One of the many trailblazing — and unsung — women in film history is getting some much-deserved time in the spotlight. As Vanity Fair reports, Kino Lorber has released a new box set, the Ida Lupino: Filmmaker Collection, featuring new restorations of four of the prolific director’s feature films.
The collection includes 1949’s “Not Wanted,” Lupino’s first uncredited directing gig, the story of a woman trying to take back the child she gave up; 1949’s “Never Fear,” the portrait of a dancer who learns she has polio; 1953’s aptly-titled “The Bigamist”; and 1953’s thriller “The Hitch-Hiker,” which sees two unsuspecting fishermen picking up a murderous drifter.
“They’re a sharp, surprising, handsomely drawn quartet of movies,” the source emphasizes, “and their release couldn’t come at a better time, as the public becomes more acquainted with a large and growing collection of storied but long-unavailable or unrestored films by women.”
Film history, like Hollywood, is dominated by men. But women have always made movies — releases such as the Lupino box set remind us of that. As VF notes, pioneering filmmakers such as Lois Weber (“White Heat”), Alice Guy-Blaché (“Shadows of the Moulin Rouge”), Julie Dash (“Daughters of the Dust”), Barbara Loden (“Wanda”), Elaine May (“A New Leaf”), and Cheryl Dunye (“The Watermelon Woman”) have received long-overdue recognition, and are reclaiming their places in cinematic history, thanks to new restorations and special releases.
Lupino helmed eight features (six credited, two uncredited) and had an extensive career in TV directing. Her other films are “Outrage,” “Hard, Fast and Beautiful!,” “On Dangerous Ground,” and “The Trouble with Angels.” Among her TV credits are “The Twilight Zone,” “Bewitched,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and “The Donna Reed Show.” As an actress, she appeared in over 100 screen projects and received three Emmy nods. Lupino died in 1995 at the age of 77.
“I’d love to see more women working as directors and producers. Today it’s almost impossible to do it unless you are an actress or writer with power,” Lupino once said, extremely presciently.
