This screening includes The Hitch-Hiker and The Twilight Zone: The Masks
- Date and time:
- Sat, Oct 27, 2018, From 4–5:36 pm
- Runtime:
- 1 hr 36 min
- Cost:
- $4
5X Ida Lupino: Fearless, Extraordinary Trailblazer
Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Ida Lupino’s birth, the 5X Ida Lupino: Fearless, Extraordinary Trailblazer film series is a celebration of one of early Hollywood’s most innovative, pioneering, and fiercely independent women filmmakers. Born in 1918 to a London show-business family, Lupino trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before her acting debut at 15 in the film Her First Affaire (1933). Dubbed “the English Jean Harlow,” Lupino quickly transitioned to Hollywood, securing a five-year acting contract with Paramount Pictures. Over the next decade, she became an A-list actress, starring in several critically acclaimed films, including They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941), and On Dangerous Ground (1951).
In 1949, Lupino and her then-husband Collier Young founded The Filmakers, an independent film production company that allowed them to create low-budget, socially conscious films without being fettered by the major studios’ desire for commercially safe films. Although uncredited, Lupino’s first directing role was stepping in for Elmer Clifton on the film Not Wanted (1949) after Clifton suffered a heart attack. From there, Lupino and Collier collaborated on five films for their company, including Never Fear (1950); Outrage (1950); Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951); The Hitch-Hiker (1953); and The Bigamist (1953). After the dissolution of The Filmakers in 1953, Lupino focused her career on acting and television directing before retiring in 1978.
Lupino was a fearless, trailblazing artist, who did not back down from addressing social issues and taboo topics in her films. Reportedly, Lupino referred to herself as “mother” on set and had a director’s chair embroidered with “Mother of Us All.” She demonstrated no qualms about her directorial career in a Hollywood system that was unfamiliar and unprepared for a strong-willed, power-broking woman of her nature. Lupino's forthright and insightful investigations of the social condition of women in contemporary society, onscreen and off, helped open a path for future women filmmakers, which is still being paved today.
Series: 5X Series