role in Phillip Marlowe (1959-60). But Carey’s greatest part was Asa Buchanan in the daytime soap opera One Life To Live; he appeared in 105 episodes between 1980 and 2008. While not an A-list leading man, Carey is good as the brash and nosey newspaperman in Screaming Mimi.
Gypsy Rose Lee (birth name Rose Louise Hovick) made but few film appearances. The bulk of her professional career was spent on the stage as the leading ecdysiast of her generation. Her brash and brassy persona fits well to her role in Screaming Mimi. At one point she even does a modified bump and grind while singing “Put the Blame On Mame” in a charmingly off-key baritone. Whether this is meant to be a parody of Rita Hayworth’s version of the song in the vastly overrated Gilda (1946) is unclear, but certainly possible.
The clergyman-to-be, Harry Townes, was a prolific character actor in both film and television, while Red Norvo, along with Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, and a few others, championed the “vibes” as a jazz solo instrument. The name Romney Brent, like Cedric Hardwicke or Basil Rathbone, may conjure up images of Merrie Olde England, but Brent was born Romulo Larralde in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Why he chose a veddy British stage name is anybody’s guess.
Gerd Oswald’s father Richard was a noted director in pre-Hitler Germany; among Richard’s best films is Different From the Others (1919), a remarkably sympathetic treatment of male homosexuality starring the great Conrad Veidt. Berlin-born Gerd followed in papa’s footsteps. While never an A-list director, Gerd helmed a number of high quality if low budget features before turning exclusively to television. Among his best films are such thrillers as A Kiss Before Dying and Crime Of Passion (both 1956) and, of course, Screaming Mimi. His output included westerns (The Brass Legend (1956) and Fury at Showdown (1957)), and even a Bob Hope comedy (Paris Holiday (1958)).
Credit should be given to ace cameraman Burnett Guffey (Bonnie and Clyde (1967)) for his luminous black-and-white cinematography, which gives Mimi an aura of opulence unusual in such a modestly budgeted film.