Vicki *** (1953, Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid, Richard Boone) – Classic Movie Review 11,737

‘She Had Everything a Man Could Ever Want And Lived the Way No Woman Ever Should!”‘

Director Harry Horner’s 1953 20th Century Fox black and white film noir thriller Vicki stars Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid and Richard Boone, and is a loose remake of I Wake Up Screaming (1941) with Betty Grable and Victor Mature, and based on Steve Fisher’s novel of that name.

Crain stars as sweet heroine Jill Lynn, who sets out to prove that her waitress-model girl sister Vicki (Peters) wasn’t killed by her protégée publicist Steve Christopher (Reid), despite the firm conviction of a sadistically tough and neurotically romantic policeman, Lieutenant Ed Cornell (Boone).

Boone makes a first-class heavy in this very watchable, often intense and gripping whodunit, just held back slightly by some hesitant, patchy handling, but the engagingly staccato performances and the powerful climax keep the mystery utterly involving.

Peters had a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. 1953 was her year in the movies, when she also starred in Niagara, Pickup on South Street, and A Blueprint for Murder. She married Howard Hughes and retired from films in 1957.

Also in the cast are Casey Adams [Max Showalter], Alex D’Arcy, Carl Betz, Aaron Spelling, Roy Engel, Parley Baer, Stuart Randall, Russ Conway, Jack Gargan, Frank Gerstle, Billy Nelson, John Dehner, Richard Garland, Ramsay Ames, Frank Fenton, Izetta Jewel, Naura Hayden, Harry Seymour, Irene Seidner, Robert Adler, Charles Wagenheim, Al Hill, Harry Carter, Jack Mather, Paul Kruger, Carl von Schiller, Kathryn Sheldon, Burt Mustin, and Heinie Conklin.

Vicki is directed by Harry Horner, runs 85 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Dwight Taylor and Leo Townsend, shot in black and white by Milton R Krasner, produced by Leonard Goldstein, scored by Leigh Harline, and designed by Lyle R Wheeler and Richard Irvine.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,737

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Jean Peters in Niagara (1953).