Outrage

source: Outrage

The didacticism and sheer sweetness (a function of film score as well as script and direction) of the cinematic action following the deft direction of a traumatic rape scene will strike many of today's viewers as dated. But upon closer inspection "Outrage" is subtle where least expected--both in terms of its understandings of rape and its expression of a feminine point of view in cinema. Lupino will not allow a male finance's hasty and almost violent insistence on marriage immediately following the rape of the protagonist (played by Mala Powers) to become separated in the victim's--and by extension the viewer's--mind from the central theme, and plot-motivating device, of rape itself. The villainy of rape cannot be solved by the seemingly heroic gesture of the male, whose "sacrifice" places as much emphasis on the woman's exceptional circumstances as do the violation committed by the rapist. Such attempts to deny the reality of rape simply serve to ensure its persistence. The attempt to erase part of victim's past is another way of treating her as less than human. The scene in which Powers' character hits an overly aggressive playboy with a wrench lacks the semblance of realism because Lupino shoots it from the point of view of the victim whose action in the present is dictated by the emotions triggered by her remembrance of the past. It's doubtful that any male director would have captured the scene in such non-violent, non-realistic detail and yet enabled us to see the action for what it is--an attempt by the character to erase the impression that the initial criminal act has left on her emotion-mental being. Some modern viewers will no doubt accuse Lupino of being overly idealistic in portraying the rapist less as a criminal than himself the victim of an illness--one that would be curable, moreover, in a more socially aware and progressive culture. Unfortunately, the sheer logistics of psychological treatment leading to cures of those guilty of such heinous criminal acts will make Lupino's sentiments seem hopelessly naive to today's viewers. But is that sufficient reason to fault the director for acknowledging the gender divide as a two-way street? Aside: Notice the scene in which the empowering new male friend is shown playing the piano from a camera POV just opposite his hands. In a subsequent scene, the piano is shown placed against the wall, which would make such a shot impossible. As first I couldn't help but marvel at the similarity of a heavy detective to Hal March, host of the the highly popular "60,000 Question," prior to its exposure. Looking at the credits will reveal that it IS Hal March (the loss of 15-20 pounds obviously didn't hurt his career as much as the downfall of the popular quiz show).

Ida Lupino was one of the few women to break through the directorial glass ceiling in Hollywood under the studio system. Not surprisingly, she also tackled proto-feminist themes that, when touched at all, were approached in so gingerly a manner that it was seldom quite clear what was being talked about. In Outrage, she treats rape and its aftermath, and though throughout the short movie it's referred to as `criminal assault,' she leaves, for once, no doubt about what happened. Mala Powers (in her official debut) plays a secretary-bookkeeper at a big industrial plant; she lives with her parents but is engaged to a swell guy (Robert Clarke), who just got a raise and now makes $90 a week. Leaving the plant after working late one night, she finds herself being stalked. In the ensuing scene – the best in the movie – she tries to escape her pursuer in a forbidding maze of buildings and alleys but fails. When she returns home, disheveled and in shock, the police can't get much out of her; she claims she never saw her attacker (who manned a snack truck outside the factory). Trying to pretend that nothing happened, she returns to her job but falls apart, thinking that everybody is staring at her, judging her. She goes into a fugue state, running away to Los Angeles on a bus but stumbling off at a rest stop. Waking up in a strange ranch house, she learns that she's been rescued by Tod Andrews, a young minister in a California agricultural town. She lies about her identity and takes a job packing oranges. The two fall vaguely in love, but it's clear to Andrews that Powers is keeping dire secrets. When, at a company picnic, she seizes a wrench and cracks the skull of Jerry Paris, who was trying to steal a kiss, the truth about her past comes out.... It was a courageous movie to come out in 1950, and that may explain and excuse some of its shortcomings. Lupino never recaptures the verve of the early assault scene, and the movie wanders off into the bucolic and sentimental, ending up talky and didactic. Yes, Lupino had important information to impart, but she didn't trust the narrative to speak for itself. Her cast, pleasant but bland and generic, weren't much help, either, reverting to melodramatic postures or homespun reassurance. But Outrage was a breakthrough, blazing a trail for later discourse on what the crime of rape really is, and what it really means to its victims.

