Hard, Fast and Beautiful.

Review #2189: Hard, Fast and Beautiful.

Cast: 

Claire Trevor (Millie Farley), Sally Forrest (Florence Farley), Carleton G. Young (Fletcher Locke), Robert Clarke (Gordon McKay), Kenneth Patterson (Will Farley), Marcella Cisney (Miss Martin), and Joseph Kearns (J.R. Carpenter) Directed by Ida Lupino (#799 - The Hitch-Hiker, #1651 - Never Fear, #1811 - Not Wanted, #1991 - Outrage)

Review: 

"“I’m mad, they say. I am temperamental and dizzy and disagreeable. Well, let them talk. Only one person can hurt me. Her name is Ida Lupino."

You have to understand that Ida Lupino had to work hard to get her films made with as little as trouble as possible as one could do when doing films that were done in production with Collier Young and the distribution that came with this film in RKO. The movie was based on a novel by John R. Tunis (often considered a pioneer in the modern version of the sports story). Some sources have said the source material was his novel American Girl, a 1930 novel. Tunis apparently cited Helen Wills when it came to his fictionalization for a story considering unflattering in what happened to be the only novel that he wrote to be published for adults, as most of his works were quite popular in the kid's market (this idea of it being based on Wills seems curious, as she was described as quite focused on the court at large, which resulted in eight wins at Wimbledon, among other things). However, other sources contend that the story "Mother of a Champion" was an inspiration for the film. The screenplay was written by Martha Wilkerson, who actually was better known as a disc jockey (named "GI Jill") on GI Jive, a radio program that was aired during World War II. This was her only film screenplay, although she did write for a handful of television programs. Eleanor Tennant, cited often as the first female player to turn professional (until 1968, it was more of a thing for people to stay as amateurs because that is where the titles such as Wimbledon were played with), was cited as a technical advisor for the film.

As her fourth film as a director, it certainly has its own edge in looking upon the clash of sincerity and ambition that strikes a bit different from her previous movies about an unwed mother, polio, and rape victim. There are elements here that make one think they are watching a noir that her previous films have done in their own interesting ways when it comes to talking about her intent to do movies with "poor bewildered people" because of what we people are. In this case, we have a bewildered mother that tries to live vicariously through their daughter to get a life better than the one she felt was denied to her. It's the general story one can see in other people's lives when it comes to domineering parents among impressionable youths. Trevor (an Academy Award winning actress for Key Largo [1948], remember) is the ideal presence in domineering obsession that we can wince at with such truthful edge. Her craven pursuits are a human one that isn't just a goofy villain, particularly when sharing scenes with Patterson and his calm patience for such brazen ambition. Forrest appeared in a Lupino film for the third and final time (having appeared in Not Wanted and Never Fear), which also happened to be just before she transitioned to also doing TV roles. She does pretty well here in needing to find one's path beyond obedience to their elders and finding someone (or something) to spend time for themselves. It goes okay in that pairing of Forrest and Clarke is the kind of stuff that is vanilla but totally ideal in being a threat to someone like Trevor when it comes to being the key sphere in one's life. The tennis action is cut pretty well to what one would think would need to be present that is a pretty neat capsule for how it looked in some way for the time made. The ending is, well, take one guess in what happens with a dilemma involving a growing woman having to make her own decision. I do like the closing sequence where a woman sits alone in a vacant stadium, left to ponder the hollowness of the choices made to get to where they are sitting now. As a whole, it is a decent film that belongs squarely with the kind of human interest that Lupino liked to do in her films that will work for its 78 minutes for those who know what they are getting into with her as a filmmaker and as a curiosity as a tennis film.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Outrage (1950).

Review #1991: Outrage.

Cast: 

Mala Powers (Ann Walton), Tod Andrews (Rev. Bruce Ferguson), Robert Clarke (Jim Owens), Raymond Bond (Eric Walton), Lilian Hamilton (Mrs. Walton), Hal March (Det. Sgt. Hendrix), Kenneth Patterson (Tom Harrison), Jerry Paris (Frank Marini), and Angela Clarke (Madge Harrison) Directed by Ida Lupino (#799 - The Hitch-Hiker, #1651 - Never Fear, #1811 - Not Wanted)

Review: 

In 1950, the Production Code was still prevalent for most motion pictures in the United States. But cracks were starting to flow, and one of those films that helped was Johnny Belinda (1948), since it covered a topic that was prohibited from being depicted: the mention of rape (that movie, incidentally, was a period drama). But there was still lines to not cross when it came to this film, since the Code objected to a variety of phrases such as "sex maniac" and "sex fiend" being used countless times. The script was done by Ida Lupino, Malvin Wald, and Collier Young for Young & Lupino's The Filmakers company. The Production Code Administration (as led by Joseph I. Breen) approved a re-done version of the script that resulted in a film that never says the word "rapist" once. Outrage was the third of six films directed by Lupino from 1949 to 1953.

As a 75-minute B-movie that technically falls under the lines of film noir (with encroaching shadows and situations without being a straight crime drama), it is a fairly decent movie for what it manages to convey as a movie of the times talking about such a sensitive subject. In the act of not actually talking about "rape", it actually has staying power in the present time because of the fact that the film is about the psychological pain that comes with what happens after an assault (which is conveyed carefully). The blame inadvertently seems to be more on the assaulted than the assaulter, whether that involves her ordeal in being asked to participate in an identification lineup or in the ordeal of trying to just walk a corner. It is all about the experience of the woman who suffered this assault upon her that sees her break away in torment on all sides over perceptions that come from being firmly on edge every second. Powers (in her first starring film role) pulls in a well-rounded performance filled with raw conviction, one who evokes all of the qualities required in making her emotional turmoil our turmoil to experience in terms of not veering into exploitation. The plight experienced by the character she plays could happen to anyone of us, and the frustrations and fears showed here remind us that there are no simple absolutes. Andrews does fine with the material in calm stature, which mainly involves being oneself in the eyes of a small town with subtle religious tones. They have the kind of warm chemistry that is meant to rebuild one's sense of self rather than outright romance - admittedly, there is more than one way to recover (if possible) from an assault than what happens here, but the important thing that Lupino shows is a story without artifice. By the time the film gets to a tragic decision with a wrench, you see just how it gets to that point and wince. The ending of the film might seem quite sudden, but the important thing to remember is that it is not quite a movie that reverts everything to the status quo when it comes to the matter of a woman who will have to continue to forge her own path forward where forgetting about the past is simply not something that you can do. It isn't just finding their way back in the arms of a man that gives her identity back, it is finding one's faith in themselves that means the most. Seven decades later, this is still a lesson we are trying to search for inside.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Next: The Wild Party (1929).