The Hard Way

This movie is highly under rated. At the time of production, director Vincent Sherman agreed with his star, Ida Lupino; will this project hold up? The answer is...yes. The finale could be reworked a bit, but this film is appreciated more now with age.

Joan Leslie plays a young woman that has suffered a dismal life until it is discovered that she has enough talent to try the stage. Lupino is the overbearing, older sister that pushes her little sister to stardom. Soon the two woman are competing for the glory.

Good song and dance movie, evocative of the times.

Also features; Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson and Paul Cavanagh.

...And too many gray characters with the exception of Jack Carson as the sincere but simple Albert Runkel.

Even the alleged villainess of the story, Helen (Ida Lupino) starts out with the best intentions. She lives in hopeless poverty in a mill town with natural surroundings that are even ugly with coal slag and air clouded with smoke bellowing from the local factories. She doesn't want to see her sister suffer her fate - loveless marriage with never enough money - so she takes her first false step. She pushes younger sister Katie into marriage with malleable vaudevillian Albert Runkel, and uses that marriage as an excuse to leave the poverty of Green Hill and her marriage behind. Poor old underachieving Sam - Helen's husband - is never mentioned again.

The problem is that, over time, Helen forgets that she is doing what she is doing for Katie to get ahead. It's not enough that she get ahead, Katie has to be on top, and there is nobody too close or too vulnerable for Helen to step on to get Katie on the next rung of stardom. Eventually this becomes more about Helen's success with Katie as the golden goose that she is slowly choking to death.

WB emphasizes the dramatic portion of this film rather than the musical, and that is good since the two musical numbers included are underwhelming. Fortunately, WB didn't have Joan Leslie be the centerpiece of more than one of them since singing and dancing were never her forte. Also fortunately, there is at least a number by talented WB tenor Dennis Morgan. It's just too bad that the material wasn't better.

This was probably the best dramatic role Ida Lupino ever had. It's definitely worth it if you are a fan of Warner Brothers' output product in the 1940s.

A question I have - Dennis Morgan is always going on as to how the dream of all humble people is a house in the country with ten kids. But how do you support ten kids in the middle of nowhere? It seems our leading man has high ideals but not many practical ones. It would have been instructive to drop in on him in ten years and see how that "dream of all humble people" was working out for him. But I digress.

This was a terrific film. I was riveted as I watched the story unfold. Ida Lupino, fast becoming one of my favorites, was absolutely magnificent as the stage sister, a "Svengali" using her sibling to propel both of them out of poverty. No wonder I don't go to the movies much -- I'd rather stay home and watch performances such as Miss Lupino's!

I was a bit confused by the blossoming relationship between Leslie's and Morgan's characters (though they both gave noteworthy performances). It could have been built up more, since I thought I missed something when the relationship evolved to its resolution. A small flaw.

But the best part of the film was an unusually strong and moving performance from Jack Carson. He is known more for his comic relief (I hate comic relief!) roles in such films as "Mildred Pierce." Heres, Mr. Carson presented a three-dimensional character that you could not help but feel bad for. A pleasant surprise which only added to a must-see film.

This is a forgotten classic.It shows the dark side of fame and fortune.Ida Lupino and Joan Leslie were great and this is the best dramatic film I've ever seen Jack Carson in.He really got a chance to show his acting talent being dramatic.Dennis Morgan was excellent and I was glad to see him sing a little even in a drama.I recommend that you see this movie and see all these actors at their best!

This was an exceptional film--one that nearly earned a 9 and the deciding factor for me were the musical numbers which actually seemed to sometimes get in the way of the exceptional plot and acting. While this film was quite the coup for a young Joan Leslie, the real star of this film was Ida Lupino and this might just be her best performance. She plays an amoral and conniving woman who will do just about anything to make her younger sister (Leslie) a star--even use nice people like Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan to make it big. The fact that the script is so unrelenting in its way that it shows the depths to which Lupino would go made this a real standout film. Many other films of the day would have tried to soften her character more or give her a shot at redemption towards the end--a big mistake had they chosen to follow the typical formula of the day.

Aside from Lupino, the other standout actor in the film seemed to be Jack Carson, as his character had much more depth and was much more sympathetic than the usual brash character he played. Also, while their acting wasn't a huge standout, Morgan really belted out some excellent songs and I was surprised to see Leslie dance as well as she did (though I wonder if it really was her doing all the flips--you CAN'T see her face and it could have been a double).

Good, gritty entertainment--it's well worth a look.