Ida Lupino won the Best Actress kudo from the New York Film Critics Circle for playing a tough and demanding role in the dark, backstage family melodrama, The Hard Way, directed by Vincent Sherman.
Irwin Shaw’s story was reportedly loosely based on Ginger Rogers’ relationship with her first husband, Jack Pepper (whom she married in 1928 at age 17) and her own domineering mother, Lela.
Bette Davis, queen of Warner at the time, and Ginger Rogers, then at RKO, were initially offered the role of Helen, but both declined it.
Shaw wanted Howard Hawks or William Wyler to direct, but both were busy and so producer Jerry Wald hired Vincent Sherman.
Some footage of a docu by Pare Lorentz were used to show the drab mining town of Green Hill. Also in the name of realism, neither Lupino nor Leslie wore makeup.
The first and last scenes of the film, which is narrated by Helen, were added at the demand of studio head Jack Warner, who felt that Lupino should look more glamorous.
Lupino plays Helen Chernen, the iron-willed older sister forcibly thrusts her only modestly talented younger sister into a Broadway career.
The movie begins with a shot of a woman attempting suicide. Saved, she is taken to the hospital, and interrogated: Why? Why? Why? In flashbacks, she narrates her life story.
Unhappily married herself, she is desperately trying to keep her little sister, Katherine (Joan Lesley) from falling into the same small-town trap of marriage to a dull working-stiff, taking care of babies and household drudgery.
Helen gets her chance when two handsome vaudevillians come to town. Seeing that one of the fellows eyes her younger sibling, she connives to get the two together. The scheme works and the smitten performer dumps his long-time partner in exchange for a career with his new love.
In one of many confrontations, Helen tells Katherine point blank, “You’ve got something I don’t have. Me. Somebody to guide you, and natural resources.”
But the ambitious Helen wants more for her sister and convinces her to become a solo act. As a result, the cheap levitra professional deeply upset jilted partner commits suicide.
Still, Helen refuses to stop pushing until finally the younger girl gets fed up and rebels in a bitter confrontation that results in further tragedy.
Gladys George has a memorably touching scene as an boozy aging star, fumbling her lines and screwing one audition after another.
To achieve a more realistic feel during the scenes that took place in Green Hill, neither Lupino nor Leslie wore makeup.
The movie was a commercial hit, earning $2.3 million in film rentals.
Cast
Ida Lupino as Helen Chernen
Joan Leslie as ‘Katie’ Blaine
Dennis Morgan as Paul Collins
Jack Carson as Albert Runkel
Gladys George as Lily Emery
Faye Emerson as Ice Cream Parlor Waitress
Paul Cavanagh as John “Jack” Shagrue
Credits
Running time: 109 Minutes.
Directed by Vincent Sherman
Released: February 20, 1943.
Paul, who is now a band leader, falls in love with Katie, which annoys Helen who is also in love with him.
In the next to last scene, there is a big emotional confrontation between the two sisters, about their past and present situation, after Helen prevents Paul from seeing Katie before the opening night.
The soundtrack consists of a dozen or so popular tunes, such as “Am I Blue?” or “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me”
