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Post by Mattsby on Jul 9, 2017 3:18:45 GMT
I've only seen her acting in On Dangerous Ground (quite good) and some others. Here are her films as director:
’49: Never Fear
’50: Outrage
’51: Hard, Fast & Beautiful
’53: The Hitch-Hiker
’53: The Bigamist
’66: The Trouble with Angels
Anybody seen these? She also directed a lot of TV -- the only woman who directed an episode of The Twilight Zone (“The Masks”) !!
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Post by stephen on Jul 9, 2017 14:51:09 GMT
As an actress she was quite reliable, but she had a striking eye as a director. The Hitch-Hiker is an especial favorite of mine. I am a sucker for noir in general, and I've always felt desert noirs are sparse and desperately needed.
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Post by pickpocket on Jul 11, 2017 2:34:00 GMT
Can't comment on her as a director as yet, but she's one of my favourite actresses. Of what I've seen, I'd rate her performance in The Hard Way as her best. She was robbed of a nomination there. She's also quite good in High Sierra, The Man I Love and Road House. She's definitely most in her element in noirish dramas.
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Post by eyebrowmorroco on Jul 19, 2017 15:48:20 GMT
In They Drive by Night, Ida Lupino set the standard for sultry post Joan Crawford (Grand Hotel).
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Post by moonman157 on Jul 19, 2017 15:51:45 GMT
Only seen The Hitch-Hiker but it was real spare and good. I've got The Bigamist sitting on my shelf to watch. Some of her stuff is tricky to come by in good quality.
I would strongly recommend the You Must Remember This podcast on her which is a really wonderful listen.
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Post by getclutch on Jul 19, 2017 17:47:15 GMT
Only The Hitch-Hiker. A really good, dramatic, suspenseful crime-thriller.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2017 20:26:01 GMT
The Hitch-Hiker was a solid thriller but I do love what I have seen from her as an actress. She gave my favourite performance from the whole Twilight Zone series (in The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine) and was also excellent in They Drive by Night, particularly in her unforgettable final scene.
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Post by taranofprydain on May 23, 2018 7:25:03 GMT
As an actress, she was absolutely sublime, as witnessed by that wonderful trio of roles that come to mind immediately: They Drive by Night, Deep Valley, and On Dangerous Ground.
I have only seen one of her directorial efforts, The Trouble with Angels, and that is a charming film and a sentimental favorite.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 22, 2019 22:45:31 GMT
Let's run it again. The first woman to direct a noir with The Hitch-Hiker! The first woman to direct herself in a big Hollywood movie! The only woman who directed a Twilight Zone episode! etc, etc. She was not just the first female indie director in the mainstream but one of the very first, ever, with a predominant focus on daring social issues. She wasn't making cookie-cutter stuff. If someone has read more about her life and career maybe they can shed some light on specifics... Having said all of that, I recently watched The Bigamist which is a solid movie but most of all it's her performance that I loved, especially the earlier scenes. She breaks down a safeguard confidence with a vulnerability, adding all sorts of nuance. Her best perf I've seen. The movie though it has a better first half, it's efficient and well made, a sort of open moody visual mapping, and there's interesting trivia and in-jokes - Edmund Gwenn in the cast is referred to as Santa and a tour bus drives by his actual house, and the writer-producer was divorced from Lupino and married to costar Joan Fontaine at the time, that's some great casting as two women involved with the same man.  |
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 22, 2019 23:15:47 GMT
She predates Cassavetes - she's a genuine feminist groundbreaker AND she was insanely economical as a director - like The Hitchhiker is like 70 minutes or something  - The Outrage too conveys a whole lot of info with little fuss. The key thing about Ida Lupino is that in High Sierra she defined the classic (good) bad girl vs. the goodie goodie girl (Joan Leslie) with the bad foot and boring beyond belief. See she always loved Mad Dog Earle criminal or not........did that milk and cookies Joan Leslie? Pffffft. |
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 25, 2019 11:44:18 GMT
Let's run it again. The first woman to direct a noir with The Hitch-Hiker! The first woman to direct herself in a big Hollywood movie! The only woman who directed a Twilight Zone episode! etc, etc. She was not just the first female indie director in the mainstream but one of the very first, ever, with a predominant focus on daring social issues. She wasn't making cookie-cutter stuff. If someone has read more about her life and career maybe they can shed some light on specifics...
I'll fill in some blanks about Ms. Lupino and other female directors. First, this correction: Lupino wasn't an indie director. Everything she directed was a studio film, with her under contract, or a studio television show. And while she certainly has historical significance in the sound era, being from 1949 to 1968 the only women directing in Hollywood, which is remarkable, she is not the only female director with profound historical significance.
