The Bigamist

Hollywood has always been a tough place for female filmmakers. But it was particularly difficult for Ida Lupino, the British-born actress (High Sierra, The Sea Wolf) who swapped minor stardom for a career behind the camera in the far-from-women friendly 1950s.

With next to no one to look up to and few people willing to give her a break, it's amazing Lupino made any films let alone a series of diverting B-thrillers on subjects largely unfamiliar to American audiences. From Never Fear, the story of a woman's struggle with polio, to The Hitch-Hiker (which became infamous for its handling of sexual assault), Lupino's pictures broke new ground just as she was demonstrating that women had as much right as men to sit in the director's chair.

The Bigamist is arguably the best known of Lupino's films. Edmond O'Brien and Joan Fontaine are a childless San Franciscan couple who're keen to adopt a baby. Since they're charming people, it's hard to imagine adoption agency head Phyllis Martin (Lupino) turning them down. But as Ms Martin soon discovers, Harry already has a busy home life, the cad having already started a family with a second wife in Los Angeles!

Although she's been championed by Martin Scorsese and her sometime collaborator Don Siegel, it's fair to say Ida Lupino's a good rather than a great director. While there are moments of flair in The Bigamist - as there are in all her picture - the storytelling is largely straightforward, the director's thespian background perhaps convincing her to leave the drama in the hands of her actors.

Speaking of the performers, it's the fourth-billed O'Brien who really impresses. From the handsome lead in the original D.O.A. to crusty Old Man Sykes in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, Redmond O'Brien was never less than intersting in front of camera, but he was rarely better than as a worn-down man trying to explain why one wife just wasn't enough.