Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward in “Ladies in Retirement”

Ladies in Retirement (1941) is an American gothic suspense film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. The movie was based on the play of the same name by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy. The cinematography was by George Barnes who won an Academy Award the previous year for his work on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca.

The plot involves Ellen Creed (Lupino), a middle-aged spinster forced to work as a housekeeper/companion to Miss Leonora Fiske (Isobel Elsom), a wealthy retiree and former chorus girl in her youth. Ellen gets a letter about her two sisters Emily (Elsa Lanchester) and Louisa (Edith Barrett) who are odd, to put it mildly. The letter threatens to evict the sisters and send them to an institution.

Ellen suggests to Miss Fiske that her two sisters come for a visit. The visit turns disastrous with Miss Fiske ordering the sisters and Ellen to leave her home. To complicate matters, Albert Feather (Hayward), a distant relative shows up at the most inopportune moment.

Charles Vidor (1900 – 1959) was a Hungarian film director whose career started during the early days of talking pictures. Vidor is most famous for the work he did under contract to Columbia Pictures including Ladies in Retirement (1941), Cover Girl (1944), Together Again (1944), A Song to Remember (1945), and Gilda (1946). After leaving Columbia, Vidor directed Hans Christian Andersen (1952) for Sam Goldwyn, Love Me or Leave Me (1955) for M-G-M, and The Joker is Wild (1957) for Paramount. Vidor suffered a heart attack and died three weeks into filming.

George Barnes (1892 – 1953) was an American cinematographer who began his career during the silent era and worked into the early 1950s. Barnes was competent in both black-and-white and color cinematography. He won an Academy Award for black-and-white photography in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940). Some other films Barnes photographed include Jesse James (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Jane Eyre (1944), Spellbound (1945), Samson Delilah (1949), and The War of the Worlds (1953).

Lupino and Hayward at home with their dog

Ida Lupino (1918 – 1995) was an English-American actress, director, and producer. She appeared in over 50 films and was one of Warner Bros.’s biggest contract players during the 1940s starring in High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), and The Man I Love (1947). After she left Warner Bros., Lupino formed her own production company, producing, writing, and directing films that tackled subjects the big studios wouldn’t touch. During the 1950s, Lupino was the only female director working in Hollywood. She directed several small independent films but made a name for herself directing for television. Lupino directed episodes of The Twilight Zone (starred in one too), The Rifleman, Bonanza, Gilligan’s Island, It Takes a Thief, Family Affair, and Columbo. In 1966, she directed her one-and-only big-budget studio picture, The Trouble with Angels starring Rosalind Russell and Haley Mills.

Charles Laughton visits the set of Ladies in Retirement

Louis Hayward (1909 – 1985) was a British-American actor. He worked on the London stage under the tutelage of Noel Coward. He made some films in England in the early 1930s and came to Broadway in 1935 working with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Noel Coward’s Point Valaine. His Broadway fame brought him to Hollywood where he was cast in some minor roles before getting starring roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), My Son, My Son! (1940), and The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Hayward was married to Ida Lupino from 1938 to 1945.

Ladies in Retirement trivia:

• Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward were married during the filming.
• Rosalind Russell was originally announced as the film’s lead.
• Lupino was 23 playing a woman in her mid-40s.
• The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

Click HERE to join the online discussion on October 28, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Questions for discussion:

1. What genre would you classify this film?
2. Did Ida Lupino make a credible middle-aged woman?
3. Why do you think Miss Fiske gave money to Albert?
4. What did you make of the two “batty” sisters?
5. Did you have any sympathy for Ellen?

  

Van Johnson and Vera Miles know there are only “23 Paces to Baker Street”

23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) is an American mystery directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Van Johnson and Vera Miles. The supporting cast features Cecil Parker, Isobel Elsom, and Estelle Winwood.

Philip Hanson (Johnson) is a blind playwright living in London. With the help of his butler Bob Matthews (Cecil Parker), Hanson writes in his flat overlooking the Thames river. One day, Hanson overhears a conversation at a local pub that sounds to him like a plan to commit a crime. He tries to get help from Inspector Grovening (Maurice Denham) without any success. So he turns to his butler and Jean Lennox (Miles), his ex-fiancée. Will the three of them crack the case or find themselves in more trouble than they bargained for?

Henry Hathaway (1898 – 1985) was an American film director and producer. Hathaway started working in silent films in 1925 as an assistant to established directors like Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg. His first solo directorial effort was Heritage of the Desert (1932) starring Randolph Scott. Hathaway, along with Scott, would be known for western movies. Besides Scott, Hathaway directed Gary Cooper in several films, including The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) which earned him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. In 1940, Hathaway began working at Fox where he directed Tyrone Power in Johnny Apollo and Brigham Young (both 1940), Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942), Don Ameche and Dana Andrews in Wing and a Prayer (1944), and Call Northside 777 (1948) starring James Stewart and Richard Conte. After leaving Fox, he was one of three directors who worked on the western epic How the West Was Won (1962). He directed Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith (1966), directed John Wayne in True Grit (1968) which won Wayne his one and only Best Actor Academy Award.

