NFR Project: 'The Hitch-Hiker' (1953)

 

NFR Project: “The Hitch-Hiker”

Dir: Ida Lupino

Scr: Ida Lupino, Collier Young

Pho: Nicholas Musuraca

Ed: Douglas Stewart

Premiere: March 21, 1953

71 min.

Ida Lupino was a remarkable filmmaker. For a long time, she was the only female director in Hollywood.

She came from a long line of performers famous in England as the Lupinos – comprising actors, song-and-dance men, and even circus clowns. She started out in British film, and came to America in 1933. After extensive experience, she started to make her mark as an actress in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), and moved on to leading roles in They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra and The Sea Wolf (both 1941).

But she wanted to do more. Frequently in dispute with her studio, she found herself suspended often. She didn’t want to just appear in films, she wanted to make them. While on suspension, she decided to form her own production company -- and direct and write socially conscious, realistic films such as Never Fear (1940) and Outrage (1950). Her uncompromising chutzpah led to the creation of a body of work that deserves closer examination.

The Hitch-Hiker is not a social problem film. It’s a straight-up film noir, based on the crimes of serial killer Billy Cook. Using only three actors – Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Tallman – she creates an atmosphere of menace and suspense. Filmed in the desert locations south of Los Angeles, this spare thriller keeps the audience hostage just as the two protagonists are held prisoner by a psychotic gunman (Tallman is great in this role). Will they escape before the killer executes them? The tension is maintained until the last minute.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: House of Wax.