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Saturday, March 5, 2011

A Perfect Fit

Its an odd notion that 100 years into film making and women are still struggling for their place in a male dominated world. Especially since women have made such incredible contributions right from the beginning. D.W. Griffith is well known for creating some of the earliest major epic motion pictures. His supporting staff was filled with women; Anita Loos was on the writing team for "Intolerance", plus his favorite actresses such as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford often directed, staged and wrote for his various films. The sense is, when viewing his hiring practices, qualified women were actively hired for any position depending on talent and drive. Through out the film industry women have show themselves to be talented in a variety of motion picture employment opportunities. 


With this in mind, lets look at one such woman, who showed the abilities in film making visible on screen as well as a powerful talent behind the scenes. Ms. Ida Lupino directed several interesting films, a couple of them dealing with social issues.

"They Drive by Night" (1940) - Humphrey Bogart is a truck driver, you gotta love him as a hard boiled working man. Ida Lupino is the tough obsessive type who leads us through drama and suspense. 


"The Hitch-Hiker" (1953) - As a director, Lupino was intrigued by social issues - with this film, she participated in assisting a writer who was black listed and delving into the workings of a true life killer. Dark and dramatic Lupino does and interesting job creating a low budget thriller. 

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