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Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: The Hitch-Hiker

Chalk up another entry for Todd Mason’s ongoing blogging series, “Tuesday’s Overlooked Films.” This week’s selection is a classic noir from Anglo-American actress and (this time) DIRECTOR Ida Lupino.

As the opening sequences state, this film is based on a true story of two average guys, who pick up a mysterious hitch-hiker on their way to Mexico, where they a relaxing weekend of fishing. What they get unfortunately is something totally unexpected that puts their lives in imminent danger.

There may be some dispute as to whether or not this is the first film noir made by a woman; one thing is for certain: you cannot argue that this is one of the more solid offerings of the genre. As many noirs are, Hitch-Hiker is a low-budget B-film. So if you look at “bang for the buck” this film really delivers.

I also selected this film because for many filmgoers, they may not know who Ida Lupino is. She was born in the United Kingdom to a famous acting dynasty and studied at RADA. The silver screen came calling and she headed to Hollywood, where by my estimation her talent was on full display in films such as On Dangerous Ground, High Sierra and Road House. According to Wikipedia, for turning down a film role, she was placed on suspension which lead her to take a stab at directing.

As a director, the subject matter for his films was somewhat cutting edge for the time. Other films of note are The Bigamist, Hard Fast and Beautiful and Outrage.

Even if you are not interested or able to catch any of her films, I urge you to take a look at Ida Lupino simply as a biography and history of pioneers in cinema’s history.

One final note: in 1998, The Library of Congress of the United States’ National Film Registry seleted this film as cultural, historical or aesthetically significant.

 

Main Cast:

  • Edmond O’Brien as Roy Collins
  • Frank Lovejoy as Gilbert Bowen
  • William Talman as Emmett Myers
  • José Torvay as Captain Alvarado

Sources: Wikipedia, National Film Registry

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Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Caged

This week’s pick is the 1950 “women-in-prison” drama Caged. The film stars Eleanor Parker and was directed by John Cromwell. Screen writing credits are attributed to Virginia Kellogg based on the story Women Without Men written by Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld (source: Wikipedia).

Many of my “younger” readers may know her as the almost stepmother of the vonTrapp children in The Sound of Music. This role is definitely a great departure from that more glamorous role and we see our protagonist transform from an innocent who falls on hard times, to a prison-hardened dame who is destined for a life of crime.

How does it all go wrong?

19-year old Marie (Parker) takes part in an attempted robbery with her husband. Unfortunately, their plans are thwarted and her husband is killed. It is then off to prison for Marie who soon finds out that she is pregnant. She is determined to keep the child but circumstances arise to make this impossible. As a result she is faced with no choice but to give her child up for adoption.

This event combined with the harsh and brutal treatment she receives at the hands of inmates and guards, transforms Marie into a woman who is destined to be on the wrong side of the law. At the conclusion of the film, she is seen leaving with some “hoods”: her desire to get out of jail has lead to her make a Faustian deal with some less than above board people. The result is an indebtedness that she will have to pay while she is on the “outside.”

For her performance, Eleanor Parker received well-deserved recognition in the form of an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. There was also a Supporting Actress nod for Hope Emerson as the sadistic prison guard.

What resonated with me about this film is that for its time, it must have been a somewhat shocking look inside a woman’s prison. Some of the goings-on are obviously played up for dramatic reasons, but it still works on many levels.

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Quick Reaction to “Gun Crazy” (1950)

Tonight Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is featuring the films of B-movie director Joseph H. Lewis. So far I have watched “So Dark the Night” (a surprisingly clever film featuring a bevvy of French actors). I am currently near the final 1/3 of “Gun Crazy” a film that I have been eager to catch but never had the opportunity. It is perhaps the best known of Mr. Lewis’ films and required viewing for students of the film noir movement.

However as I am watching it I am a little let down; my expectations were of an authentic, gritty crime thriller of sorts but that is not what I have watched. Sure there are dramatic and somewhat tense moments but nothing on the scale that I was looking for in a noir drama. Of particular interest to me was the performance of John Dall. As the male lead I assumed that his character “Bart” would be the primary catalyst of the criminal action – similar to his portrayal of “Brandon” of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” (another personal favorite of mine). But instead, he is the trigger-happy, yet reasonable in some ways foil to his more ruthless partner in crime, “Laurie” (Ms. Cummins).

I am still happy that I saw it because in spite of my original expectations being altered as a result of the viewing it is notable in my estimation for one reason – the fact that the female (femme fatale) is so dominant in the relationship and really the one that we should look out for.

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