MovieChat Forums > Road House (1948) Discussion > Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino

posted 18 years ago by Dhmdowntown-1
20 replies | jump to latest

Few actresses have been as overlooked and ignored as the fabulous Ida Lupino. In "Road House" her performance is many-layered: on the surface, she is sharp, feisty and insolent but this covers a basic unhappiness with her life and small career. Watch her as she surveys her audience with a mixture of nerves and contempt before she sensationally croaks out "One For My Baby". It is an incisive, absorbing performance, one of several she was able to deliver with style and incisiveness when the parts were worthy of her. Remember her going crazy on the witness stand in "They Drive By Night", her dignified and convincing Emily Bronte in the otherwise hilarious "Devotion" and her horrifying sadistic governor in "Women's Prison", among many others? It's time for a reappraisal of such a luminous talent which was like that of no other actress of her era - she was individual, dramatic and eminently watchable in whatever she did.

[–] misspaddylee 18 years ago

"Luminous talent" is an apt description of Ida Lupino. At the end of "Road House" there is a look on her face that let's us know the pain she is in after what she had to do. A lesser actress would have let the moment pass. As it is, she makes us wonder about Lily's future.

You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead.

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 17 years ago

She was an incredible and indelible talent. Every bit as good as Bette Davis perhaps better as she was a director, too. She lived and played in Davis's shadow, but after all these years she's finally being recognized for her genius. Long overdue, but finally being honored.

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

[–] csu16387 17 years ago

I saw Road House again over the weekend, and enjoyed it even better the second time around. Ida Lupino is fantastic. Her rendition of "One For My Baby" is beautiful, yet somehow sad. One gets the sense of how Ida's character has suffered throughout life and it comes out through her songs.

Ida Lupino is terribly underrated and as good, if not better, than many of her well-known contemporaries.

"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."

[–] f111151 16 years ago

Her singing in this film is sensational and proves once again, that often when actors are allowed to use their own voices in musical moments, what often comes out is far more interesting than the homogenised singing Hollywood often employs when selecting voice doubles.

[–] jeff_bailey44 16 years ago

I wouldn't call Lupino's singing in this 'sensational', but definitely memorable. She was so good in this film, one of my 'noir' favorites.

[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

Her rendition of One for the Road is atrocious. Like a hooker who's smokes four packs a day. You should hear Etta James sing it.

I'm familiar with her from High Sierra and They Walked by Night, but I kept thinking why is this woman's head so tiny?

[–] we2 15 years ago

what movie were you watching? Etta James? What movie did she make? You're a bit out of touch with that period. Better stick to Madonna.

my favorites are Harlow and Garbo. I guess I'm just an old fashion guy

[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

Rrrrrrrright. I reference Etta James, and that means I like Madonna. Yes, that makes complete sense. You're a genius.

[–] JimB-4 15 years ago

Ida Lupino. Terrific actress. Terrible singer. No breath control, no phrasing, no tone. Standing-room audiences? I don't think so.

[–] maneyp 14 years ago

My guess is that this character has never even HEARD of Etta James. Heck, Ida Lupino's voice is serviceable at best and her rendition of "One For My Baby" isn't going to cause any lost sleep to the other vocalists who've visited Joe's
place over the years. I think I'm gonna sign off and go listen to "I'd Rather
Go Blind."

[–] Noir-It-All 14 years ago

Ida Lupino was a smart cookie.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] OnceUponATimeInTheWest 14 years ago

I saw it tonight on TCM. Robert Osborne mentioned that She bought the rights to the story for 20k and brought it Fox where they paid her 130K for it including her services.
As well as an actress, she was a director, writer, producer and if I am not mistaken, started her own distribution company.

[–] joeparkson 14 years ago

Since Ida owned the rights to the movie, she wasn't going to cast anyone else in the part, but there were other good actresses in 1948 who were also smoking hot and could sing.

By 1948, Ginger Rogers had already proved she could do drama. Rogers was a good singer aw well as a dancer.

[–] gsimmons56 14 years ago

I don't think you've paid close enough attention to the dialogue. After Ida sings "One More for my Baby" Susie Smith (Celeste Holm) is asked what she thinks of the singer and song. Susie replies, "She (Ida) does more without a voice than anyone I've ever heard." Ida isn't a hit at the bar because she has a wonderful voice. She's a hit because of how she puts a song over. This is a bar 'west of Chicago' not a downtown nightclub. That's why this movie is more realistic than if you had someone with a professional singing voice playing Ida's role. Which is also why she was/is such an underrated actress! Ida was so subtle that you had to watch for it.

[–] moosefeathers 14 years ago

and when she was asked if she was good, she said,"i don't think so". and then we get her story that she lost her voice, etc.

she was supposed to be a mediocre singer, not polished. she was a bar room cougar.

[–] Trax-3 9 years ago

Ida isn't a hit at the bar because she has a wonderful voice. She's a hit because of how she puts a song over.

Exactly. And the ability to put a song over is both more important and much more rare that a pretty voice.

[–] thistledown-2 14 years ago

I love the fact they used her own voice..I recorded all the tunes
she sings on an audio casette and play it late at night in my car

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] locusnola 8 years ago

Agreed. I have noticed the extraordinary intelligence of her work. Added to her talent and skill, it makes her one of the era's most deeply interesting and rewarding actresses to watch. Lovely, as well.

I suspect her insistence on directing films herself may be indicative of a non-go-along personality (i.e., an outside-the-box sort), which may have been perceived as threatening by some of the bigger-wigs; this might explain why she never reached the status of a Bette Davis or Joan Crawford; they may have been difficult, but they knew the ways in which that might be safely done.

Oh, right. So, she secretly trained a flock of sandflies.

[–] gioconda91423 8 years ago

Ida Lupino's character Lily was a road house singer who chain-smoked and barely scraped by on her pay and tips. She was not supposed to have a polished voice or she would have bookings at better venues. Billie Holiday she was not.

She tells Cornel Wilde's character Pete that her father always wanted her to sing "have opera" and that she worked a day job and studied at night. The she said much to the disappointment of her father she lost her voice.

.