It is a remake of "I Wake Up Screaming" all right, you recognise the plot, but the characters are entirely different. Jeanne Crain is a much better actress than Betty Grable, and Richard Boone makes an even more formidable impression than Laird Cregar. In the old version Laird Cregar never really steps out of the shadows until in the very end, while here Richard Boone commands the stage from the beginning. As a superior police officer bully he is absolutely abominable but awesome to the same degree, his character is fascinating and you sit tight at every scene when he is in, and you follow him more closely than any of the other characters. Jean Peters is the perfect glamour girl, she fills the picture of such an ideal to every inch, while Elliott Reid is a poor substitute for Victor Mature and never really convincing. For all his brief appearances Aaron Spelling makes a major and wonderful contribution, while all the others end up deep in the shadow of Richard Boone. This is his film, his booming performance will etch itself into your mind, and you will constantly enjoy comparing him with Laird Cregar, two marvellous performances in the same role and yet so infinitely different from each other.