Ida Lupino was a great actress and director and was a strong fighter for WOMEN'S RIGHTS which is shown in this B&W 1950's film. Lupino did her very best to show the great mental HARMS that women must go through all their life when such CRIMES are committed. Mala Powers,(Ann Walton),"Cyrano de Bergerac",'50 was a young woman about to be married and very happy and was deeply in love with her future husband. All of a sudden she is violated and she becomes ashamed to go back to her family, future husband or even work place and runs away with all these mental problems in her mind and soul! She becomes a tortured human being and runs into Tod Andrews,(Rev. Bruce Ferguson),"From Hell it Came",'57, who has problems of his own, however, he is able to help Mala find love and confidence and only scratches the surface for her ever becoming a Normal person and a loving woman. Hal March,(Detective Sgt. Hendrix),"The $64,000Question,'55 TV Series Emcee comes to Mala's aid after she almost kills a young man just trying to show her attention. This film is over 54 years old, but it still tells a story that never seems to END! This was a great effort on the part of Ida Lupino to open up the eyes of AMERICA and LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES!

... and a fairly accurate depiction of how people in 1950 would have reacted to her. Too many people - then and now - believe in "the just world syndrome " in which they believe that a completely innocent person going about their business could never be victim of such a brutal crime, because if they did believe this was possible, then it could happen to them, and that is just too upsetting to people who think they have a good bead on the world and how it runs. It's interesting that director Ida Lupino tackled this difficult subject with as much reality as was possible with the production code in force, and that she also picked as the protagonist of the film a girl that looked very much like herself as a young woman - Mala Powers, only 19 when this film was made. The basic framework is that Mala's character, Ann Walton, is attacked by a complete stranger late at night in a small town while walking home from work. The whole town thus knows what happened to her, she is subject to staring and whispering, and then her boyfriend thinks the answer is to get married right away. But Ann feels dirty and doesn't want any man to touch her, and halfway thinks her beau is proposing - and wanting a quick wedding out of town - out of pity for her and to make an honest woman of her, but without the curiosity seekers that a big wedding might attract. A real telling scene is when she goes around her house, touching objects, as though she is a ghost of herself trying to remember what things were like before, and comes across a picture of herself at her first communion all decked out in white and smashes the picture, as though any purity in her died with the rape. She runs away from home - she is a grown woman so she is missing more than she is truant - and tries to pick up the pieces of her life, but still with the image of the man who attacked her haunting her. Big doses of Christianity are injected as to the cure to everything - after all this is 1950 - but I also objected to the implication of all of society's ills as being psychiatric in nature. The preacher at the end is basically saying that Ann is as mentally sick as the rapist! This was decades before society had to admit that some people are just evil and want what they want when they want it and we just need to throw away the key for the sake of the rest of us. No, I don't agree with every little thing Lupino said here, or maybe was forced to say due to the times, but it is worth watching and not that far off, at least from what victims go through in this kind of crime.

Outstanding film detailing the mental breakdown of an engaged woman who is molested while on her way home from work. The film shows what mental detachment may bring as well as the repercussions of such a terrible situation. Mala Powers was terrific in the role of the victim whose life goes complete awry after suffering such an experience. We see the stigmatization that she finds after the outrageous incident. Unable to cope, she flees her home only to find peace and tranquility on a farm and the love of a minister finding his own way after his experiences during World War 11. We see the kindness of other people, and just when things seem to be getting somewhat back on course, a very forward guy leads Powers to imagine her previous incident and therefore with near tragic consequences. This was beautifully directed by Ida Lupino and shows the goodness of people in attempting to aid a lost soul.

