The Hard Way could be a description of actress Ida Lupino’s career. Called by some a “poor man’s Bette Davis (a moniker shared by Susan Hayward), Lupino was a star in her own right, possessing a very distinctive style and consistently giving top notch performances. However, attaining her major success at Warner Brothers in the early and mid 1940’s, she was sometimes required to take some of Davis’ cast off roles, Bette being the queen of the Warner’s lot during this period. One such Davis hand-me-down was the meaty lead character of Helen Chernen in The Hard Way (1943), which Lupino deftly handled. She gave a tour de force portrayal and gained much! acclaim including the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress of 1943.Helen Chernen is a woman living in near poverty in a lifeless, stifling, dirty coal mining town. Trapped in a loveless marriage to boot, her only ray of hope is her teen-aged sister, Katie (Joan Leslie). Helen sees an opportunity for the moderately talented Katie, when the youngster catches the eye of a traveling vaudevillian, Albert Runkel (Jack Carson), who is passing through the shabby little burg with his show biz partner, Paul Collins (Dennis Morgan). The elder sister pushes for their marriage, then slowly integrates Katie into the Runkel/Collins act until bigger fish come along to fry. Katie becomes a huge success leaving the lovelorn Albert behind, but success via her sister Helen, she finds, isn’t so sweet when you go about it the hard way, or should I say the wrong way.
The film, written by famed playwright and author Irving Shaw, is reportedly based loosely on the early life of actress Ginger Rogers, specifically her relationships with her stage mother Lela and her first husband, vaudeville performer Jack Pepper. The movie even makes reference to Rogers by name and when the character of Katie makes big in her first Broadway show, the production is called “Boy Crazy†(as opposed to Ginger’s first successful foray, “Girl Crazyâ€).Ida Lupino is superb as Helen. Underrated and often overlooked in the annals of Hollywood history, the actress displays in The Hard Way, as well as other films, an inner toughness and resolve, to get her way, whatever the cost. She is not alone in contributing a fine performance however, with the entire cast turning in solid work. Jack Carson gives perhaps his finest dramatic display as the g! ood hearted but ill-treated Albert. He and Dennis Morgan would co-star in several other Warners features, but none so artistically successful as this. Not to say this is high art. It is basically what was known at the time as a “woman’s picture†with hints of film noir, very similar in many ways to Mildred Pierce, also produced at Warner Brothers two years later. In fact, producer Jerry Wald used the opening sequence of Ida Lupino dressed to the nines and jumping into the bay as the basis for the opening in Pierce. 
Aside from Miss Lupino, the two second lady roles went to the afore mentioned Miss Leslie and veteran actress Gladys George, who was a stapl! e at Warners and other studios in bedraggled dame roles or the! moll wi th the heart of gold. Gladys’ characters had lived a lot of life and seen a lot of sadness. Her role here, as a has-been stage actress who drowns her sorrows in a bottle of whatever is at hand, is no different. Joan Leslie is the only proverbial fly in the ointment in The Hard Way. Not that she doesn’t do an adequate job, but one finds it extremely hard to believe that, as Katherine Blaine, she is a great shining beacon on the New York stage. Her Katherine can be downright lackluster at times, especially beside the scenery chewing Lupino! However, with the help of make up guru Perc Westmore and gowns and get-ups by designer Orry-Kelly, she goes from small town gum chewer to sophisticated stage star quite smoothly, and considering her youth (Leslie was only seventeen at the time of filming), she keeps her head above water with the stalwart Warner Brothers stock company. The entire ensemble is really good, but Ida Lupino is the one you can’t take your ey! es off, and shouldn’t, as you might find a knife in your back.Want to know more?Here are some recommendations regarding the article above:Ida Lupino: A Biography by William DonatiIf you are interested in this or any other merchandise, please help support this blog by purchasing them through the Amazon portal at the top of this page. By accessing Amazon through this site, you help me maintain resource material and continue to share my love of classic film. Thank you very much.
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What: My "Ingrid Friedel Bergman-Lindstrom-Rossellini-Schmidt Addiction/Fandom" How/Who: I discovered Ingrid Bergman purely by accident, well I'd say more, the stars aligned and new light was shed in my life, but less dramatically-- by accident.I have always been a fan of classic television and film. My parents influenced and encouraged this, as well as, participated in the hobby. I was watching TCM one night and came across this film Gaslight. As most of us know, this was Ingrid's first Oscar win, Angela Lansbury's first film, Charles Boyer's (looking handsome as ever) and Ingrid's first (of many) paring and directed by the fabulous George Cukor.When I saw it, it was just a really creepy movie that kept getting better and better. I consider myself lucky to have seen this as my first Ingrid film. She is spectacular. I mean her singing and jovial natu! re juxtaposed with her screaming and insanely amazing "knife s! cene" at the end. Brilliance in a can (literally, since film was canned in those days... hehe... film nerd joke!). I, then, decided that I was going to find all of Ingrid Bergman's films. With research and breaking my former thoughts of her just being a blown up icon-- how wrong was I!? I do want to say "Thanks Dad" for helping me feed my Classic Film addiction, day in and day out. :)When: This was, embarrassingly, 3 years ago. I was just coming off an Anne Bancroft bender. Why: Ingrid Bergman was devoted to her work and was described (by her daughter Pia) as "a train on the tracks" so I think if you weren't going the same way, look out. I feel that I am the same type of person. I think she was a woman who lived to act and did it well. She was incredibly human and made many mistakes, but never regrets. She seems exciting to me and I think she is one of the most beautiful creatures ever printed on celluloid.Her career was beautiful as well... her history is thick with d! rama, adventure and interesting as hell. For these reasons, and many more, I follow the book of Ingrid.Where: I originally discovered Ingrid Bergman in Easton, Maryland. I continued my research from the Eastern Shore-- but now I discover her wherever I go. Including...
My School, 
the MoMA in NYC and everywhere!