From the beginning, Ida was remarkably competent behind the camera. She had always paid close attention on the set of her own movies and she had picked up a lot. She brought the production in under budget, with little drama off-camera. The low-budget flick was a modest commercial success. It was also a huge sensation among Ida's peers in Hollywood. They were impressed both with the difficult subject matter and the fact that a glamorous movie star had shown herself to be a skilled director.
Ida enjoyed the creative challenge of directing. For the remainder of her career, she preferred sitting behind the camera to acting in front of it. She and Collier moved their operations to the Filmmakers Company. There they tackled more tough subjects, such as rape, polio and bigamy in a series of well-received low-budget movies including Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951), The Hitch-Hiker (1953) and The Bigamist (1953).
The bulk of Ida's feature directing career ended when Filmmakers was sold to RKO. There the company failed under poor management. In 1951, Ida and Collier also suffered a rift in their relationship. Though they continued to produce together successfully, they ended their marriage.
In 1951, Ida married actor Howard Duff. From the beginning, the pair fought constantly. Only a few months into the marriage, Duff moved out of their home and made plans to separate from Ida. The same routine would happen many times throughout their marriage. Most of the tension between the two arose out of Duff's insecurities over the fact that his wife was much more famous and diversely talented than he was. Ida tried to lessen the pressure by undermining her talents and allowing Duff to rule the house. The pair stayed together and Ida gave birth to their daughter, Bridget, in April 1952.
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