Review of Screaming Mimi

The voluptuous Anita Ekberg plays Virginia Wilson, an exotic dancer that comes in from a swim in the ocean and witnesses a man get shot while trying to stab her with a knife as she showers. She is placed in a sanitarium, where her psychiatrist, Dr. Greenwood(Harry Townes),is mesmerized by her charms and falls in love with her. Greenwood wants to take over her life; they both leave the hospital and the doctor decides to change both of their names. Virginia becomes Yolanda and is very animate about going back to her job dancing at a nightclub owned by a character played by the legendary stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. The beautiful dancer becomes a person of interest in a series of murders that involves a small sculpture created by her step-brother. A police captain(Alan Gifford)and a newspaper columnist(Philip Carey)work steadfast to clear up the mystery. Some of the sets are rather nice, but pleasing on the eyes is the provocative dancing of Ekberg. Lee's routine seems pretty worn out. I really like the sequence of walking on an empty street in the night. The title SCREAMING MIMI is based on the name of the mysterious sculpture.