Ida Lupino, forgotten auteur From film noir to the director's chair

Screenwriter Seros debuts with a discerning reevaluation of the directorial career of Ida Lupino (1918--1995), an actor known for her femme fatale roles before she stepped behind the camera in the late 1940s. Seros presents Lupino as an underappreciated pioneer, arguing that her founding of the independent production company the Filmakers, which backed the six movies she directed between 1948 and 1953, put her "at the heart of the independent film movement." Those six films were daring for tackling taboo issues affecting women, Seros contends, discussing how Lupino had to "tone down the melodrama" to secure the Production Code Administration's approval for Outrage, about a young woman's rape. Pushing back against feminist critics who have faulted Lupino's movies for their conservative endings, Seros posits that the films actually contain overlooked subtleties, pointing out that though Hard, Fast and Beautiful concludes with teenage tennis phenom Florence Farley happily forgoing a sports career for marriage, the final shot of Florence's mother--who sacrificed so that her daughter might enjoy the financial independence from men she never did--sitting alone with Florence's trophy sounds a bittersweet note. Seros's nuanced takes on Lupino's films and legacy reveal the frustrating strictures of the male-dominated mid-century film industry while making a strong case that her oeuvre deserves critical reappraisal. It's an overdue celebration of an overlooked trailblazer. (Dec.)

Screenwriter Seros focuses her on the directorial career of actor Lupino (1918--95), whose output was too frequently overlooked in an industry dominated by men in the postwar U.S. Using themes that combatted stereotypes and anticipated feminism (and also concerned with the parallel plights of marginalized men and women), Lupino's own company produced films with ambiguous rather than uplifting conclusions. A self-reliant, pioneering director, writer, and producer, the estimable Lupino chose to work on socially conscious topics within the confines of the Production Code Administration, often using low-budget Hollywood "Poverty Row" films to do so. Among the movies she directed are Unwanted (1949), about unwed pregnancy; Never Fear (1950), about polio; Outrage (1950), about rape; and the noirish The Hitch-Hiker (1953), her most successful and her personal favorite. Lupino also directed TV, which allowed the mother and wife a better work-home balance. She produced episodes of Western, comedy, mystery, suspense, and gangster series (including the only woman-directed episode of The Twilight Zone). She was quick to acknowledge the directors who influenced her, like Hitchcock, and she influenced others in turn: Clint Eastwood said it was Lupino who showed him that an actor could also direct. VERDICT This academically written and accessible contribution to film history should please a wide range of readers.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.