by Julie Grossman and Therese Grisham

This essay aims to unlock gender from specific genre types by way of Ida Lupino’s melonoir films of the 1950s. The strong associations critics and viewers have forged between genres and gender categories have marginalized Lupino’s contributions, which are only now coming into critical view. Merging film noir and women’s melodrama brought her tough noir vision more fully into the domestic sphere, establishing an intriguing blend of what Therese Grisham identifies more particularly as “home noir.”