Stephan lupino biography of william hill
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Issue 50
b. February 4, 1914, London, England
d. August 3, 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA
Filmography
Bibliography
Articles in Senses
Web Resources
One of the most important auteurs in 1950s cinema is one of the most marginal: Ida Lupino. Even today, only two of her feature films, The Hitch-Hiker (1953) and The Trouble With Angels (1966), are available on DVD, and, although her feature films Not Wanted (1949), Never Fear (1949) and The Bigamist (1953) were once available on VHS, they are now long out of print. But if anyone deserves a box set of DVDs covering their entire lifespan of work, Lupino does. Because of the sexism which formerly riddled the film industry – and which, to a large degree, still prevails – Ida Lupino’s directorial career is an unusual case. At the time, she was working she literally had no close competition. Although she often made light of her directorial accomplishments, Lupino was obviously driven by a very real need to direct. Otherwise, it seems unlikely that she would have relinquished a secure career as a leading lady to do so. Indeed, her work as a director is, for many observers, Lupino’s most significant contribution to the literature of motion pictures. As Annette Kuhn notes, “the output of The Filmakers [Lupino’s indep
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Movies you might have missed: The Hitch-Hiker, the only true film noir directed by a woman
Ida Lupino was arguably the most significant female figure during the golden days of the Hollywood studio system. Born in Herne Hill in south London, Lupino initially found success as an actress before becoming a pioneering director and producer in the 1950s.
She only began directing when Elmer Clifton got ill and was unable to finish work on the movie he was making for the production company set up by Lupino and her husband, Collier Young, to make low-budget, issue-oriented films. After four social issue pictures, Lupino emerged with her masterpiece, The Hitch-Hiker (1953, available on Amazon Video), the only true film noir directed by a woman.
In the film, two friends heading off to do a spot of fishing pick up a mysterious stranger on a trip to Mexico only to discover he’s a dangerous psychopath wanted by the police.
The inspiration was Billy Cook, an American spree killer who murdered six people on a 22-day rampage between Missouri and California between 1950 and 1951 while posing as a hitchhiker. Lupino interviewed the two prospectors Cook held hostage, and got releases from both – as well as the murderer – so as to incorporate actual events from Cook’s life into the script.
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William Boyle
Frank Reardon: Hello, Restaurant check, how’s life?
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