La grande nebbia

Ida Lupino directs and costars in "The Bigamist," a 1953 film starring Edmond O'Brien, Joan Fontaine and Edmund Gwenn, as well as Lupino. O'Brien and Fontaine play a married San Francisco couple, Harry and Eve Graham, who are unable to have children and are planning to adopt. Eve is a very successful businesswoman; Harry is a traveling salesman with a big territory in Los Angeles. Harry becomes quite nervous when he realizes that a thorough background check must be done before the adoption can take place. Mr. Jordan (Gwenn), who works for the adoption agency, knows something is wrong but can't quite put his finger on it. Eventually he finds out - Harry Graham is Harrison Graham in Los Angeles, and there he has another wife (Lupino) and a new baby. Harry tells Jordan the whole story of meeting Eve (Lupino) in Los Angeles, drifting into an affair with her, learning she was pregnant and being unable to abandon her.

Well directed by Lupino, the film pushes the sympathy toward Harry and his dilemma and keeps a good pace and interest throughout. Fontaine was no longer a big movie star, having passed the magic age of 30 several years before, and she can be seen often in these black and white B movies of the '50s. She does a good job and looks quite glamorous, but Lupino's role is the showier one. Edmond O'Brien does an excellent job as the beleaguered Harry.

This film truly was a family affair - this screenplay about a man with two wives was written by Collier Young, the ex-husband of Lupino and, at that time, the current husband of Fontaine; and Fontaine's mother, Lillian Fontaine, plays Lupino's landlady. Worth seeing, if only to wonder what went on during the filming.

One of a handful of low budget films from pioneering woman film-maker Ida Lupino. Known mainly for her soulful screen portrayals in the 1940's of downtrodden women, she managed this career turn in the early 50's, a remarkable feat given a production industry so thoroughly dominated by men.

Her best known feature is the chilling and critically acclaimed account of serial killer Emmet Myers, called "The Hitchhiker". But all her films are marked by an earnest concern for the lives of ordinary people, whether menaced in extreme circumstance or in more ordinary circumstance by the unwed pregnancy of "The Outrage". Moreover, at a time when studios were fending off small screen television with big budget Technicolor, she gamely persisted with the small, the intimate and the unglamorous.

"The Bigamist" remains an oddity, very much an artifact of its time, but worth viewing for its sensitive handling of male loneliness, a topic for which macho Hollywood has never had much time. The acting is first-rate from a trio of de-glamorized Hollywood professionals, including the poignant Lupino; there's also Edmond O'Brien in a low-key, nuanced portrayal of a man trapped by emotions, showing once again what a fine, intelligent performer he was. Notice how elliptically the pregnancy is presented, and how subtly Fontaine's career woman is projected into the breakup. Both are very much signs of that time. Although the subject matter may have tempted, the results never descend into bathos or soap-opera, even if final courtroom scene appears stagy and anti-climatic. All in all, it's a very well wrought balancing act.

Lupino's reputation should not rest on gender. This film as well as so many of her others demonstrate what a versatile and unusual talent she was, whether in front of the camera or behind. Too bad, she never got the recognition from an industry to which she contributed so much.

Always enjoy a film in which Ida Lupino directs and stars in the same film. This story has a twisted tale about a guy named Harry Graham, (Edmond O'Brien) who is married to a very successful woman, Eve Graham, (Joan Fontaine), who devotes her entire life to her business along with her husband who is a traveling salesman for their company. When Eve found out she could not have any children, she unknowingly neglected her husband and they went their separate ways, only seeing each other maybe once or twice a month. Harry meets up with a young woman, Phyllis Martin, ( Ida Lupino ) on a tour bus in Los Angeles and they both get interested in each other. One day, out of the blue Eve Graham asks Harry if he would like to adopt a child and so they engage the help of Mr. Jordan, (Edmund Gwenn) who works for a child adoption agency. Mr. Jordan explains that he will have to investigate both of their backgrounds and Mr. Jordan begins to have his doubts about Harry. It is at this point in the film when it gets very interesting. This is truly a great 1953 film Classic; I was surprised to learn that Joan Fontaine and Ida Lupino were both married to Collier Young who wrote the screenplay for this film.

This is one of the strangest films I have ever seen coming from Hollywood in the 1950s. It is a very engaging film about Edmond O'Brien and his double-life. He is married to Joan Fontaine and loves her, but there marriage is very distant--both emotionally and because O'Brien is on the road so much as a traveling salesman. Eventually, he is driven by loneliness to another woman in another town. Over and over, he vows to break it off but eventually this other woman becomes pregnant and he just can bring himself to either leave her or his wife! The movie is shown through flashbacks. And, despite the sensational plot, the movie is actually done very sedately and avoids sensationalism. Instead, it tries to portray O'Brien in a pretty sympathetic light--while not excusing his actions. And, by doing so, the movie really gets you thinking. An excellent job of acting by all, but the star of this picture is Ida Lupino who plays the second wife and so deftly directed this little film. It's well worth a watch.

PS--one very cute little inside joke was when O'Brien and Lupino were on a bus going past homes of the stars. Among the many stars' homes that were pointed out by the tour guide was that of Edmund Gwenn--who actually plays a major role in the film as an adoption agency investigator!

Ida Lupino sparkles as the director and star of this deeply moving romantic drama. The subject of bigamy is unusual for a Hollywood movie of that era and is handled in an intelligent, compassionate way.

Edmond O'Brien convincingly portrays a traveling salesman in love with two women -- his cute, barren, career-minded pre-feminist wife (Joan Fontaine) and a lonely, stunningly beautiful waitress (Lupino) -- neither of whom know of the other's existence.

The direction is excellent and elicits beautifully nuanced performances from the entire cast. O'Brien is portrayed as a decent human being who becomes entangled in a romantic triangle and tries to find a viable solution for everyone. Unfortunately, his well-intentioned plan to be a loving husband to both women comes unstuck when a nit-picking adoption investigator (Edmund Gwenn) probes too deeply.

Although not classic film noir, there is some sharp, insightful dialog. For example, the courtroom scene effectively challenges traditional American values when the judge sympathetically remarks: "If you had simply taken her as your mistress instead of marrying her, you would not be here now."

This is a well-crafted and provocative movie that showcases Lupino's considerable talent as an actress, director, and student of human nature. Ida Lupino was an extraordinary woman, years ahead of her time. Enjoy.