Prior to Lupino, there was a female director who started in the silent era in 1927 and directed into the sound era: Dorothy Arzner. In fact, she was the only female Hollywood director still working from 1934 to 1949 when she retired to go teach at UCLA. But prior to her, there was the phenomenally prolific and influential Lois Weber, the first female director in America. She wrote and directed over 140 silent films from 1911 to 1927, nearly all of them with powerfully socially relevant stories, and one film in the sound era in 1934.
And at the forefront of all was Alice Guy (aka Alice Guy-Blaché), born in France. She was the first woman to direct a film, period, and the first woman to direct a narrative film - in 1896 at the age of 23. In 1907, she married Herbert Blaché and moved to the United States where she continued to direct, write and produce films. In a career that lasted until 1920, she directed over 400 films! She was the giant of giants among female directors in the early days.
Ida Lupino was definitely a pioneer in the later Hollywood era, without question, but she would have been the first to acknowledge that she benefited greatly from the legacy of those pioneering women directors who came before her.
That said, it is true that as a director she was exceptional in her ability to make films on a small scale (directing studio "B" films) with the wise use of shots designed very well and kept to a minimum, which made her good at keeping to the budget. She also had an ability to draw excellent performances from her actors. So kudos to her, for sure! To be the only female director in Hollywood for that length of time is, as I said, pretty remarkable, and she deserves a lot of credit for that. (To say nothing for her exceptional talent as an actress in her own right!)
After Lupino retired in 1968, no one picked up her mantel until 1971 when Elaine May directed A NEW LEAF. In the 1970s there were a very few women directors in Hollywood, less than a dozen, and most of those were in television - same in the 1980s. In the 1980s approximately 2% of the Directors Guild of America were female directors. Today that is up to 16%, but that is still a disgrace and leaves a very tall mountain for women to climb before they reach parity with male directors.
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Post by hugobolso on Sept 26, 2019 3:16:22 GMT
In the 50s there weren't others femele director in America, because they don't wanted.-
Lupino had the opportuntie by casualty, and she take it.-
Why no other actresses try to imitate her? I don't know.
Maybe, there should be more if Lupino was an Oscar Award nominee or winner actresses.
Don't take me wrong, of course Hollywood was not kind with women in producing or directing films.
Alma Reville co-directed some of her husband Alfred Hitchcock films, during his temporally absence, she also co-write several films, but she was never Oscar nominated for these work. The other Hitchcock collaborator Joan Harrison along with Harriet Parson and Virginia Van Upp were top Producers. Neither were Oscar Nominated for best film. Several actresses produce their own movies, the most prolific was probably Mary Pickford (who also co-directed once) for over 30 years including her Oscar vehicle Coquette, her main rival Lillian Gish also produced and directed 1 film.
but none receive an Oscar Nom for Best Picture until Julia Philips in 1975. Why, I have not idea. Until now no woman had receive a best Director nomination for directing herself. In fact no woman was credited to produce an Oscar Best Picture nominee, that also earn for herself an Oscar nomination for best actress or supporting actress.-
But this is about Lupino, the only performance that i remember is her in Batman
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 26, 2019 13:58:16 GMT
In the 50s there weren't others femele director in America, because they don't wanted.- Lupino had the opportuntie by casualty, and she take it.- Why no other actresses try to imitate her? I don't know. I don't want to start an argument here, hugobolso, so please don't take it that way. But I have a lot of knowledge about this subject, as well as a lot of experience in Hollywood, and I feel I must speak out whenever it's suggested that women haven't become directors (in Hollywood) because they didn't want to. That simply isn't true, whether they are actresses or not. Women have wanted to direct as long as the medium has existed, and they did in the early days. There were very prominent, pioneering women directors in the silent era. But after that, when men realized that there was money to be made in films, they pushed women into background roles, particularly into editing - although Frances Marion, one of the most prominent silent screenwriters continued into the sound era and won two Oscars along the way. Since then women who want to direct have been constrained by the powers that be, who are almost always men.
Regarding your post, it's not clear to me what relevance women directing themselves to Oscar nods has. Generally speaking, most directors are not and don't want to be actors/actresses, so most do not direct themselves. Not to say it isn't done, just that it isn't the norm.
