Hard, Fast and Beautiful Ida Lupino

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Mother of a Champion" )

directed by Ida Lupino
USA 1951

When most people look at Florence Farley, they see a pretty teenager. But when Milly Farley looks at her daughter she sees something else: a tennis prodigy who could be Milly’s ticket to money and fame. Released in 1951, Hard, Fast and Beautiful foresaw our modern era of big-time women’s sports – and of driven parents who would stop at nothing to “help” their daughters grab the golden ring. Sally Forrest plays Florence, who finds athletic success but not happiness. Claire Trevor seethes with barely concealed malice and greed as Milly. And behind the camera is movie star Ida Lupino, guiding one of a series of low-budget, big-concept films that established her as a rarity in mid-century Hollywood: a successful and stylish female director.

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Theatrical Release: 23 May 1951 (San Francisco, California)

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DVD Review: Warner Home Video (Warner Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:17:33
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.88 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Archive Advert (0:59) DVD Release Date: December 1 2009 Keep Case Chapters 8

Comments

Hard, Fast and Beautiful is a sports drama competently directed by Ida Lupino from her own production company, The Filmmakers, and distributed by RKO. The film was shown on Turner Classic Movies channel over the years, but this is a home video debut of this title on DVD in the United States thanks to Warner Archive Collection. The film features an excellent performance by Claire Trevor, between her Oscar win for Key Largo and Oscar nomination for The High and the Mighty. Sally Forrest as her daughter and Kenneth Patterson as her husband are also memorable, but the film crumbles under a predictable script. The alternative title for the movie, Mother of a Champion, tells most of the story. There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos by Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino (see capture #5). The transfer is usual for Warner Archive titles - some marks and scratches (see the last capture), but overall it's decent.

The mono audio is unremarkable and there are no subtitles or a trailer as an extra. Overall, it's a very nice release from Warner Archive that otherwise would have never been released on DVD. Fans of Claire Trevor should check it out and hopefully Warner can release another title they own that was directed by Ida Lupino, the underrated Outrage.

- Gregory Meshman

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