Rita Lupino Movies
- 1970
- R
The slimy underbelly of psychiatry is revealed in this nasty exploitation drama that centers on a female psychiatrist who talks about her tawdriest cases, examples of which, including incest, masochism, impotency and prostitution, are illustrated. When not talking, the doctor and her daughter get involved in a few wild adventures of their own including an orgy and a campus riot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Years ago, ambitious jockey Ronnie Watson (Ben Cooper) cheated during an important race, thereby destroying the career of his friend and fellow jockey Sam Barry (Walter Burke). Now it appears that Sam has returned from obscurity to get even with Ronnie; no matter where he races in the world, Ronnie sees the malevolently grinning face of Sam, awaiting him at each finish line. Ultimately, Ronnie is driven to desperation and madness--but that's not the end of the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
The Young Lovers is the more familiar title of a 1950 drama originally released as Never Fear. Sally Forrest plays a beautiful young dancer who is crippled with polio. Forrest's dance partner Keefe Brasselle wants to see her through her illness, but the embittered Forrest prefers to be alone. Only by allowing others to share her grief is Forrest able to pull herself together and go on with her life. Though The Young Lovers is listed as Ida Lupino's directorial debut, she'd previously helmed Not Wanted (49) (also starring Forrest and Brasselle) when official director Elmer Clifton fell ill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, (more)
- 1950
In terms of content, Outrage was well-ahead of its time. Mala Powers, who'd previously starred opposite Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac, plays Ann Walton, a naïve young girl who is attacked and raped while walking home from work. As if the horror and humiliation of the sexual assault wasn't enough, Ann must endure the scrutiny of her neighbors, some of whom are convinced that she "asked for it." Unable to stand any more, she runs away from her hometown and her fiancé Jim Owens (Robert Clarke), hoping to start life anew in another town. With the help of compassionate clergyman Ferguson (Tod Andrews), Ann slowly regains her faith in humanity, as well as her own self-esteem. Oddly, director Ida Lupino chooses to tackle her material with a complete lack of subtlety. The subject matter of Outrage deserves far more sensitive treatment than it received from the usually reliable Lupino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mala Powers, Tod Andrews, (more)
- 1949
First love leads to unexpected responsibilities and difficult decisions in this well-crafted drama. Sally Kelton (Sally Forrest) is a free-spirited young woman who is chafing at the restrictions of living at home with her folks and wants to make something of herself. One evening after work, she stops for a drink with some friends and meets Steve Ryan (Leo Penn), a charming but cynical piano player. Sally falls for Steve in a big way and they embark on a brief romance, but Steve regards Sally as a passing fancy and soon moves on to another town. While Sally follows him, Steve makes it clear things are over between them and he takes a gig in South America. Heartbroken Sally takes a new job at a filling station and general store run by Drew Baxter (Keefe Brasselle), a war veteran with a bad leg and a serious crush on Sally. Sally is still getting over Steve and isn't interested in Drew when she learns that she's carrying Steve's child. The disgraced Sally decides to give her child up for adoption, but finds her maternal instincts are stronger than she expected and her desire to have her baby back leads her on a desperate and dangerous path. While Streets of Sin (aka Not Wanted) is credited to director Elmer Clifton, most of the picture was actually shot under the aegis of co-producer Ida Lupino after Clifton fell ill during production; it was the actress' first film as a director. In the '60s, Streets of Sin was reissued as The Wrong Rut, with the addition of footage of a Caesarian birth "borrowed" from an educational film, and booked into drive-ins and grindhouses on the exploitation circuit. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, (more)
- 1949
Taken (as far as possible) from the Cole Porter musical comedy of the same name, Red, Hot and Blue stars Betty Hutton as an ambitious chorus girl. Hutton gets a job with a musical comedy bankrolled by gangsters, and is the wrong girl at the wrong place when one of the show's backers (William Talman) is bumped off. She is arrested for suspicion of murder, then is kidnapped by the villains to keep her from spilling the beans. The plot requires that she be rescued by hero Victor Mature, though many disgruntled audience members may have been rooting for the boisterous Hutton to be dumped in the East River. The stage version of Red Hot and Blue starred Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope. Hutton is no Merman, but she gives her all to the brassy production numbers and the self-absorbed ballads--written not by Cole Porter, whose score was dispensed with, but by Paramount's in-house tunesmith Frank Loesser, who also plays a small role as one of the gangsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Hutton, Victor Mature, (more)
- 1945
The Technicolor musical Masquerade in Mexico is Mitchell Leisen's remake of his own Midnight. Stranded in Mexico City without a dime, glamorous Angel O'Reilly (Dorothy Lamour) is rescued by wealthy Thomas Grant (Patric Knowles). But Grant's motivations are anything but altrustic. In order to get his wife Helen's (Ann Dvorak) mind off handsome bullfighter Manolo Segovia (Arturo de Cordova), Grant passes Angel off as a Contessa at a weekend party, reasoning that Segovia will switch his attentions to our heroine. Screenwriter Karl Tunberg has added a jewel-theft angle to the original Edwin Justis Mayer/Franz Spencer story, which improves things not at all. Masquerade in Mexico is admittedly a handsomer production than Midnight, but the remake lacks the sparkle of the original film's stars Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer, Mary Astor et. al. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Arturo de Cordova, (more)
- 1945
Roundly blasted upon its release because of the extreme liberties it takes with the truth, Devotion is better as cinema than as history. Not that it's great cinema, mind you, mainly because the filmmakers opted to replace historical fact with either tired dramatic clichés or wild improbabilities. As an example of the latter, the film posits that Paul Henreid's character, who is a standard-issue film romantic hero (troubled, but understandably so), is the inspiration for two of the most passionate, fiery characters in the canon of English literature. Arthur Kennedy as brother Bramwell is much more passionate and fiery, a fact which tends to further muddle things up. The generic setting is also disappointing; these ladies wrote as they wrote because of where they lived and how they lived, but little of this makes it to the screen. Fortunately, Devotion has Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino on hand. De Havilland is quite good, grabbing hold of whatever she can find in the script and milking it for all it's worth. Lupino does even better, often making this standard-issue (at best) writing seem engaging and moving. As indicated, Kennedy also makes things work for him, and Nancy Coleman does what she can with the little she is handed. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score provides plenty of the atmosphere that Curtis Bernhardt's direction often lacks. Ultimately, Devotion's assets, particularly Lupino and de Havilland, manage to squeeze it into the winner's column -- but it's a pretty close call. The film was produced in 1943, hence the presence of Montagu Love, who died that year. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, (more)
