I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

Vicky Lynn, New York society's current "it" girl, has just been found murdered in her apartment by her manager, Frankie Christopher, and her sister, Jill Lynn. Frankie, generally a sports promoter, discovered Vicky working as a waitress in a diner, and, in addition to her beauty and poise, was able to make her a "name" and "face" with the help of actor Robin Ray, on the downside of his career, and newspaper columnist Larry Evans. Inspector Ed Cornell with the NYPD makes himself assigned to the case, he with the reputation of his gut instinct being right, he able to get his man, either put behind bars or to have them hang themselves, literally or figuratively. His gut instinct tells him that Frankie is the killer, not only because Jill was the one who walked into her and Vicky's shared apartment to find him there with Vicky already dead, but because Vicky was just on the verge of leaving him behind with Hollywood calling. Despite this evidence and one other key piece which she doesn't divulge to the police, Jill doesn't believe Frankie guilty. Although, as the practical sister, she didn't much like what Frankie was doing to Vicky, Jill, in spending time with him, has fallen in love with Frankie. Jill decides to help Frankie evade Cornell when it looks as if Cornell is moving in for the kill. Jill and Frankie, as such, have to find out who did kill Vicky, and why Cornell is so fixated on him as the killer, especially as others in the police department want him to broaden his perspective as other evidence comes to light.