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The Hard Way

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THE HARD WAY (1943) Starring Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson.

This film starts off almost like a typical "film noir" classic. A despondent, immaculately dressed Lupino is walking by the pier late at night. She removes her expensive white fur coat...lays it gently across one of the pilings...and jumps into the ocean. A homeless man sees her jump and calls the police to try and save her. We then see in flashback..the events that lead to this grim decision.

Lupino plays the worn out wife of a poor blue collar slob, both working themselves slowly to death in a small industrial town with a sky so full of black smoke that you can barely see the sun. Joan Leslie plays Lupinos young sister, just graduated from high school. Lupino is devoted to her sister and tries to steer her clear of all the mistakes that Lupino has already made, trying to make sure she has a better life. Leslie is a perky kid with dreams of being on the stage, a diamond in the rough. One night, while watching a traveling vaudeville show, she happens to meet one of the acts...Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson. Morgan and Carson are a singing/dance act... two guys that don't seem all that talented, but enjoy the life. During their four day stop over, Morgan and Carson happen to see Joan Leslie in a diner, entertaining her friends by mocking Morgan and Carsons act. Both men see that she's talented and Carson and Leslie take a shine to each other. Morgan warns his friend not to get involved with "the locals". But in spite of the warning...Carson falls for Leslie.

Lupino sees an opportunity for Leslie through Carson and encourages a marriage between the two. Soon, Lupino has left her husband and is off with Leslie and the vaudevillians. Before long, Lupino manipulates the two men into adding Leslie into their act. Not long after that, Leslie, with Lupino behind her, starts to become a rising star, leaving Morgan and Carson in their wake. As time goes on, Lupino goes to ever greater lengths, to see her kid sister become an even bigger star. But higher on the ladder she gets, the more burned out and love starved Leslie becomes.

This was a great movie. While it looks as though the film will make Lupino out to be the quintessential "evil" stage mother (or in this case, older sister) the film avoids this obvious cliché, thanks to a wonderful screenplay that leaves plenty of wiggle room for Lupino to give her character some nuance. She is so incredibly good in the role that she rises above such pigeonholing. There is no doubt that Lupino does live vicariously through her sister. However, she is also very loving, devoted and protective of her. What could have ended up as one dimensional, evil manipulation by Lupino, actually comes off as Lupino simply being a very smart, savvy and a very ambitious woman. This gives Lupino even greater complexity as she weighs the right and wrong of her actions (and there is some wrong, no doubt) against what she thinks is best for her sister. When we finally see the inevitable confrontation between Lupino and Leslie, neither comes away without stain even though the film forces Lupino to bare the brunt. Even the victims of Lupinos manipulations seem hypocritical when Lupino confronts them with their own imperfections. Having watched a lot of Lupino films recently, both obscure and the more well known, I have to say that, in my opinion..this is her greatest role.

Yes...even better than High Sierra.

She is more complex, more subtle, more polished, more real than I have ever seen her before. It amazes me that she didn't even get an oscar nomination for this. Everyone turns in solid performances, including Joan Leslie whom I always thought rather limited and certainly didn't think she could pull off a role like this. The film is also visually stunning, beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe.

The story is also interesting in that it is loosely based on the life of Ginger Rogers, her first husband and Gingers mother. Even though the Hollywood community of the day knew it was based on "someone in Hollywood", it didn't come out until years later when director Vincent Sherman spilled the beans (one has to wonder if Rogers knew who it was about, as she was offered the Leslie role and turned it down) While not a musical per se, there is plenty of great music in this from Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Not just a great Lupino film, but a great film period. I highly recommend it to all.

Absolutely stunning and completely mesmerizing, `The Hard Way' grabbed my interest and held it from beginning to end. Loosely based on the real life relationship between Ginger Rogers (who was actually offered a role in this film) and her mother, `The Hard Way' beautifully (and quite disturbingly) illuminates the dangers of fame and the selfish and controlling nature some sink to in order to achieve it, whether it be for themselves or for someone else.

The film tells the story of Helen Chernen and her sister, Katie. Helen loathes her life. She's married to a man she deems beneath her and she is stuck in a town that has choked the life out of her dreams. Her only hope of escape lies in the wide-eyed innocence of her sister, Katie. Katie has dreams of being an actress, and when she meets Albert Runkel (one half of a song and dance duo) her dream begins to take form. Under the strict guise of her sister, Katie joins the duo and soon starts to make her mark as a serious actress. Her aspirations are crowded out by her sister's aggressive ambitions and soon her life begins to unravel as the ones she loves start to drift away.

Fame is lonely when you don't have anyone to share it with.

With an engrossing script, it was really up to the actors on board to flesh this out as needed, and they did beautifully. Many have noted to me that Ida Lupino has never been better, and I for one am on board with this stunning performance. She is so infuriating, yet Lupino crafts Helen with so much understandable feeling that you almost believe her. It's a fearless performance, brutal and poignant. Joan Leslie battles Lupino in many scenes, and while she doesn't have the overall presence that Lupino possesses, she certainly works hard to hold her own. I was especially pleased with Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson. I still think that Carson's supporting work in `Mildred Pierce' is some of the best work of the 40's, but his presence here is also outstanding to watch.

