Lethal Dose

Good lord - Anita Ekberg and “bohemians, strippers, sexual deviants and psychopaths” … “a movie for fetishists and voyeurs” — how have I not seen this? I couldn’t put it better myself than this stunning writeup from TCM, who’s showing it next weekend. That’s me being annoying in parentheses, but I saved most of it for the bottom of the post. (You can read it in its entirety here; it’s part of a “Clean Cuts” little series with some other great sick flicks, like “Hysteria.”)

Saturday, May 31,2008 10:00 PM

Every once in a while a psychological thriller comes along that is every bit as delusional and confused as its most disturbed character and that is certainly the case with Screaming Mimi (1958). Whether intentional or not, the movie abandons logic and the intricately plotted pleasure of a good whodunit to run amok in a nocturnal fantasy world populated by bohemians, strippers, sexual deviants and psychopaths. Amid the endless string of red herrings and outlandish suspects is a final denouement that is beyond absurd. But don’t let that deter you (?!) from seeing this flamboyantly unhinged B-movie based on the pulp novel by Fredric Brown; it later served as the uncredited inspiration for Dario Argento’s 1970 giallo, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. (!) From the opening frames of the film in which a bizarre figurine of a shrieking woman is superimposed over the credits, Screaming Mimi establishes itself as a movie for fetishists and voyeurs, an observation that is reinforced by our first sighting of the voluptuous blonde heroine, Virginia Wilson (Anita Ekberg), emerging from the surf after a swim.

Naturally, something horrible happens, leading to a loony bin and a new incarnation as a stripper, working for boss Gypsy Rose Lee:

The experience leaves Virginia in a state of traumatic shock and she is sent to the Highland Sanitarium to recover. Once there she falls under the Svengali-like influence of Dr. Greenwood. After Virginia is released from the sanitarium, she moves to the city where she assumes a new identity as Yolanda Lange, an exotic dancer at the “El Madhouse” nightclub. Accompanied by her guard dog, a Great Dane named Devil, and her new manager, the former Dr. Greenwood, Yolanda quickly becomes the talk of the town with her provocative nightclub act, a suggestive interpretive dance with S&M overtones involving chains and two dangling ropes as props. n what is probably the most bizarre scene in the movie, we observe her specialty act which is intercut with mute reaction shots of the hipster nightclub patrons (including same-sex couples) and one astonishing close-up of her Great Dane who appears to be licking his chops over her erotic moves. But Virginia soon takes a turn for the worst when she is attacked and wounded by an unknown assailant who could be the same mad slasher that recently murdered another exotic dancer.

Unlike other B-movie thrillers of its era, Screaming Mimi is a genuine oddity which revels in the kinky detail and seems a much purer reflection of its pulp fiction origins than most low-budget thrillers, and was barely noticed at all by moviegoers since it was consigned to the bottom of double bills and released on the grindhouse and drive-in circuits.

One final note: The nightclub musical interludes in Screaming Mimi feature the Red Norvo Trio**, which provides the appropriate cool cat ambience worthy of “El Madhouse” and also reflects the influence of the West Coast jazz scene that was emerging in San Francisco and Los Angeles at the time.

Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff*

Cast: Anita Ekberg (Virginia Wilson/Yolanda Lange), Philip Carey (Bill Sweeney), Gypsy Rose Lee (Joann ‘Gypsy’ Mapes), Harry Townes (Dr. Greenwood), Linda Cherney (Ketti), Romney Brent (Charlie Weston), Alan Gifford (Captain Bline), Oliver McGowan (Walter Krieg), Red Norvo (Red Yost).
BW-79m.by Jeff Stafford (Jeff, sorry I ruined your fab writeup but I had to keep this somewhat short!)

*I once stayed in Mischa Bakaleinikoff’s former home in Hollywood! The people who lived there didn’t really know who he was, but (and I don’t know how I knew this) I said, “Ohmigod! He did the music for ‘Creature with the Atom Brain’!”

**One degree of Dino: Red Norvo also accompanied Dean Martin on “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head” in “Oceans 11″ and Ekberg starred with Martin in “Artists and Models.”