From "vanilla blonde" starlet of the early thirties to startling character actress of the late thirties Ida Lupino should have been a bigger star but she was at the wrong studio. Warners already had Bette Davis who was always given first choice of the plum roles, in fact Ida was only signed by Warners as a threat to Davis, as Davis was being particularly difficult at that time. Even though Ida claimed she was never allowed to pick her own roles, over the coming years she made the movies that she is best remembered for - but not all were for Warners. "Ladies in Retirement" was made for Columbia and not only gave Ida her favourite part but also a chance to work with her husband at the time - Louis Hayward. It had been a successful Broadway play of the previous year and Flora Robson had made the role of Ellen Creed, the determined middle aged housekeeper who resorts to murder to keep her two "pixilated" sisters together, her own. Ida was only 23 but somehow she managed to put together the talent and skill to portray sinister maturity. To get herself in part she wore her hair severely pulled back with as little make up as possible and almost willed herself into the iron willed woman who had to dominate this macabre Victorian melodrama.
Set in England in the late nineteenth century, frivolous, elderly Miss Leonora Fiske (Isobel Elsom recreating her stage role) reluctantly agrees to let Ellen (Lupino) her house keeper companion, have her two "pixilated" sisters (Elsa Lancaster and Edith Barrett) come to stay for a short visit. But the visit turns to permanence and when their behaviour becomes intolerable, Miss Fiske demands they leave. Ellen's thieving "nephew" Albert (Hayward) arrives while she is in London collecting her sisters and he puts Miss Fiske wise about what she is letting herself in for - he describes the sisters as "batty" and "crazy". It doesn't take long for them to disrupt the household and even though Ellen begs and pleads for them to stay, Miss Fiske's mind is made up.
Ellen's is made up as well and after sending her sisters away for the day she calmly and methodically strangles the older woman while she is at the piano, then hides her body in an old wall oven which doubles as a safe. Like a bad penny the charming Albert returns and soon has the pixilated sisters eating out of his hand. Emily confesses to him that Ellen told them that she has bought the house from Miss Fiske but that they have been sworn to secrecy. Between Albert and Lucy (Evelyn Keyes), a parlour maid he has been stringing along, Ellen's icy demeanour finally cracks and realising that her sisters will be looked after she walks out to meet the police.
I do not see how Ida Lupino could have been better in the part, from stubborn patience to almost maniacal determination in her quest to look after her sisters. She was given strong support from Louis Hayward as the sinister, calculating Albert and Elsa Lancaster as the far more dangerous sister, Emily - "the sea has got to be cleaned". The New York Times thought Ida deserved the most praise for her "thin ribbon of intensity that makes the film hair raising".
Set in England in the late nineteenth century, frivolous, elderly Miss Leonora Fiske (Isobel Elsom recreating her stage role) reluctantly agrees to let Ellen (Lupino) her house keeper companion, have her two "pixilated" sisters (Elsa Lancaster and Edith Barrett) come to stay for a short visit. But the visit turns to permanence and when their behaviour becomes intolerable, Miss Fiske demands they leave. Ellen's thieving "nephew" Albert (Hayward) arrives while she is in London collecting her sisters and he puts Miss Fiske wise about what she is letting herself in for - he describes the sisters as "batty" and "crazy". It doesn't take long for them to disrupt the household and even though Ellen begs and pleads for them to stay, Miss Fiske's mind is made up.
Ellen's is made up as well and after sending her sisters away for the day she calmly and methodically strangles the older woman while she is at the piano, then hides her body in an old wall oven which doubles as a safe. Like a bad penny the charming Albert returns and soon has the pixilated sisters eating out of his hand. Emily confesses to him that Ellen told them that she has bought the house from Miss Fiske but that they have been sworn to secrecy. Between Albert and Lucy (Evelyn Keyes), a parlour maid he has been stringing along, Ellen's icy demeanour finally cracks and realising that her sisters will be looked after she walks out to meet the police.
I do not see how Ida Lupino could have been better in the part, from stubborn patience to almost maniacal determination in her quest to look after her sisters. She was given strong support from Louis Hayward as the sinister, calculating Albert and Elsa Lancaster as the far more dangerous sister, Emily - "the sea has got to be cleaned". The New York Times thought Ida deserved the most praise for her "thin ribbon of intensity that makes the film hair raising".