Wide awake early this morning, but too sleep-deprived to 'get going', a lazy button on the 'remote' pulled up a 1950 Film, directed by Ida Lupino, the first 'woman director' whose television work I'd been 'glued to' in my early teens, when I was fixated on "Four Star Playhouse"'s Adult-themed Series....which preceded the wonderful PLAYHOUSE 90, ten years or so, later......This morning, I noticed Lupino's early directorial effort, NEVER FEAR, and began, in Film Comment Mode, to dissect the movie....stopping....love that 'pause' button....to examine single frames, contextual imaging, props, jewelry, shoes, ...details of production and editing......well, all those minutia that hypervigilants seem to notice......the patterns on men's ties....the subtle expressions of sub-conscious motivations; lapel width in relation to the age and stylishness of the characters.....Hugh O'brian, later Wyatt Earp, as a polio victim in his wheelchair, rolling into an elevator, smoking a Camel and cruising Keefe Brasselle, as the obviously gay Guy Richards, wearing a tie with cute little hearts, alternating right side up and right side down....."Guy" had just left the pulmonary doctor that had, moments before, diagnosed his wife with Polio....while the 'Jewish', of course, doctor is consulting with another doctor, he picks a cigarette from a full ashtray of butts......I thought of those doctors in Ben Casey, that would take a break from lung surgery for a 'cigarette break' in the hall....(after all, the program was financed by tobacco companies, then).....So......just minutes into this Lupino Melodrama......I'm already loaded with images and dialogue to process...with some sarcasm and dark humor..... even drawing a parallel with the latest 'contagion'......the film was made during the polio epidemic that killed many Americans and crippled many more......childhood friends in 'Iron Lungs'....the introduction of the Polio Virus that had every 1st Grader in 1951 line up for the new 'vaccine'.....just as we had done for the obligatory smallpox, typhoid and tetanus shots.....then measles, mumps and other 'inoculations' and vaccinations.....all this rambling....and I'm still on 'Pause' only minutes into the Film......It's not just Entertainment.......It's a challenge to OCD.......
POSTSCRIPT.....MOMENTS LATER:
when Sally Forrest's character, just having been diagnosed with polio, is rolled into her 'private room', decorated with depressing paintings of Vacation Retreats, another doctor comes by to chat with her, as he smokes a cigarette and even offers one to his patient who is having difficulty breathing.......more production 'funding' from R.J. Reynolds, I'll wager......even a nursing assistant hesitates, while working in the Ward, to make sure he hasn't lost his pack of Camels........Oh, the 1950's....certainly, the Age Of Denial......
after her doctor leaves her room, Hugh O'brian's character stops by to bum a cigarette from the pack that 'Carol's doctor left for 'when she needs one'.....and 'Guy' drops by the "Happy Homes" real estate office to witness it's owner, threatening to evict a 'customer' for not having the 'payments'......and, of course, the owner's secretary offers Guy yet another cigarette......cut to scene of polio victims being assisted during their morning swim at the hospital's pool while..by the poolside, an aide delivers some sexist indoctrination to a little girl, implying that she should be submissive to men when she 'grows up'........and, in the next scene....some racism, as a Mexican guitarist/singer sings a ballad about wetbacks.....then, back in her hospital room, our 'heroine' is dolled up with hope of being a sexy 'man's woman', then stabs a clay sculpture that she's 'working on' with a sculpting tool......This movie doesn't go 'a frame' without this crap.....And, of course...after our 'victim' freaks and destroys her sculpture, Hugh rolls by in his wheelchair to offer her another cigarette.....As they smoke, she says "I have plenty of Time"......Back in her room, the art work has magically been replaced with more urban scenarios.......Then, the first wheelchair square dance....(now a Special Olympics 'Sport').....
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