In this dark drama an iron-willed older sister forcibly thrusts her only modestly talented younger sister into a Broadway career. She does this to desperately try to keep her little sis from falling into the same small-town trap of marriage to a dull working-stiff and endless hours of taking care of babies and household drudgery. The bigger sister gets her chance when two handsome vaudevillians come to town. Seeing that one of the fellows eyes her younger sibling, the elder connives to get the two together. The scheme works and the smitten performer dumps his long-time partner in exchange for a career with his new love. That might have been hunky dory, but the ambitious big sister wants more for her sister and convinces her to become a solo act. So upset is the jilted partner that he commits suicide. Still the big sister refuses to stop pushing until finally the younger girl gets fed up and rebels in a bitter confrontation that only results in more tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
lost interest.
The American screen rarely depicts honest-to-goodness working class folks with any degree of truth, then or now, but that is exactly what you get in The Hard Way. At least in the opening scenes of this backstage melodrama, which then segues directly into an equally realistic depiction of the dying days of vaudeville. But this is Hollywood, after all, and before you can say 42nd Street
Joan Leslie has become a major star without exhibiting much in the way of talent. Leslie, for all her charm, is sorely miscast and the only reason The Hard Way succeeds in its own minor way is due to the customary solid performance by
Ida Lupino, whose back-stabbing "stage sister" gives Mama Rose a run for her money, a turn that won the actress the New York Film Critics Award. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide