Dorothy Arzner Ida Lupino DOROTHY ARZNER THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 8:00 pm (ET)/5:00 pm (PT) THE WILD PARTY (1929) Vivacious Clara Bow was a 24-year-old top box office star who had made nearly 50 films when Dorothy Arzner directed her in The Wild Party, her first talkie. Scripted by Lloyd E. Sheldon, V.A. John Weaver and George Marion, Jr. from a story by Warner Fabian, The Wild Party is about a flirty co-ed attending a college where no one ever studies, and her romantic conquest of a stuffy anthropology professor. It capitalized not only on the ‘20s craze for college films, but echoed her greatest hit, It in its theme of female friendship and Bow's sparing a friend's reputation by taking the blame for a transgression herself. Sound recording paralyzed Bow and she said she felt "constant fear" throughout filming. According to legend, Arzner attached the stationary microphone to a fishing pole to follow Bow around the set, giving her more freedom than had been possible, but often the mike had to be hidden or her eyes would unconsciously drift toward it. Although critics felt her voice suited her personality and Arzner continued to reassure her, Bow was inconsolable and considered her Brooklyn accent a liability. Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes, Film Curator, North Caroling Museum of Art References: Variety review by blge Five Ages of Film Feminism, by Patricia Mellencamp Twinkle, Twinkle, Movie Star, by Harry T. Brundidge Clara Bow, Runnin' Wild ,by David Stenn THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 9:30 pm (ET)/6:30 pm (PT) CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933) This film revolves around the relationship between Sir Christopher Strong, a member of Parliament on the edge of a midlife crisis, and his inability to resist the reckless allure of Lady Cynthia Darrington. Lady Cynthia is a daring aviatrix with the instincts of a pioneer, but the film is still about a woman loving, waiting, suffering and sacrificing. In the afterglow of Cynthia's yielding her virtue, a vignette of her arm lingers before the lamp on the bedside table and she says of her lover's gift, "I love my beautiful bracelet. And I've never cared a button for jewels before. Now I'm shackled." In the next instant, Sir Christopher asks her to give up flying. She languidly consents and turns off the light. Adapted by Zoe Atkins from a novel by Gilbert Frankau, director Dorothy Arzner and outspoken Katharine Hepburn seemed to be promising collaborators, but their experience on Christopher Strong, Hepurn’s second film, was not a happy one. Although Hepburn's own recollection (for the record) in Me was, "She wore pants. So did I. We had a good time working together," Anne Edwards describes "a mutual respect, cold, distant and competitive though it was." Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes, Film Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art References: Directed by Dorothy Arzner, by Judith Mayne A Remarkable Woman: A Biography of Katharine Hepburn, by Anne Edwards Me: Stories of My Life, by Katharine Hepburn Those Glorious Glamour Years, by Margaret J. Bailey THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 11:00 pm (ET)/8:00 pm (PT) THE BRIDE WORE RED (1937) The Bride Wore Red is a slightly sour Cinderella story directed by Dorothy Arzner and adapted by Tess Slessinger and Bradbury Foote, from the Frerenc Molnar play Girl From Trieste. Joan Crawford stars in this story about a slumming aristocrat (George Zucco) who bets a friend that a new wardrobe and two weeks at a ritzy resort would make Anni (Crawford), who is a "cabaret singer," indistinguishable from the swells. Using the aristocrat’s credit, Anni does pretty well purchasing a chic new wardrobe that helps her fit in. However, Anni’s lust for a form-fitting, bugle beaded shiny red Adrian sheath that brands her as being from another class; seems greater than the lust she harbors for her two bland suitors, an aristocratic playboy (Robert Young) and an annoying philosophical postman (Franchot Tone). Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes, Film Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art References: A Woman's View, by Janine Basinger Crawford--The Ultimate Star, by Alexander Walker Hollywood Costume, by Dale McConathy back to top IDA LUPINO THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 1:00 am (ET)/10:00 pm (PT) OUTRAGE (1950) Directed by Ida Lupino and written by Lupino and Malvin Wald, this film tells the story of a young woman (Mala Powers) who is raped on a lonely walk home. Her traumatic ordeal isolates her both from her well-meaning but helpless family and her community, which treats her with sordid fascination. The humiliation is almost paralyzing, and she hops a bus out of town. She tries to escape her brutal urban experience in a peaceful valley and begins to trust again through her new relationship with an attractive minister. Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes Film Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 2:30 am (ET)/11:30 pm (PT) HARD, FAST AND BEAUTIFUL (1951) Ida Lupino directed and Martha Wilkerson adapted this film from a novel by John R. Tunis. Hard, Fast and Beautiful is about an ambitious mother lives vicariously through her relentless dreams of a lucrative professional tennis career for her daughter. Florence (Sally Forrest) is oblivious to the tensions in her parents' marriage and her mother's anxious exploitations at the country club. Family tensions are reflected on the tennis court, with the heroine "energized and trapped by the narrow rectangular confines of the court, everything and nothing endlessly at stake." Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes, Film Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art References: Without Lying Down, by Cari Beauchamp Lillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me, by Lillian Gish and Ann Pinchot Victor Sjostrom: His Life and Work, by Bengt Forslund. THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 4:00 am (ET)/1:00 am (PT) THE HITCH-HIKER (1953) Ida Lupino considered The Hitch-Hiker to be her best film. Directed by Lupino and adapted by Collier Young, Robert L. Joseph and Lupino from a story by Geoffrey Homes, the film is about two friends taking a meandering drive on a Baja peninsula fishing trip who have their car hijacked by a psychopathic killer. The reactions of a white-collar draftsman and blue-collar mechanic are contrasted as they strategize their survival chances against a sadistic criminal. The film was based on an actual incident and was almost not made because of Production Code bans on glamorizing actual crimes. There are no women cast in the film. Written by: Laura Drazin Boyes, Film Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art back to top