The essential Lupino is also the essential Walsh heroine: gutsy and tender, thriving on both qualities in the after-hours nightclub milieu of The Man I Love. Petey is a singer who was trained in the proverbial school of hard knocks, and also a family gal in the typical Lupino fashion as she attempts to right the world for a sister and brother in the grip of postwar malaise. When Petey falls in love with a pianist (Bruce Bennett) it is with her eyes wide open: she sees what we see (Bennett's unbending posture is a perfect physical metaphor, and a kind of foreshadowing). She bets no money on love but goes for it anyway and there is something particularly appealing about the way this both enhances and undercuts our investment in the melodrama. Walsh's marvelously atmospheric film is set among waterfront lounge lizards, underworld moguls, and musicians steaming in late-night jam sessions. With its Gershwin songs and mood, this was the inspiration for Scorsese's New York, New York.