Starring Ida Lupino

Starring Ida Lupino

13 Episodes

The formidable Ida Lupino lent a defiant toughness and intelligence to some of classic Hollywood’s most unforgettable female characters. Born into a celebrated English family of music-hall artists, Lupino was initially cast in movies that showed off her charm and musical flair, but less of her unique abilities as a dramatic actress. She fought to play the evil, vengeful Bessie in William A. Wellman’s THE LIGHT THAT FAILED, and at last Hollywood took notice. Lupino’s steely presence is essential to film noir classics like THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT and HIGH SIERRA, and her fearless intensity anchors her roles in THE SEA WOLF and THE HARD WAY. Though she began to focus on producing and directing in the late forties, she continued to deliver searing performances, such as her standout work as a lonely blind woman in Nicholas Ray’s ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951)—some scenes of which she also directed when Ray fell ill.

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Starring Ida Lupino
  • Starring Ida Lupino Teaser

    Episode 1

  • Moontide

    Episode 2

    Directed by Archie Mayo • 1942 • United States
    Starring Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell

    French screen legend Jean Gabin made his Hollywood debut in this broodingly fatalistic noir melodrama. He stars as an alcoholic dockworker who, following a night of heavy drinking, wakes up with no me...

  • High Sierra

    Episode 3

    Directed by Raoul Walsh • 1941 • United States
    Starring Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis

    Marking the moment when the gritty gangster sagas of the 1930s began giving way to the romantic fatalism of ’40s film noir, HIGH SIERRA also contains the star-making performance of Humphrey Bogart, w...

  • On Dangerous Ground

    Episode 4

    Directed by Nicholas Ray • 1951 • United States
    Starring Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Ward Bond

    When hardened big-city police detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) roughs up one too many suspects, he’s sent to the countryside to cool his heels and help search for the murderer of a small-town schoolg...

  • Ladies in Retirement

    Episode 5

    Directed by Charles Vidor • 1941 • United States
    Starring Ida Lupino, Louis Hayward, Evelyn Keyes

    Ida Lupino is at her hard-edged best in this mood-drenched tale of murder and madness in a remote mansion on the English moors. She plays Ellen Creed, the full-time housekeeper and companion to Leon...

  • The Hard Way

    Episode 6

    Directed by Vincent Sherman • 1943 • United States
    Starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Joan Leslie

    When Bette Davis turned down the lead role in this juicy, dark-hearted backstage melodrama (a decision she later regretted), it paved the way for Ida Lupino to take on one of her finest dramatic sh...

  • The Man I Love

    Episode 7

    Directed by Raoul Walsh • 1946 • United States
    Starring Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Andrea King

    Bathed in a downbeat noir mood and smoky jazz-lounge atmosphere, this haunting melodrama stars Ida Lupino as husky-voiced singer Petey Brown, who takes a job performing in a divey nightclub. She’s carryi...

  • The Sea Wolf

    Episode 8

    Directed by Michael Curtiz • 1941 • United States
    Starring Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield

    Michael Curtiz’s masterful adaptation of Jack London’s classic psychological adventure novel gives Edward G. Robinson one of his finest screen hours as Wolf Larsen, the tyrannical captain of ...

  • Peter Ibbetson

    Episode 9

    Directed by Henry Hathaway • 1935 • United States
    Starring Gary Cooper, Ann Harding, John Halliday

    Based on George du Maurier’s classic and intensely romantic novel, PETER IBBETSON tells the otherworldly tale of two childhood sweethearts reunited as adults, only to be separated again through a t...

  • The Light That Failed

    Episode 10

    Directed by William A. Wellman • 1939 • United States
    Starring Ida Lupino, Ronald Colman, Walter Huston

    Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, this handsomely mounted, movingly melancholy adaptation features a sterling performance from Ronald Colman as soldier-turned-artist Dick Heldar, who stru...

  • Yours for the Asking

    Episode 11

    Directed by Alexander Hall • 1936 • United States
    Starring George Raft, Dolores Costello, Ida Lupino

    In this comic charmer, illicit casino operator Johnny Lamb (George Raft) hires down-on-her-luck socialite Lucille Sutton (Dolores Costello) as his hostess, in order to help her get back on her fe...

  • They Drive by Night

    Episode 12

    Directed by Raoul Walsh • 1940 • United States
    Starring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino

    Humphrey Bogart and George Raft share a driving ambition in this feisty tale of brothers trying to make a go of their independent trucking enterprise. After ten years of the Great Depression, scrappy Jo...

  • Anything Goes

    Episode 13

    Directed by Lewis Milestone • 1936 • United States
    Starring Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Charles Ruggles

    Romance and classic songs are in the air in this fun-filled romp set on the high seas, an adaptation of the Cole Porter Broadway musical written by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. When Billy Cr...