Pushing Boundaries

"Why don't you do something about
preventing crimes like these?
Ida Lupino's Outrage (1950)

Points for Reflection

Ida Lupino's Outrage (1950)

1. What tone is set by the opening montage of consecutive shots stitched together by dissolves that plays behind the opening credits?
2. Why might the camera capture both Ann and the food vendor, in the opening scene, tightly squeezed between two other figures?
3. How long has the street vendor been in his current job, and why does this matter?
4. Does the film inherently validate the romance between Ann and Jim?
5. What shots does Lupino employ to capture the tense dynamic characterizing Jim’s visit to Ann’s home that first evening?
6. Do Ann’s coworkers at the office provide unrelenting support of their friend?
7. Is Ann quite comfortable working late?
8. Does the appearance of the film’s villain telegraph his malevolent intent?
9. Other films reveal the presence of a predator without revealing their features for quite some time, yet this film chooses to show us the criminal’s appearance immediately.  Why might Ida Lupino have made this decision?
10. What does the predator’s willingness to call out after his prey, announcing his presence, suggest about his goal?
11. Whom does Ann ask for helping while attempting to elude her stalker?
12. What combination of camera shots, movements, and lighting choices so effectively combine in the night scene to create a claustrophobic sense of impending doom?
13. Do the doctor and detective see eye to eye?
14. What professional constraints does the detective admit to when questioned by Professor Walton?
15. Does the reaction of Ann’s father to the night’s events win our sympathy?
16. What do Ann’s answers to the female officer reveal about Ann’s psychological state earlier that evening?
17. Does Ann’s heightened awareness of her social environment provide her with a truthful read on others’ thoughts about her?
18. Why is the detective’s face out of focus as he asks Ann questions at the police station?
19. What motivates the relational decision Ann makes with regards to Jim?
20. Why does Ann make such a radical life decision soon after returning to work?
21. Why choose shallow depth of focus that zeroes in on Jim’s face instead of Ann’s face as they sit in the car?
22. Does Lupino tend to accelerate emotionally tense moments with quick cuts and swift character movements, or slow them with long cuts that include pregnant pauses and extended silences?
23. What do the photos of Ann in a white dress signal?
24. Why is the radio on when Ann steps into a diner?
25. Why does Ann’s planned destination shift?
26. How does Lupino capture Ann’s continuing distress following her time on the bus?
27. How does the screenplay telegraph Bruce Ferguson’s profession?
28. Does working a full-time job appear to help Ann?
29. Does Ann become more, or less, comfortable with Bruce the more she learns about him?
30. What of the viewer? Does Bruce strike us as a kind or a judgmental fellow?
31. Why does Madge Harrison wish to learn more about Ann?
32. Why does Bruce develop a connection with Ann?
33. What kind of faith does Bruce exhibit?
34. Ida Lupino explored polio, a potentially disabling illness she had herself when younger, in Never Fear (1950). What attitude does Outrage adopt towards disability?
35. What traits does Lupino grant Bruce to build in him a very different kind of masculinity than we’ve seen thus far?
36. What does Bruce fear when his new friend abruptly disappears?
37. Are the words Bruce speaks to Ann before the harvest dance prudent?
38. What does the crucial event at the harvest festival reveal about the assault weeks earlier?
39. Where does Ann run when she’s absolutely desperate for refuge?
40. Putting aside Ann’s past for a moment, do Frank’s actions merit the reaction he receives at the harvest dance?
41. Why is Ann lying down in the scene immediately following the first scene within the judge’s chambers?
42. Does the film identify its primary target? What issues around assault does Lupino attempt to address?
43. Why is it so important that the judge calls Bruce “doctor” towards the film’s close?
44. What motivates Ann’s final request of Bruce, and how do we explain his response?
45. What possible filmmaking techniques create such a visual contrast between the faces of Ann and Bruce during their final indoor conversation?
46. Where is Bruce looking when he smiles at the close?
47. What language and ideas often appear in the mouths of those, within our culture, who wish to downplay sexual assault?

Outrage (1950)
one sheet

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu