Cast:
Sally Forrest (Sally Kelton), Keefe Brasselle (Drew Baxter), Leo Penn (Steve Ryan), Dorothy Adams (Mrs. Aggie Kelton), Wheaton Chambers (Mr. Kelton), Rita Lupino (Joan), Audrey Farr (Nancy), Carole Donne (Jane), and Ruth Clifford (Mrs. Elizabeth Stone) Directed by Elmer Clifton and Ida Lupino (#799 - The Hitch-Hiker and #1651 - Never Fear)
Review:
"I love being called Mother. I would never shout orders at anyone. I hate women who order men around, professionally or personally. I wouldn’t dare do that with my old man…and I don’t do it with guys on the set. I say, ‘Darlings, Mother has a problem. I’d love to do this. Can you do it? It sounds kooky but I want to do it.’ And they do it.”
If you remember correctly, Ida Lupino really wanted to a writer more than an actress. Of course, being a member of the Lupino family meant that there was some expectation placed on her to act. She did have a steady line of work within the industry, but she chafed at some of its trappings (most notably with Warner Bros, which she left in 1947), and she once described a Hollywood career as a perishable commodity. Not many folks can be referred to as the “English Jean Harlow" alongside her own nicknames for herself (once jokingly proposing that she went from being the "poor man's Bette Davis" to being the "poor man's Don Siegel"). She gained an interest in directing from seeing how it was done while on suspension from Warner Bros and felt it seemed more interesting than time spent on a set acting. In 1948, she would form "The Filmmakers Inc" alongside her husband producer/writer Collier Young and Malvin Wald. Hired to do the film for the year of 1949 was Elmer Clifton, who was known for his low-budget work within Westerns and exploitation films in a career that spanned both silent and sound. However, he suffered a heart attack on the third day of filming. Lupino would step in to direct the film, although she elected to not take directorial effort. She had also co-written the screenplay with Paul Jarrico (who in turn had co-written the story with Malvin Wald) and she also co-produced the film with Anson Bond, and one of the first credits on the film is "Ida Lupino presents" (as for Clifton, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on October 15). At any rate, Lupino's film would do fine for itself enough to keep her on the forefront of making cheap productions under "The Filmmakers Inc.", which lasted until 1955. She would make just one further feature film as director after that while keeping busy as a television director alongside TV acting. She was credited by numerous colleagues for her patience and knowledge when it came to filmmaking and conferring with others on technique. This involved shooting on location or re-using sets or casting unknowns (such as her doctor in one film) or even product placement to help keep production afloat.
Apparently, there is also a version of the film that was done by exploitation filmmakers that liked to insert "educational" footage into films in order to slip by the Production Code (with one version called "The Wrong Rut"), and it is here where one would see inserted footage of an actual cesarian delivery. Of course, the real film doesn't even mention the word "pregnant", and its sequence in a hospital is particularly interesting for the way it depicts an operation through the eyes of our lead. You might recognize Forrest and Brasselle, since they would each star in Lupino's next film in Never Fear (1950), and Forrest also starred in Lupino's 1951 film Hard, Fast and Beautiful. I think that film is just a tad better than this film, likely because the framing device utilized here (i.e. telling most of the film as a flashback) works a bit better in other imitators of the pulpy noir. Of course, Lupino has her sights set on telling an interesting story involving the plight of a child born out of wedlock and the distinct differences seen when one is talking about it for the mother as opposed to the father. No matter how we view the personality of the flighty lead, one can still emphasize with the anguish felt on screen when it comes to facing a hard decision when it comes to a new child. The social consciousness that Lupino shows here is something that still relates well to our day and age because of the struggles that still come with double standards and human nature. Forrest handles this well through the tender direction by delivering a character with the right sense of passion that comes with someone thrusted into hard realities. Brasselle plays the tender side of life, someone who has been around the corner a couple of times and isn't weary about what they saw; this works fine for him, who is mostly played against Forrest for scenes like seeing model trains or a running climax. Penn plays the aloof part of the main triangle with the right sense of timing needed that comes and goes on his own terms (one has to admire the way the film depicts Forrest and Penn being swaying to each other with the simple act of throwing a cigarette away). Adams and Chambers show up for a time as the parental foils for a brief time. As a whole, the movie works fairly well in pressing a social issue without becoming just a sensationalist work or something that can be tied down to easy resolutions. As a debut feature, it is a worthy one to look into just where Lupino would go with filmmaking that dared to engage in social relevance with efficiency and durability that makes it one to recommend without question.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
Next Time: The Eternal Breasts.
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