Though she made more of a name for herself as an actress and as a director of episodic television, Ida Lupino did have considerable success with a series of low-budget motion pictures she helmed in the early 1950s, as well as a family film starring Hayley Mills that she directed in the mid-1960s. With OUTRAGE, Miss Lupino is quite gutsy. She is bringing to the public's attention the trauma associated with a sexual assault. Though technically, this is not new ground in Hollywood cinema, since rape is a part of what plays out on screen in JOHNNY BELINDA which was made two years earlier. Yet this smaller picture produced independently and released through RKO seems much more frank in its treatment of the subject. Mala Powers is cast as the main character, a pretty gal who is stalked one night by a crazed individual and ultimately attacked by him. I think the stalking scene is on par with anything Hitchcock ever did. It builds in a suspenseful way, and we realize the sheer terror of the situation, even if the violent act occurs off-camera. We don't need it spelled out for us that there is no escape for her, and she will not survive this incident without being victimized horribly. Since this huge turning point is directed by a woman, there is no real fetishizing of the female victim as a sex object. She is being used for sex, of course, but not in a way that is meant to convey pleasure of any sort. She's been violated, and Lupino makes sure we understand the gravity of the scenario. There is a line-up scene that occurs a bit later after the assault has been reported. This scene is worth mentioning, because of how Lupino stages it. As the line-up takes place and Powers studies the men in front of her to identify the culprit, Lupino upsets the balance with a series of quick cuts from one potentially guilty face to the next. As a director, she is mining the drama in yet another suspenseful way. Part of the reason we continue to stay with the movie is because we want to see what happens next to Powers' character. Will she get justice? More importantly, will she be able to get on with a normal life after such a devastating turn of events? Or will she be an endless topic of conversation for the local gossips? As such, this is the type of story that like JOHNNY BELINDA, has its work cut out in terms of the heroine reaching a happy resolution. A nationally known critic seemed to think that Miss Lupino and her cowriter Collier Young presented an optimistic viewpoint about a rape victim's recovery. However, I slightly disagree. I would say that Ida Lupino's direction provides much ambiguity. We see Powers' character deal with unrest after the rape. She takes off on a bus and seems to be rather aimless during her healing period. I think there are a lot of young women and young men, even today, that wind up transient and on the streets because of sexual traumas. Specifically, it is not going to be easy for the main character to continue rebuilding her life in a society like ours. When people find out what happened to her, they will always feel sorry for her and see her as a victim. Plus how is she ever going to be able to trust a man again? This isn't something that she can just walk away from without any ongoing repercussions. THE OUTRAGE is thoughtful cinema at its best, and it is definitely worth seeing.

The term "Rape" was unmentionable on the Screen in 1950. So here it is referred to as "Criminal Assault/Attack". If this seems silly and dated, just think of the 1980's when we had a President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who refused to utter the word "Aids" as thousands were suffering and dying. So maybe we haven't matured that much after all. Maverick Female Film Star/Director Ida Lupino determined to break barriers and push for Women's Rights decided to approach the Taboo and deliver a Story of a previously unseen on the Screen Fear facing Females everywhere. She handled it quite well, considering, although there are some missteps and considerations given here that make this a noble, but flawed effort. The first half is the most uncompromising, with its expressionistic use of the Camera and a terrifying cat and mouse chase that ends with the aforementioned "assault". But after that the situations begin to become clichéd and comfortable ways to allow the Victim to come to grips with her Anxiety. The Hollywood Code would interfere greatly and there is one scene that is completely condescending to a Male Stereotype and Cultural Mythology as she is pawed and mashed, defends herself, and is arrested because the brute is "a nice guy". This doesn't seem to be presented as Irony, as His harsh advances are never questioned, and the Film has to be faulted for that misstep. Overall though it is and Icon of the era and is noted for its breakthrough of at least tackling the subject matter, but it probably played it just a bit too safe to be considered more than a somewhat tepid try at breaking the Paradigm.

From one time actress Ida Lupino comes one of her efforts as a director. Not many people know Lupino as director & its a shame since she really was a groundbreaking filmmaker who had a prolific output, which I'm ashamed to admit this is my first (& hopefully not my last). This story concerns an attack on a woman (who's about to be married) on her way home from work. The assault leaves the woman in such a state of shock, she breaks off her nuptials & leaves town hopefully to regain some meaning in her life which she does when she meets a kindly doctor among a hamlet of fruit pickers & farmers. Understated yet passionately depicted, the travails of the victim had to be a revelation for the 1950's, going against the grain of what had become the status quo of most male directors. A brave & honorable effort. I can't wait to watch more of her stuff.

Ida Lupino is a name that we know for one of the most stunning beauties ever to appear on screen. And the beauty is great. So is the actress. So is the director. This is a stage fare sort of film. A great film has to work on stage as well as screen. A great film has to inspire kids to make believe, although the subject matter here probably is over the heads of most kids. This is the story of a respectable young woman, a total beauty on the order of Ida herself, rich in values, who is sexually assaulted. What she goes through after-wards is well depicted. Not only does Ida show us what the world sees, but she shows us what the young lady sees. Throughout the film, we get textbook directing and more. Not only is it blocked like a professional stage director would block it, but it is given all the additives that film can give. To say more would be to spoil what will be a pleasant experience for the viewer. I call it "perfect directing", but you can't have a film this perfect without perfect writing and acting as well. This film excels on all levels. I am a stickler for credible characters in incredible circumstances. However, here, we have credible characters in credible circumstances, and we still watch with interest. It is a heart filled story that will leave the strong men in tears. And it is not dated. Still relevant today. A hidden gem.