Never Fear

Carol is a beautiful young dancer with a promising career, struck down with and crippled by polio. Her dance partner and fiancé, Guy, wants to see her through her illness, but Carol struggles with dealing with her recovery and prefers to go it alone. “NEVER FEAR reunited Sally Forrest and Keefe Brasselle, the stars of NOT WANTED. The film definitely brought out a distinctively feminine side to Lupino’s direction. It’s difficult to define precisely, but there is an unusually physical, tactile quality to the way the film’s characters relate to one another. So although it would be hard to argue that the film has a conventionally feminist sensibility, it would also be hard to imagine it having been directed by a man. NEVER FEAR must have had a special resonance for Lupino, since she had, like her heroine, experienced polio as an adolescent. The fact that she had to direct the film from a wheelchair (due to an injury) must have been a constant reminder of how close she came to a grim early fate.” (Charles Silver)

From the MoMA collection