Moda Entertainment - Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino: Writer

"As a screenwriter and director, Lupino had an eye for the emotional truth hidden within the taboo or mundane, making a series of B-styled pictures which featured sympathetic, honest portrayals of such controversial subjects as unmarried mothers, bigamy, and rape."

Originally charting her course in each medium primarily as an actress, she apparently fell into screenwriting as a matter of circumstance. Making her debut on CBS Television's Four Star Playhouse in December of 1953 as a performer, it was not until three years later that Lupino was commissioned to direct an episode for Screen Directors Playhouse, "No. 5 Checked Out," for which she also wrote the script. Eventually, after more frequent invitations to helm episodes from a variety of series, Lupino would, over the course of the next 15 years, establish a reputation as the most active woman working behind the cameras during this formative period in the entertainment industry. Perhaps Ida Lupino's most noted screenplay was the "The Hitch-Hiker" (1953) which was also directed by Ms. Lupino. It is about two hunting buddies who pick up a mysterious hitchhiker. It was a colloborative screenplay written by Robert L. Joseph, Lupino and her husband Collier Young and was based on a story by "Out of the Past" screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring, who was blacklisted at the time and did not receive screen credit. The film is based on the true story of Billy Cook, a psychopathic murderer, and is considered the first film noir directed by a woman. The director of photography was RKO Pictures regular Nicholas Musuraca.

visit the Moda Entertainment sister sites

Ida Lupino: Screenwriter

Screen Credits
THRILLER
1961	1 Episode	The Last of the Sommervilles
FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE
1958	2 Episodes	The Stand In, The Case of Cameron
SCREEN DIRECTOR'S PLAYHOUSE
1956	1 Episode	Number Five Checked Out
PRIVATE HELL 36
1954	Screenplay	aka as Babe Face Killers
THE HITCH-HIKER
1953	Screenplay	The Hitch-Hiker
OUTRAGE
1950/51	Screenplay	Outrage
NEVER FEAR
1949	Screenplay	aka The Young Lovers
NOT WANTED
1949	Screenplay	aka Shame or Streets of Sin

Although there were few women screewriters in the '40s and '50s, Ida Lupino tackled revolutionary subjects that other writers steered clear of and quickly earned a repuation as an actor's writer and director. With her second husband, screenwriter husband, Collier Young, she formed her own indie production company, appropriately called 'THE FILMAKERS', the banner under which she delved into psychological issues portraying with understanding, misfits, lost people, problem women and other outcasts and she turned the films into critical hard-selling hits the 50's.

Subscribe to the Ida Lupino RSS Feed

Licensebox is the sole and exclusive worldwide licensing agent for Ida Lupino.

Nothing contained on Ida Lupino may be reproduced without permission.

To report any problems with this website, contact the webmaster.