Vicki (1953)

From AFI:
"After the slaying of New York glamour girl Vicki Lynn, zealous homicide detective Ed Cornell insists on canceling his vacation and heading the investigation. Upon his arrival at police headquarters, Cornell learns that Steve Christopher, the promoter responsible for Vicki's career, and Jill Lynn, Vicki's sister, are being questioned. Cornell grills the exhausted Christopher, who relates how he met Vicki"

And that's all you really need to know. If you've seen LAURA before, you'll recognize that Fox is trying to capture the same magic again, with the single-named titular heroine, "dead" before the first frame, who had been elevated in stature by a Zvengali-like figure tapped into the culture. They even try to throw you off the scent by having this Zvengali tabbed by the police early as the killer. But instead he becomes the protagonist, the wrong man. But like A CRIME AGAINST JOE, the protagonist doesn't really step outside of proper conduct or find darkness within himself. The psychological obsessiveness comes from other characters - the killer and the cop, but we're never really put in their shoes, only observing them from outside. It was fun, however, to see Aaron Spelling as a creepy little hotel desk manager.

Judgment: Not noir.