ABOUT THIS BOOK

An archival study of Ida Lupino’s work in film and television directing, writing, producing, and acting from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Though her acting career is well known, Ida Lupino was, until very recently, either unknown or overlooked as an influential director. One of the few female directors in Classical Hollywood, Lupino was the only woman with membership in the Directors Guild of America between 1948 and 1971. Her films were about women without power in society and engaged with highly controversial topics despite Hollywood’s strict production code. Working in a male-dominated field, Lupino was forced to manage her public persona carefully, resisting attempts by the press to paint her solely as a dutiful wife and mother—a continual feminization—just so that she could continue directing.

Filmmaker Alexandra Seros retells the story of Ida Lupino’s career, from actor to director, first in film, then in television, using archival materials from collections housed around the world. The result provides rich insights into three of Lupino’s independently directed films and a number of episodes from her vast television oeuvre. Seros contextualizes this analysis with discussions of gendered labor in the film industry, the rise of consumerism in the United States after World War II, and the expectations put on women in their family lives during the postwar era. Seros’s portrait of Lupino ultimately paints her life and career as an exemplar of collaborative auteurship.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Alexandra Seros is a screenwriter with a PhD in cinema and media studies. She is currently working with UCLA to preserve film and early television movies directed and written by Ida Lupino.

REVIEWS

With this excellent, highly readable critical and archival study, Alexandra Seros joins a community of writers and fans who recognize the tremendous skills and collaborative vision of Ida Lupino. Heretofore unseen photos and a focus on archival documents make Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur: From Film Noir to the Director's Chair a compelling reminder of Lupino’s major contributions to the history of American film and television.

— Julie Grossman, author of Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition

Alexandra Seros brings new depth to the auteur study by mapping Ida Lupino across the domestic and industrial terrain of the postwar period and presents a captivating portrait of a great director, filmmaker, and artist, equal parts hard-boiled and glamorous.

— Maya Montañez Smukler, author of Liberating Hollywood: Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema

A discerning reevaluation of the directorial career of Ida Lupino. . . Seros’s nuanced takes on Lupino’s films and legacy reveal the frustrating strictures of the male-dominated mid-century film industry while making a strong case that her oeuvre deserves critical reappraisal. It’s an overdue celebration of an overlooked trailblazer.

— Publishers Weekly

This academically written and accessible contribution to film history should please a wide range of readers.

— Library Journal

Alexandra Seros has put together an impressive site for her forthcoming book, Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur. In a way, Farran Smith Nehme’s recent piece on Lupino as “one of the best, most vivid and original actresses in Hollywood” sets the stage for Seros’s critical study, which will be out next month.

— The Criterion Collection

What Seros presents is Lupino's heart, and maybe something of her soul, with plenty of 'Gee, I never knew that' epiphanies only an academic with an eye and ear on the other side of the tracks would spot.

— Cineaste

[This book is] a fascinating overview of Lupino’s independently directed films and discusses such subjects as gendered labor in the film industry, the rise of consumerism in the United States after World War II, and the expectations put on women in their family lives during the postwar era. It's a wonderful book...consider picking up a copy!

— Be Kind Rewind

[This book is] an incisive study of Lupino’s work in film and television…[that] combines archival research with industry insight to illuminate an underappreciated visionary.

— Liber Review

[In this] complex portrait of Ida Lupino...[Seros] excellently frames Lupino and her work within the larger context of feminist criticism and a historically male-dominated Hollywood studio system.

— CHOICE

[The book offers] new perspectives on the film-maker's working practices and style.

— Times Literary Supplement

There is a wealth of tremendous material here.

— The Budapest Times

Seros knows how to tell a story both on film and with the written word. Her writing style is simple, uncluttered, and organized…Seros writes as both an insider and an academic, which lends greater depth and breadth to her telling of Ida Lupino’s story. Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur is a fascinating read…A story told with clarity. A book well worth reading.

— Film and History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface. The Authenticity of a Fragment
Introduction. Ambiguity and Paradox in Ida Lupino
Part I. Auteur-in-Waiting
- Chapter 1. A Star Study
- Chapter 2. Certain Women of Post World-War II
- Chapter 3. Six Movies, Five Years
Part II. Case Studies: Three Independent Films 000
- Chapter 4. Not Wanted
- Chapter 5. Never Fear
- Chapter 6. The Hitch-Hiker
Part III. Television
- Chapter 7. Lupino and Early Television
- Chapter 8. Across Media with Ray, Aldrich, and Hitchcock
- Chapter 9. Patterns and Strategies in Lupino’s Television Directing
Conclusion. Lupinian Collaboration, the New Auteurism
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index
Bio