Barbra Streisand is an obvious exception, directing herself in YENTL in 1983, two years after Warren Beatty directed himself in REDS. His film received numerous Oscar nominations and won three, including one for Beatty as best director. Streisand's film also received Oscar nominations, though not as many. But unlike Beatty she was generally mocked for her audacity to write, produce, direct, and star in a film - exactly what Beatty had done. I know this. I witnessed it at the Directors Guild Awards that year when the host literally mocked Streisand for YENTL, and people laughed. That was the same year, btw, that the first woman in history was nominated for a DGA award for directing a narrative film (for tv), and who would make more history that night by winning that award, but who before that had to sit in the room listening to the host make fun of a woman director, who happened also to be an undisputed phenomenal acting and singing talent. That was Hollywood then; it's only moderately better today.
Two more examples of how women directors have been minimized in Hollywood: in 1986 Randa Haines directed CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, which received five Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Actress (which Marlee Matlin won), Best Actor, and Best Screenplay. But did Randa Haines, who wrangled all that talent together to create something wonderful receive an Oscar nomination? No. Same with Penny Marshall with her multi-Oscar nominated films, BIG (1988) and AWAKENINGS (1990).
That didn't change until Sofia Coppola's LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003), which received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (the first time a woman was nominated), and Best Original Screenplay, which she won. At least for her film that was nominated for Best Picture she did receive a nomination as Best Director.
And as I indicated earlier, I'm talking about Hollywood female directors, not the few independent female directors working in America, whose films over the years have been few and far between.
Anyway. Just wanted to try to clarify these things. Again, I mean no offense.
As for Ida Lupino, the actress, she was superb. I strongly recommend that you make an effort to see her in these films:
High Sierra They Drive By Night On Dangerous Ground The Sea Wolf Out of the Fog
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Post by hugobolso on Sept 26, 2019 15:21:22 GMT
I agree with you, and not only in Hollywood, in most of the countries there is a discrimination against women director.
In Britain is even worse than US.
In Spain for example there are many Women awarded as Best Director, but very few are hired for making Blockbuster. Yep they hired for making Artistic films, but not for popular movies.-
In Spain or Argentina women hadn't make the box office numbers that their Pioner Pilar Miro and María Luisa Bemberg had maken. until now they haven't a succesor. They were not good femele directors, they were great directors. And the Audiences and the critic supporter their work, just for being great.-
Australia New Zeland are probably the main exception, when there are many famous femele directors since the 70s.
Still if Lupino had earn an Oscar nomination or won for one of her performance made between 1940-43. Probably they would be more actresses directors in the 50s and 60s. At least should be a challange for the Big Hollywood Stars to Imitate her, but she was no rival in 1950. She followed the steps of Mary Pickford as Producer and director.-
Maybe if Pickford talkie movies were more succesful, would be more actresses women producers. Very few produce films, and most unecredited like Bette Davis, Bonita Grenville or Joan Fontaine, and usually because their husband at the time was also a producer. Was also an easy way to earn more money.-
Lupino was not alone as a producer, but things could change before if Gilda was nominated Best Film. Virgina Van Upp should be the first femele producer nominated.
Still we have to wait until Streissand in Yentl. For women started to produce and direct their own movies. I have to give Barb that credit. Was not easy. In fact Streissand career collapsed after Yentl. Because being a leading lady, singer, producer, screen writter and director demand to many work. And she her career isn't prolific. The same could said about Goldie Hawn as a Producer. Penny Marshall left her Acting career for Producing and Direct Films, Jodie Foster.
Meg Ryan was the first to produce movies and at the same time having a prolific career. This ended in 2002, when she semiretired.-
Many Hollywood actress in the 80s and 90s were uncredited producers, and only were executive producer of a couple of films.
Things are much easier now for Reese Witherspoon and Margot Robbie.
Nicole Kidman, who produce a couple of movies in the past, is now a TV Producer.-
To sum up, it's a pity that Lupino legacy was trully rediscouvered when she was already dead. She was never awarded with An Honorary Award from the Academy or Golden Globe etc. for her contributions as an actress, director and film producer.-
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 26, 2019 16:45:19 GMT
To sum up, it's a pity that Lupino legacy was trully rediscouvered when she was already dead. She was never awarded with An Honorary Award from the Academy or Golden Globe etc. for her contributions as an actress, director and film producer.-
Thanks for the reply, Hugo. And I couldn't agree more with your final paragraph. It would have been a good and appropriate thing for Lupino to be recognized for her pioneering achievements. But as we both know, it doesn't always work that way.
Also, I couldn't agree more with your comment about women directors in Australia and New Zealand! So true, except that many of them come to the States and end up not being able to make films that are as good as the films they made in their native lands. Niki Caro, Jane Campion, and Gillian Armstrong are all exceptionally talented directors, but 99% of the time I prefer their non-American films. (That said, I loved Armstrong's 1994 Little Women, to me the definitive film version of that beloved novel.)
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- The Outrage too conveys a whole lot of info with little fuss.
