The Bigamist

Sunday, November 17
2:30 pm
The Bigamist
*TICKETS AVAILABLE 1/2 HOUR BEFORE SHOW TIME AT THE CAPITOL THEATER BOX OFFICE ONLY

1953 / USA / 80 min / 35 mm archive print Director: Ida Lupino
Cast: Joan Fontaine, Ida Lupino, Edmond O’Brien
Print Source: UCLA Film Archive

Ida Lupino was a woman ahead of her time. Despite acclaimed performances in many films, she never reached the heights of her contemporaries like Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck, and as she approached middle age, the parts were fewer and farther between. Rather than just retire, Lupino did what was nearly unthinkable for a woman in the late ‘40s she formed an independent production company and turned to directing, becoming only the second female member of the Directors’ Guild after Dorothy Arzner. While low budget and usually bereft of big name stars, Lupino’s films tackled messy issues of sexuality that Hollywood was afraid to touch. Sixty years after its premiere, the Olympia Film Festival brings you Lupino’s The Bigamist, the story of Harry (Edmond O’Brien), a San Francisco salesman married to Eve (Joan Fontaine), an executive at his firm, who makes frequent business trips to Los Angeles. When Harry and Eve, who are unable to conceive, attempt to adopt a baby, in the course of the requisite back- ground checks the orphanage administrator discovers Harry’s secret he has a second wife, Phyllis (Ida Lupino), and a baby in Los Angeles. Sensitively probing the complicated and all too human circumstances that can lead to a situation that has not entirely lost its power to shock even today, The Bigamist showcases Lupino’s ability to be “frank and compassionate” and to “show great empathy for small and fragile things” – (Onion AV Club).