Overall, this is one superbly acted film.

The sharp editing, the chilling cinematography (I love the way that the lavish stage can feel so constricting in scope), the wonderfully astute dialog and the phenomenal performances all come together effortlessly to create something unforgettable.

Harrowing is one word I'd use to describe this nail biter. There are few films that can convey emotion the way that `The Hard Way' does. Most who have heard of this film have heard of Lupino, and while she is a highlight I don't think it is fair to shift the focus from the real reason to see this film.

That reason is plain; the film is great!

The great Forties actress Ida Lupino was most often showcased in films noirs; this was one of the rare chances where she got a great part in a women's melodrama like Bette Davis (who of course was offered first crack at this film at Warner Brothers and then turned it down). Marked by unusually fine performances throughout, THE HARD WAY was helmed by one of the best women's melodrama directors at Warners Vincent Sherman, and features some tremendously inventive cinematography by James Wong Howe that makes good use of deep focus. The first two-thirds of the film are extraordinary, borne along by Lupino's incredibly intense performance as Helen Chernan, a woman determined to get her wholesome sister Katherine (Joan Leslie) out of their grimy mining town in Pennsylvania, and who encourages her sister to latch onto Jack Carson, one half of a touring vaudeville act (the other partner of which is Dennis Morgan). Soon both sisters are on the road with Carson and Morgan, and Helen is encouraging Katherine to make inroads into the act any way she can; before long Katherine's headlining in Broadway revues. Only then, when Katherine begins to reconsider her success at the costs Helen has incurred for her, does the film begin to falter and aim for an ending that just doesn't sit well today (its message seems to be that women should never wish to leave their man for work, and that they'll be punished if they do).

The theme of an older woman sacrificing everything for a young singing member of her family was something that Warner Brothers would revisit again in even glossier fashion with MILDRED PIERCE, and Jack Carson is has a major role in both films, although he's much better here as the cheerful naive lug who becomes sacrificed to Helen's and Katherine's greater ambition. Like many other Hollywood films of the war era (such as THEY ALL KISSED THE BRIDE and LADY IN THE DARK), this film shows tremendous ambivalence towards women making a success of it in the work force and, as usual has to punish its central female character for daring to wear the pants; yet the film stacks its deck strangely by making it almost impossible to imagine a moment when Lupino's Helen ever does the wrong thing entirely. (Even when she arranges to get her sister to separate from Carson's act, you're encouraged to go along with her decision because Carson is clearly ruining the act.) Leslie tries to make up for her inadequate singing by gymnastically dancing in her Broadway successes, and she's so fresh-faced it's impossible not to like her; Dennis Morgan gets to show off his pretty tenor, and is actually believably sexy as Carson's rake of a partner who always seems to be telling off Helen and Katherine. And Gladys George has some tremendous scenes midway through the film as a fading revue star whose paranoia Lupino's Helen encourages in a bid to make room for Leslie's Katherine. Even with its punitive ending the film is still remarkable just for the performances.

I saw this two years ago on Turner Classic Movies and I catch it whenever TCM shows it.

Ida Lupino gives a great performance. I've always enjoyed Jack Carson's work (he left us too soon) and it was nice to see him with a meaty dramatic role for once.

I love the clothes in this film. There's just something about the fashions, hairstyles, cars and music of the 1940s.

Not to be missed!

THE HARD WAY was magnificent 1940s Hollywood film making. Maybe if Ida Lupino had the attention of David O. Selznick the way Jennifer Jones did, the former instead of the latter would have won the best actress Oscar for that year of 1944 for this film. Ms. Lupino carried THE HARD WAY magnificently. Although the film is centered around Ida, her costars gave admirable performances. Jack Carson, who always gave a great performance, shined as the hapless brother-in-law. The film was intended for Bette Davis but she turned it down. Lucky for Lupino and us because she was radiant though out the film. The plot of the behind the scenes scheming female was so common in the 1940s. Ida did terrible things for love of her kid sister. I always thought the sister, played by Joan Leslie was treated too kindly by the script. To me it's the film's only flaw. The stage "sister" [instead of mother] was done a lot but not any better than here. HARD WAY showed how much drive and scheming was needed to get ahead. Forget the talent!
The talent of Ida Lupino is tremendous. She is on par with Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, & Olivia de Haviland. Some major names have purposely been omitted. Ida could play it all from intellectuals to party girls. My favorite actors are the ones that one can't impersonate. Ida was in that league. Actresses such as Susan Hayward, Jennifer Jones, & Jane Wyman received numerous Oscar nominations where Ida got none. They could give average performances in A productions. She gave great ones in B films. P.S. When Ida saw this film she waled out on her performance. The New York Film Critics disagreed and gave her best actress of that year.