Doylenf Review of The Hard Way

The Hard Way (1943)

Ida Lupino & Joan Leslie excellent in brilliant, bitter minor gem...

[16 April 2001]

If ever a fine film deserved the term "neglected", it's the rarely seen 'The Hard Way' with Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson all giving strong, believable performances. It's a gripping story, a well-told tale (in flashback) of a manipulative older sister (Lupino) who pushes her younger sister (Leslie) into a show biz career and proceeds to destroy the girl's relationship with the man who loves her (Jack Carson) because he doesn't have the status her sister deserves. Carson creates a sympathetic character of a man who is heartbroken when he loses the woman he truly loves. All four stars are at their best--and Lupino won the Best Actress citation from the prestigious New York Film Critics circle for her work. She herself wasn't at all sure how far to go to portray the woman's dark side and needed lots of assurance from director Victor Sherman that she was on track. He was more optimistic about her performance and proved right when she won the N.Y. Critics award. Equally impressive is Joan Leslie, only seventeen at the time, who had to become a bitter and dissolute woman of the world toward the end. By all means, a gritty film that established Victor Sherman as a director to be reckoned with and led to other meaty assignments. Watch for my article on Ida Lupino due for publication in FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE later this year.