Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur: From Film Noir to the Director’s Chair

Screenwriter Seros focuses her on the directorial career of actor Lupino (1918–95), whose output was too frequently overlooked in an industry dominated by men in the postwar U.S. Using themes that combatted stereotypes and anticipated feminism (and also concerned with the parallel plights of marginalized men and women), Lupino’s own company produced films with ambiguous rather than uplifting conclusions. A self-reliant, pioneering director, writer, and producer, the estimable Lupino chose to work on socially conscious topics within the confines of the Production Code Administration, often using low-budget Hollywood “Poverty Row” films to do so. Among the movies she directed are Unwanted (1949), about unwed pregnancy; Never Fear (1950), about polio; Outrage (1950), about rape; and the noirish The Hitch-Hiker (1953), her most successful and her personal favorite. Lupino also directed TV, which allowed the mother and wife a better work-home balance. She produced episodes of Western, comedy, mystery, suspense, and gangster series (including the only woman-directed episode of The Twilight Zone). She was quick to acknowledge the directors who influenced her, like Hitchcock, and she influenced others in turn: Clint Eastwood said it was Lupino who showed him that an actor could also direct.