The Hard Way

Lupino took the Best Actress Award from the New York Film Critics for her role in THE HARD WAY and she should have been nominated for an Oscar. The part was originally offered to Bette Davis (who declined), which was appropriate since Lupino often referred to herself as "the poor man's Bette Davis." She plays a woman in the small industrial town of Greenhill who is married to a lummox, Bohnen, and living on the edge of poverty. Determined to keep her sister, Leslie, out of the trap of early marriage, pregnancy, and a wasted life, Lupino pushes the girl, who is a mildly talented singer/dancer, into performing. When Morgan and Carson, a couple of song-and-dance men, ...