Ida Lupino Movies

Alcoholic Lottie Mead (Claire Trevor) bursts into the home of Ralph and James Birdwell (Robert Sampson, Patricia Smith), the couple who have been caring for Lottie's daughter ever since the girl's mother deserted her. Now Lottie declares that she will take the girl away from the Birdwells unless she is given a 25,000-dollar payoff. When the couple refuses, Lottie cooks up a kidnapping scheme with a seemingly dishonest detective named Phil Ames (Biff Eliott) -- who turns out to have an agenda of his own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anything Goes is a fun-filled but hardly faithful adaptation of the same-named Cole Porter Broadway musical, with additional songs by Hoagy Carmichael, among many many others. Set on a luxury liner, the story gets under way when Moonface Mullins (Charlie Ruggles), Public Enemy No. 13, slips on board disguised as a bishop. As he weaves in and out of the story, Billy Crocker (Bing Crosby) romances Hope Harcourt (Ida Lupino), titled Englishman Evelyn Oakleigh (Arthur Treacher) also pursues Hope, and brassy entertainer Reno Sweeney (Ethel Merman) chases after Sir Evelyn. Critics in 1934 complained that the original Broadway production's Victor Moore was replaced by Charlie Ruggles, but none could fault Ethel Merman's rendition of "I Get a Kick Out of You", nor her duet with Bing Crosby, "You're the Top" (the only two songs retained from the Porter score!) Anything Goes was remade in 1956, again with Bing Crosby, and again with little fidelity to the original (this remake required MCA Television to retitle the 1936 version as Tops is the Limit). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the stage thriller The Man (itself based upon a half-hour radio drama), Beware My Lovely is a taut suspenser tailor-made for the talents of Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan. Lupino plays a pretty widow who impulsively hires handyman Ryan to look after her house. She soon learns Ryan is a dangerous schizophrenic, but by the time she comes to this realization she is unable to escape her house. The tension mounts apace, leading to an unexpected but quite logical finale. Produced by Lupino's then-husband Collier Young, Beware My Lovely was released by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The famous Bronte sisters are the subject of this film which not only discusses their literary feats but also their private lives. ~ All Movie Guide

Ida Lupino guest stars as Gloria Gibson, a former movie queen who hopes to stage a spectacular comeback. Alas, someone seems determined to sabotage Gloria's return by systemically driving her mad -- and stealing all her valuable artwork in the process. Investigating, the Angels discover that there is much more to the case than first meets the eye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of Terrence Malick's early screenwriting efforts, this loosely-structured road movie finds a questionably sane long-distance trucker named Cooper (Alan Arkin) winding his way through the heart of America. An employee of a questionable hauling outfit who has been assigned to drive a newly hijacked rig to an as-of-yet undisclosed-location, Cooper quickly ditches his partner and points his eighteen-wheeler westward. Picking-up a hitchhiker (Paul Benedict) for some company in the cab, the unstable trucker's journey westward grows increasingly surreal as he runs into numerous eccentric characters, portrayed in cameo roles by such noted names as Ida Lupino, George Raft, Charles Durning, Loretta Swit, Richard Kiel and future director John Milius. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

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

Ida Lupino guest stars as Lady Marchwood, a very wealthy English widow. Her Ladyship makes quite an impression on Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot), who can remember when she was a humble London barmaid named Maude--and, incidentally, French's sweetheart. Now Lady Marchwood has summoned French back to England, hoping to pick up their romance she where they left off! This episode proved popular enough to warrant a sequel, "The Return of Maudie", likewise costarring Ida Lupino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made for TV Female Artillery is a comedy, just in case the title didn't tip you off. Set in the Old West, the film stars Dennis Weaver as Deke Chambers, an outlaw on the lam from his old gang. Joining a wagon train, Deke aligns himself with a group of tough, well-armed pioneer women. When the gang attacks, the gals retaliate in noisy fashion. First telecast January 17, 1973, Female Artillery is elevated by the special effects wizardry of Albert Whitlock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old manor house in London, built in 1804 by a British admiral (C. Aubrey Smith) and blitzed in 1940 by one Adolf Hitler. Through the portals of this house pass a vast array of Britons, from high-born to low. The earliest scenes involve gay blade Lt. William Trimble (Ray Milland), wronged country-girl Susan (Anna Neagle), and wicked landowner Ambrose Pomfret (Claude Rains). We move on to a comic interlude involving dotty Mr. Simpson (Reginald Owen), eternally drunken butler Bellamy (Charles Laughton), and cockney plumbers Mr. Dabb (Cedric Hardwicke) and Wilkins (Buster Keaton). Maidservant Jenny (Ida Lupino) takes over the plot during the Boer War era, while the World War I sequence finds the house converted into a way-station for soldiers (including Robert Cummings) and anxious families (including Roland Young and Gladys Cooper). Finally we arrive in 1940, with American Gates Pomfret (Kent Smith) and lady-of-the-house Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick) surveying the bombed-out manor, and exulting over the fact that the portrait of the home's founder, Adm. Eustace Trimble (Smith), has remained intact -- symbolic proof of England's durability in its darkest hours. The huge cast includes Dame May Whitty, Edward Everett Horton, Wendy Barrie, Merle Oberon, Nigel Bruce, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp, and a host of others -- some appearing in sizeable roles, others (like Arthur Treacher and Patric Knowles) willingly accepting one-scene bits, simply to participate in the undertaking. Seven directors and 21 writers were also swept up in the project. Forever and a Day was supposed to have been withdrawn from circulation after the war and its prints destroyed so that no one could profit from what was supposed to have been an act of industry charity. Happily for future generations, prints have survived and are now safely preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The only person on the island who knows how to repair the radio transmitter is the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.). Unfortunately, the Skipper can only rememeber the instructions when he's asleep and dreaming. As the possibility of rescue in the form of the famous aviatrix "The Vagabond Lady" looms large, everyone does everything within their power to keep the Skipper in dreamland, with the Professor (Russell Johnson) working hardest of all as an amateur hypnotist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hans Conried returns in the role of Wrongway Feldman, the world's most incompetent aviator. Landing his ancient aircraft on the island, Feldman raises rescue hopes amongst the castaways. Unfortunately, since making his last visit to the island, good old "Wrongway" has decided to renounce civilization and remain with the castaways on a permanent basis! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide