Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.
The Bigamist has been cited as the first American feature film made in the sound era in which the female star of a film directed herself. Ida Lupino began a lineage of not only Diractors maintaining their role as actors, but women paving new ground to make the movies themselves while playing characters with agency. Cutting her teeth on comedies before turning to drama and noir as a director, Lupino was able to exercise her range as an actor’s director rather than just making more of what she knows. The Bigamist, in a weird way, splits the difference: it has something of a comedic premise, but it is played without jokes, and at times for tragedy. Nothing about the situation is portrayed toxic manipulation or greed. Lupino’s framing of the story as a confession brings home that the man at the center isn’t one to put feelings aside for abandoning a past love.
We focus on the situation of Harry Graham (Edmond O’Brien, a knockout performance) and his wife and business partner, Eve (Joan Fontaine), and their desire to adopt a child. When private investigator Mr. Jordan (Edmund Gwenn) uncovers the fact that Graham has another wife, Phyllis (Lupino herself), and a small child in Los Angeles, he confesses everything. Playing all these events from his perspective doesn’t mean Harry comes off great, nor does he justify his actions. Rather, he is portrayed a confused man who believes he can keep up a double life in earnest.
Lupino shows restraint by not telling you how to feel about this guy, who jumped off a marriage that struck a small speedbump. Harry and Phyllis’ meet-cute and admiration for each other tell us more of who Harry is compared to his time with Eve, who is there to just keep a marriage together with as minimal damage as possible. Meeting Phyllis on a tour bus of Hollywood while in LA for business, he tries to make small talk; she just wants to mind her business. After making a brief and pleasant conversation, she invites him to a Chinese restaurant where, it turns out in a very funny reveal, she works. After this they began to spend more time together solely as platonic friends, which eventually develops into a romantic affair. O’Brien and Lupino have splendid chemistry and a very lovely first romantic outing. Cynically, Harry is taking advantage of Phyllis’ more sentimental side once her guard is let down while his marriage with Eve is taking a little more work. Yet screenwriter Collier Young (then-husband of Joan Fontaine and ex-husband of Lupino!) makes a smart point to include Phyills’ desire to not know any about Harry’s past and only love him about the version he presents.
Meanwhile, Harry’s marriage with Eve is framed as a difficulty. Nothing “happens,” but after the news of Eve’s infertility, the two become more business partners than romantic. Coping with this disappointment, Eve takes Harry’s advice to focus on work as a means to distract herself, and eventually agrees to adopt after being resistant. But despite being partners at work and home, they’re both not great communicators, which is used for both dramatic and comedic effect. Harry has a desire to leave his marriage and commit to Phyllis (who he’s learned is pregnant), but then Eve’s dad falls ill. Adding to Harry’s doomed double life is to stretch his ability as a husband, and now a dad, more thin than just criminal. Joan Fontaine is so good in this despite having the far less dynamic role. It speaks to Lupino’s ability as a storyteller that she is able to humanize Eve and make her more than solely a victim. It’s entirely credible that Harry could miss a chance to tell her that he feels they’re growing apart. It’s not until Harry is tried for bigamy that his two wives meet, the judge concluding with Harry’s damage control more than a crime.
Ida Lupino had a destiny to be in front of an audience. Starting out on the British stage with her actor parents (Stanley Lupino and Connie Emerald), she moved from the UK to the US as a teen. She called herself a “poor woman’s Bette Davis,” as she would get many of the femme fatale roles Davis couldn’t after breaking in I Lived With You. When director Elmer Clfiton had a heart attack and was unable to complete Not Wanted, Lupino made a clear choice to step in and finish the film as the writer/producer. She founded, with Collier Young, The Filmakers, a studio to create issue-oriented films with genuine suspense with an overall goal to showcase “how America lives.” She was never a threat to the studio system, nor was she one to lead a wave of women directors and become too radical and thus gaining the ability to make movies of these taboo topics. She described how bored she was on set while “someone else seemed to be doing all the interesting work,” and said, “It’s so much more fun. Creating it yourself, not just parading in front of a camera.” From here, she continues on with a familiar Diractor’s career, weaving in and out of filmmaking while treating acting like a day job. Yet even with acclaim and success, her moonlighting as director was met with little money, forcing her productions to reuse sets. It’s fun to see someone not retire from acting, but see the ceiling that acting lowers for you and reach for a higher one with becoming a director.
The Bigamist
1953
dir. Ida Lupino
80 min.
Currently streaming on Kanopy, Tubi, and many other platforms
