Farran Smith Nehme at The Current:
When Patrick McGilligan interviewed Ida Lupino in 1974, he was already exhibiting a now well-established critical preference: he was far more interested in her directing work. It makes sense, in a way. Director Dorothy Arzner retired in 1943. By the time Lupino directed her first film, in 1949, women feature-film directors in Hollywood consisted of—well, her. She was unique. She was a pioneer.
But, as we hope to illustrate with this twelve-film series on the Criterion Channel, it would be a serious mistake to neglect Ida Lupino’s acting in favor of the eight features she made as a director. (Nor should her considerable work in television be counted out, but that’s another topic.) Lupino was one of the best, most vivid and original actresses in Hollywood, making permanent classics with directors such as Raoul Walsh, Nicholas Ray, Michael Curtiz, and Vincent Sherman. She played “spirited, tough, offbeat” characters, as McGilligan put it. And by her own account, Lupino’s taste in roles shaped what she chose to do as a director. “I liked the strong characters,” she told McGilligan, “something that has some intestinal fortitude, some guts to it. Just a straight role drives me up the wall. Playing a nice woman who just sits there, that’s my greatest limitation.”
more here.
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