Hollywood always loved movies about the harsh reality of show business. For another in this vein, we go to 1943’s The Hard Way.

Along with younger sister Katie (Joan Leslie), Helen Chernen (Ida Lupino) finds herself stuck in a dilapidated small town without much hope of escape. However, Katie boasts musical talent and Helen thinks she can use this as a means to an end.

Via a mix of less than savory methods, Helen manages to get Katie’s career off the ground. This leads to complications as Helen proves ruthless in her pursuit of a better life.

Well, maybe “ruthless” feels like a stretch, as Helen doesn’t quite come across as cutthroat. Still, she offers a strong personality determined to get what she wants.

Lupino portrays the role in a positive manner, as she doesn’t turn Helen into the expected monomaniacal Svengali. While Helen indeed pushes Katie to advance her career and often seems to do so for her own desires more than her sister’s, Lupino nonetheless brings a humanity to the role.

This allows Helen to see as more human than otherwise might become the case. Granted, she still appears fairly controlling, but Lupino adds depth that others might lack.

If I wanted to find a flaw with Hard Way, I’d point out the movie’s focus on romantic melodrama. Rather than concentrate on the showbiz side, we get more about various love lifes.

However, this connects to the film’s overall theme, as we see how partnerships impact Katie’s career. I’d still prefer less of these elements but at least they connect to the main plot fairly well.

Though not quite as strong as Lupino, Leslie brings the right tone to Katie, and Jack Carson satisfies as the performer on the decline who ends up as a pawn on Helen/Katie’s push to the top.

All of this gives us a pretty entertaining look at the stresses of showbiz and an obsession with fame. Despite a melodramatic tendency, the film largely achieves its goals.

The Hard Way appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie usually looked quite good.

Only a few minor problems affected sharpness, as I noticed occasional signs of softness in some wide shots. Those remained infrequent, though, as the flick mostly demonstrated nice delineation and accuracy.

I witnessed no signs of jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain felt natural, and no print flaws materialized.

Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows came across as smooth and concise. The movie offered nice contrast from start to finish and this became a strong presentation.

The DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Hard Way also appeared perfectly fine for an old movie like this. Speech was a little brittle but always remained concise and intelligible.

Though effects lacked heft, they seemed clean and acceptably accurate. Music was also thin but clear.

I don’t expect great range or definition from an 82-year-old flick, so I didn’t take the tinny nature of the track as a disappointment. This was a more than adequate track for an ancient flick.

When we shift to extras, the biggest attraction comes from a March 20, 1944 Lux Radio Theater adaptation of The Hard Way. It goes for 59 minutes, 35 seconds and features Miriam Hopkins as the lead and uses Anne Baxter as Katie.

As usual, the radio Hard Way cuts out a good chunk of the movie’s material, but a lot of the excisions come from musical numbers. This means we lose less of the action story than one might expect.

Perhaps because the format allows for less nuance, Hopkins’ Helen seems more hard-edged than Lupino’s. I don’t mind this shift, though, as it means the radio Helen comes across as more cut-throat.

In any case, this turns into an effective radio presentation. While I like Lupino’s more nuanced version of Helen, this one works as well.

In addition to the trailer for Hard Way, we also find four short films. The disc includes Gun to Gun (17:37), Over the Wall (20:52), The Aristo-Cat (7:20) and Scrap Happy Daffy (7:59).

With Gun, we get a Western in which a ranch owner needs to deal with an unjust tax. It seems clunky and not especially entertaining. The obvious use of footage from other films to fill out more elaborate shots makes Gun seem cheap as well.

Via Wall, a prison priest tries to reform an escaped convict. While not a great short, it musters decent melodrama and certainly fares better than the feeble Gun.

The final two reels give us Looney Tunes cartoons. Aristo-Cat focuses on a wealthy, pampered and jerky feline who doesn’t know how to survive after his manservant quits. It offers a clever production.

Scrap shows Daffy as he works to collect items to use for the war effort. Basically propaganda, it never becomes especially funny, but I like it as a rarely-seen product of the WWII era.

Although it leans a little more toward romantic melodrama than I’d like, The Hard Way still turns into a compelling tale. It views the cutthroat world of show business in a vivid manner. The Blu-ray delivers solid picture as well as good audio and a small mix of bonus features. Hard Way becomes a quality character drama.