When most people look at Florence Farley, they see a pretty teenager. But when Milly Farley looks at her daughter she sees something else: a tennis prodigy who could be Milly's ticket to money and fame.

Released in 1951, Hard, Fast and Beautiful foresaw our modern era of big-time women's sports - and of driven parents who would stop at nothing to "help" their daughters grab the golden ring.

Sally Forrest plays Florence, who finds athletic success but not happiness. Claire Trevor seethes with barely concealed malice and greed as Milly. And behind the camera is movie star Ida Lupino, guiding one of a series of low-budget, big-concept films that established her as a rarity in mid-century Hollywood: a successful and stylish female director.

Ida Lupino, one of the few major Hollywood actresses to move from the sound stage to the director's chair in the 1940s and 1950s, helmed this story about a mother's obsessive drive to see her daughter succeed. Florence Farley (Sally Forrest) is a young woman with a tremendous gift as a tennis player, and her mother Milly (Claire Trevor) is determined to see Florence make the most of her talents. However, Milly's greatest concern isn't with her daughter's happiness or well-being, but with her own financial success, and when Milly begins interfering with Florence's romance with Gordon McKay (Robert Clarke), the daughter begins to rebel against her mother. Director Lupino and actor Robert Ryan both make cameo appearances as spectators at a tennis match.