The Lady and the Mob

Ida Lupino is one of my favorite actresses. I'd watch her in anything. That's how I happened to watch this moronic comic gangster movie.

Ida's mother-in-law to-be is the title character. She's a wealthy woman who sets out to outfox the protection racket that's hitting on businesses she frequents.

Lupino has a reasonably good role. Of course she is wasted but she looks OK and isn't put through anything embarrassing.

Fay Bainter, on the other hand -- what a crime! This lovely looking, gentle woman is trashed in the title role. I will grant that she appears to be having fun with it.

But Bainter had the warmest eyes of any actress in movies I can think of. She gave many superb character performances and is marvelous as the title character in the unduly maligned "Mother Carey's Chickens." (She is Mother Carey, not a chicken.) Here she is done up to look like May Robson. Robson was also a delightful actress but a very different type.

The whole thing is truly painful. If you're a die-hard Lupino fan and you want to see her entire oeuvre, watch it. If not, do yourself a favor and don't.