February 5th
2 Movies and 1 Television Episode
“Where there is human courage, there is drama. When everyday people fight for life and love, you have the very essence of heroism. I tried to capture this in every film I directed.”
Born in London in 1918 to an acting family, Ida Lupino moved to Hollywood in 1934, where she languished in small roles for the rest of the decade. The actress won better parts in the 1940s with starring turns in films like They Drive by Night (1940) and High Sierra (1941), but frequent clashes with Warner Brothers resulted in numerous suspensions. The resulting boredom and curiosity prompted Lupino to visit other sets, where she grew fascinated with the filmmaking process.
In 1948, Lupino married writer/producer Collier Young, another creative discontented with the rigid studio system. The following year they established The Filmakers with writer Malvin Wald to make movies that explored pertinent social issues, fostered fresh ideas and cultivated new talent. The company produced low-budget, documentary-style films on oftentimes taboo topics that others in Hollywood wouldn’t think of touching.
Lupino’s transition into directing began by accident. Not Wanted (1949), a film she co-wrote and produced, was set to shoot with director Elmer Clifton. However, health problems sidelined Clifton during preproduction, prompting Lupino to step in. With that, she became the first actress to write, produce and direct her own film. (Clifton, who retained directorial credit, provided Lupino with advice as she gained confidence in her skills.) Daily News reporter Darr Smith observed that Lupino was fast, efficient and gave good direction on set—even though she initially asserted she was just filling in for the day. “Lupino isn’t really directing this picture. She says so herself,” Smith wrote. “But it’s difficult to tell just what she’s doing if it isn’t directing.”
With small budgets, short filming schedules and a lean shooting style, Lupino’s films highlighted ordinary people grappling with post-war alienation and social anxieties in straightforward, powerful ways. The financial success of Not Wanted piqued investors’ interest in Never Fear (1950)—with the stipulation that Lupino be at the helm. She cast Not Wanted stars Sally Forrest and Keefe Brasselle in the picture, in her first credited directorial effort. Co-written by Lupino and Young, the story follows a young dancer, Carol (Forrest), on the brink of success with partner/lover Guy (Brasselle) when she contracts polio. With Guy’s support, she checks in to a rehabilitation center where she’s assured she will walk again if she puts in the work, but disappointment and doubt threaten her recovery and relationship.
The subject hit close to home for Lupino, who contracted polio at age 16. Though her case was mild, she imbued Carol with the same sense of fear and uncertainty Lupino felt battling the disease at a time when her career was just starting to take off in the States; in early scenes she even placed audiences in Carol’s shoes with shots from her point of view shifting in and out of focus as she grows sicker. Lupino’s insistence on realism resulted in filming rehab scenes at Kabat-Kaiser Institute in Santa Monica, California where real polio patients showcased the latest forms of therapy. While directing actors and patients using wheelchairs in the movie, Lupino worked from one as well, having injured herself in a fall.
Though a film about a highly infectious disease that could strike anyone eventually scared investors away and negatively impacted box office returns, The Filmakers’ success in producing the picture in a short amount of time on a low budget elicited interest from Howard Hughes, the new owner of RKO. Hughes offered The Filmakers a three-picture deal that looked promising on the surface but ultimately stripped the company of control and profits.
After directing four socially conscious films from a female perspective, Lupino did a 180 with The Hitch-Hiker (1953), a tale centering on three men, becoming the first and only woman to direct a film noir during the classic Hollywood era. Friends Roy (Edmond O’Brien) and Gilbert (Frank Lovejoy) embark on a fishing trip for a temporary escape from their middle class lives and make the mistake of picking up Emmett Myers (William Talman), a sadistic escaped convict. The sociopath taunts Roy and Gilbert as he plots his getaway, the authorities close in and the men must figure out how to escape before Myers adds to his body count. Lupino turned the tension up to 11 with a simple, taut plot light on dialogue and locations, concentrating the threat within the stifling confines of a car as she explored ideas of unchecked violence, unexpected terror and masculinity.
The script, which Lupino co-wrote, was based on the story of William Cook, a serial killer who murdered six people in January 1951 before being captured with two hostages. The project received instant pushback from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Production Code Administration, the latter of which prohibited depictions of current-day infamous criminals. Lupino and company argued that they obtained rights from both hostages and Cook himself—she even visited Cook in San Quentin before he was put to death in 1952. The Filmakers eventually capitulated and crafted a fictionalized account of Cook’s last pickup that retained small nuggets of truth like the killer’s deformed right eye.
Despite the success of The Hitch-Hiker, Lupino only directed two more features, The Bigamist (1953, in which she became the first woman to direct herself) and The Trouble with Angels (1966). One reason for this was the demise of The Filmakers, an odd and unfortunate consequence of The Hitch-Hiker’s triumph, as Young unsuccessfully attempted to take over distribution of the company’s movies from RKO. Another reason was that studios at the time sought big blockbusters, not small socially-minded films, in hopes of luring viewers away from their television sets.
With that, Lupino turned to the new medium, making her small screen debut with a Screen Directors Playhouse episode titled No. 5 Checked Out (1956). As the series’ title implies, the show invited movie directors to try their hand at television. “To be included was for Lupino a confirmation of her status,” William T. Ross affirmed in the book “Ida Lupino, Filmmaker.” Based on Lupino’s original story, No. 5 Checked Out put The Hitch-Hiker star Talman in the driver’s seat this time as Barney, a getaway driver on the lam after a bank robbery in which partner Willy (Peter Lorre) pulled the trigger, much to Barney’s chagrin. They take shelter from the authorities in a cabin owned by Mary (Teresa Wright), a deaf woman seeking refuge after a run-in with a married ex who dumped her because of her impairment. Barney and Mary develop a mutual affection, but in the end, will he change his ways or use her to get away? Lupino infused both characters with empathy as the threat Mary faces grows—a danger her deafness protects her from.
From the 1950s through the late 1960s, Lupino received credit for directing over 65 television episodes in genres including mystery, comedy, Western and action. She even created and starred in her own series, Mr. Adams and Eve (1957-58), at least one episode of which she also helmed. “I loved shooting for television,” she remarked. “Each show was a new challenge to Mother!” (She christened herself ‘Mother’ on set as “a strategy to defuse anxiety about her role as director,” Therese Grisham and Julie Grossman assert in “Ida Lupino, Director.”)
Lupino’s curiosity, her experience observing others on set and her penchant for research and realism helped hone her directorial skills. Famed cinematographer Archie Stout remarked, “Ida has more knowledge of camera angles and lenses than any director I’ve ever worked with, with the exception of Victor Fleming.” Lupino’s directing style centered her charm and femininity, and her work in front of the camera made her sympathetic to the needs of actors. Lupino exemplified her methods in a 1967 essay in Action magazine: “You do not tell a man; you suggest to him. ‘Darlings, Mother has a problem. I’d love to do this. Can you do it? It sounds kooky but I want to do it. Now, can you do it for me?’ And they do it—they just do it.” The approach worked and won her respect from casts and crews. As Lupino was quoted in The Hitch-Hiker’s press notes: “While I’ve encountered no resentment from the male of the species for intruding into their world, I give them no opportunity to think I’ve strayed where I don’t belong.”
