Hard Way, The (1943)
Joan Leslie stars as a woman with average (singing) talent that Jack Carson wants to make a star. Carson and partner Dennis Morgan are traveling vaudeville song & dance men with margin talent themselves, and Carson thinks he's discovered just what their act needs - this "kid" with spunk. Ida Lupino, playing Leslie's sister, uses Carson's interest in (attraction to) her sister to help them escape their squalid steel town. Carson and Leslie marry, but Lupino has become her sister's number one promoter and the decision maker regarding "their" career. Morgan is driven away and, later, so is Carson, who's character eventually commits suicide in the wake of his wife's success and his own limited skills. Lupino's ambition is really the focus of this film, giving this underrated actress (who went on to a successful career as a director, sometime writer & even a producer) a chance to exhibit her exceptional talent. The film does have a second act: when the two sister's run across Morgan, who'd become a successful band leader, again and a love triangle ensues. Additionally, an inevitable conflict arises between the sisters as the two debate whom is responsible for Leslie's success. Gladys George appears as an example to them: an actress on the downside of her own career. This above average drama was directed by Vincent Sherman and features a screenplay co-written by Daniel Fuchs (Love Me or Leave Me (1955)).
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