Van Johnson (1916 – 2008) was an American film, television, stage, and radio actor. He was a major star at M-G-M during and after World War II. During his heyday, Johnson was packaged as the boy next door which made him a popular leading man into the 1950s. Johnson starred opposite some of the biggest female stars in Hollywood including Esther Williams, June Allyson, Judy Garland, and Elizabeth Taylor. Some of Johnson’s many films include Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Thrill of a Romance (1945), Easy to Wed (1946), and In the Good Old Summertime (1949).

Van Johnson and Vera Miles

Vera Miles (1929 - ) is an American actress (retired) who was a popular leading lady in film during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, Miles signed a five-year personal contract with Alfred Hitchcock. Earlier he cast her opposite Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man (1956) and was his original choice for the female lead in Vertigo (1958). Hitchcock was grooming Miles as his next “cool blonde” replacing the recently retired Grace Kelly. When Miles became pregnant, she lost the role to Kim Novak. Miles starred in two classic John Ford westerns: The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Other film roles include Lila Crane in Psycho (1960), Beau James (1957), The FBI Story (1959), and Hellfighters (1968).

23 Paces to Baker Street trivia

• A lot of the film's exteriors were shot in London as opposed to a Hollywood backlot.
• The balcony scenes overlooking the Thames were shot from the Savoy Hotel.
• The scars on Van Johnson's face are real. He was in a serious car accident—his head went through the windshield—in 1943 while filming A Guy Named Joe starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne.

To watch the movie on YouTube, click the link below.

To join the discussion on January 9, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Did this film remind you of other films you've seen?
2. Was Van Johnson convincing as a blind man?
3. Did the on-location filming make a difference in the overall feel of the film?
4. Would the film have been better if it was filmed in black and white?
5. Were you surprised by anything?
6. Does the title have anything to do with the film?
7. Was the ending satisfying?

Ida Lupino headlines “Ladies in Retirement”

Ladies in Retirement (1941) is an American gothic suspense film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. The movie was based on the play of the same name by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy. The cinematography was by George Barnes who won an Academy Award the previous year for his work on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca.

The plot involves Ellen Creed (Lupino), a middle-aged spinster who is forced to work as a housekeeper/companion to Miss Leonora Fiske (Isobel Elsom), a wealthy retiree and former chorus girl in her youth. Ellen gets a letter about her two sisters Emily (Elsa Lanchester) and Louisa (Edith Barrett) who are a bit odd, to put it mildly. The letter threatens to evict the sisters and send them to an institution.

Ellen suggests to Miss Fiske that her two sisters come for a visit. The visit turns disastrous with Miss Fiske ordering the sisters and Ellen to leave her home. To complicate matters, Albert Feather (Hayward), a distant relative shows up at the most inopportune moment.

Charles Vidor (1900 – 1959) was a Hungarian film director whose career started during the early days of talking pictures. Vidor is most famous for the work he did under contract to Columbia Pictures including Ladies in Retirement (1941), Cover Girl (1944), Together Again (1944), A Song to Remember (1945), and Gilda (1946). After leaving Columbia, Vidor directed Hans Christian Andersen (1952) for Sam Goldwyn, Love Me or Leave Me (1955) for M-G-M, and The Joker is Wild (1957) for Paramount. Vidor suffered a heart attack and died three weeks into filming.

George Barnes (1892 – 1953) was an American cinematographer who began his career during the silent era and worked into the early 1950s. Barnes was competent in both black and white and color cinematography. He won an Academy Award for his black and white photography in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940). Some other films Barnes photographed include Jesse James (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Jane Eyre (1944), Spellbound (1945), Samson Delialah (1949), and The War of the Worlds (1953).

Lupino and Hayward at home with their dog

Ida Lupino (1918 – 1995) was an English-American actress, director, and producer. She appeared in over 50 films and was one of Warner Bros.’s biggest contract players during the 1940s starring in High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), and The Man I Love (1947). After she left Warner Bros., Lupino formed her own production company, producing, writing, and directing films that tackled subjects the big studios wouldn’t touch. During the 1950s, Lupino was the only female director working in Hollywood. She directed several small independent films but really made a name for herself directing for television. Lupino directed episodes of The Twilight Zone (starred in one too), The Rifleman, Bonanza, Gilligan’s Island, It Takes a Thief, Family Affair, and Columbo. In 1966, she directed her one-and-only big-budget studio picture, The Trouble with Angels starring Rosalind Russell and Haley Mills.

Charles Laughton visits the set of Ladies in Retirement

Louis Hayward (1909 – 1985) was a British-American actor. He worked on the London stage under the tutelage of Noel Coward. He made some films in England in the early 1930s and came to Broadway in 1935 working with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Noel Coward’s Point Valaine. His Broadway fame brought him to Hollywood where he was cast in some minor roles before getting starring roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), My Son, My Son! (1940), and The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Hayward was married to Ida Lupino from 1938 to 1945.

Ladies in Retirement trivia:

• Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward were married during the filming.
• Rosalind Russell was originally announced as the film’s lead.
• Lupino was 23 playing a woman in her mid-40s.
• The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture

To watch the film, click on the YouTube link below.

To join us on November 3, 2020, at 6:30 p.m. for a discussion on Zoom, visit the Chicago Film Club Meetup page.

Questions for discussion:

1. What genre would you classify this film?
2. Did Ida Lupino make a credible middle-aged woman?
3. Why do you think Miss Fiske gave money to Albert?
4. What did you make of the two “batty” sisters?
5. Did you have any sympathy for Ellen?