Meu Único Amor

Ida Lupino was a magnificent actress who fulfilled the promise of intelligence and talent that always seemed to burn in her eyes by demonstrating her creative moxie as a director. Unfortunately, her career in front of the camera often found her in cast off looking pot-boilers (she got to rummage through what was rejected by Davis, Crawford, and whoever else might be hot at the moment).

This noir-ish romantic weepy with a bad nicotine cough was typical of the sows ears she tried to make fit like silk. Filmed in 1945....and not widely released til early in 1947...it is filled with competent but rather second string talent...many of whom never quite made it to the top rung. Bruce Bennett (who deserves great credit for being one of the few actors to survive being cast as Tarzan without forever being typed and stymied) does his usual low key but very sincere turn as Ida's Piano whiz turned world weary seaman (don't ask). Robert Alda is effectively smarmy as the dame hungry club owner...after Ida and just about every other female with a pulse...it is a shame that playing George Gershwin (in "Rhapsody in Blue") and having this meaty part in a film based around one of the Gershwin's greatest standards didn't lead to bigger and better film roles.

The world weary atmosphere of jaded postwar funk that lingers over the film like a cloud of smoke and stale perfume is More persuasive than the rather clunky script...( you have to give the writers credit for gaul however...the final clinch lines are lifted almost verbatim from "Now Voyager" and "Casablanca"...and tend to make this end up looking more shallow and tacky than it is).

The musical sequences are great...and Ida seems ideally suited for the role of a jam session diva...even if she did have to borrow a voice for the part. The atmosphere of electric bluesy ambiance was seldom captured better on film until Garland nailed it to perfection wailing about "the Man that got away" in 1954.

Unfortunately several numbers are missing from the print shown on TCM (which runs only 89 minutes...and is in DREADFUL shape...with many scratches, spices, breaks, and reals where the images look like something from a cheap public domain dupe of a dupe).

Here's hoping someone in the Warner Brother's Library does some digging...finds the original negative...and restores this..because Ida deserved the very best...even if she seldom got it.

Ida Lupino excelled at playing tough, yet vulnerable, women. One of the best Ida Lupino films, "The Man I Love" is all about atmosphere. It has great music, great images, and great lines all tied to a fast-paced and entertaining, if unlikely, story. This film influenced director Martin Scorsese when he made "New York, New York". Scorsese's film is overlong and overdone, but "The Man I Love" is brisk and sleek. You won't be bored. If you enjoy "The Man I Love", I also recommend the Ida Lupino film "Road House".

My favorite of the movie was the "bitch-slappin'" scene where she is on the staircase knocking some sense into neighbor Johnny's head. What a hoot and what a total surprise! And right in front of her wanna-be gangster boyfriend, Nicky! I cheered and clapped myself silly. Fine film,lots of plot twists and turns. San, the piano player, was a dour disappointment. Too stiff and unemotional for me. Looked a lot like Charleston Heston, too. Ida Lupino's gowns were simply divine and she looked simply fine in them. Great costuming for the whole cast. The neighbor's wife, Gloria, was hilarious with her anti-Mom comments that were decidedly politically incorrect. All in all, great fun.

Ida Lupino is always good or really good--here she is overpowering, but without unbalancing a movie with a very strong script and a cast of actors who may not be all that famous (Robert Alda, beautiful but sinister; Bruce Bennett, the sad shadow of Gary Cooper) but who certainly pull their weight. Ida begins the movie by smoking and drinking while she sings the title song in a killer deadpan, and goes on to confront, unarmed, a gunman and slap him silly. But, unusually, these theatrics are balanced by romantic and psychological dialogue of a maturity that is rare indeed in the movies, certainly at this early date. Occasionally harsh realism (for instance, in the terrifying behavior of a mentally disturbed veteran) more than earns the qualified optimism shown here.

Two other things to be impressed by: Bruce Bennett, as the jazz pianist, does all his own playing (bet Gary Cooper couldn't do that!), and Ida, in skin-tight evening gowns, looks astonishing. What a figure!

The plot of "The Man I Love" to me is not as important as the snappy dialog and atmosphere...the reasons to see this film. The story just meanders....and I can live with that.

Petey (Ida Lupino) comes to town to see her sisters and brother. During this time, Petey gets a job with a slick but somewhat notorious nightclub owner (Robert Alda) and he's nuts for her. But instead of responding to his many advances, she falls like a ton of bricks over a down and out pianist (Bruce Bennett/Herman Brix). Other stuff happens.

The reason to see the film is to watch and listen to Ida Lupino. She captures the camera with her radiance...and her self-assured and VERY snappy dialog. She's like a combination of a feminist with a touch of NICE femme fatale! Well worth seeing despite the story itself only being mildly interesting.