This film screened 24th March 2018.

This film is F-Rated. Find out more here.

Marking yet another occasion when Lupino’s career broke new ground, The Hitch-Hiker is widely regarded as the first film noir directed by a woman.

Inspired by the facts around the real-life case of killer Billy Cook, it stars Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy as two men whose act of kindness is punished when they are forced to aid a sadistic psychopath attempting to elude authorities following a killing spree. As the murderer pushes to its limits a friendship he cannot understand, Lupino creates a bleak, tense atmosphere, expanding on the genre’s claustrophobic nature by shooting largely on location in the open desert.

Screening as part of a season dedicated to the groundbreaking work of Ida Lupino, from March 7th to 25th 2018 at the Irish Film Institute. Click here for details of the full season.