Customer Reviews

Born to Be Bad [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have noticed that most reviews of Nicholas Ray's works usually don't mention this film. Perhaps people expect and want a film that shows Ray's distinctive style of film making. Screenplay is well written, acting very good, direction as usual competent Ray. Ryan able to successfully interpret the writer role. His scenes with Fontaine project the requisite sexual chemistry to make their interactions fascinating. One wonders whether they had something going on behind the scenes.

The drama is not as intense as it could have been, but the story is nevertheless engrossing. Fontaine's portrayal of the venal central character was subtle enough to make her scenes more interesting than they could have been in the hands of another actress. Some reviewers have stated that the story wasn't convincing because nobody in real life could ever be bamboozled by Fontaine's character. I beg to differ, because I have met a number of people in my day who were narcissistic in the same manner. The various characters' reactions to Fontaine's character were entirely logical to me.

The only unfortunate fact about the film is that the ending was recut to reflect a less depressing conclusion. The whole bit about Zachary Scott coming to his senses by flying his plane seems to reflect Howard Hughes' meddlesome habit of ordering films to be endlessly recut. There were a number of Robert Ryan films done at RKO that suffered a similar fate in the editing room.

I have Born To Be Bad on laserdisc, and the picture is quite clear. If anyone wants a better picture than the VHS, their only choice is a laserdisc. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for someone to decide to put it on DVD. The same fate goes for a number of other Robert Ryan films. See the film for a more than adequate foray into 50s cinema and to see Ryan in a romantic role. Actually, although most people think that Ryan played mostly unsavory characters, he in fact had many more positive film portrayals. They just weren't as good as his bad guy films for the most part.

***1/2 1950. Based on Anne Parrish's All Kneeling and directed by Nicholas Ray. Christabel Caine Carey is an opportunist and a social climber. She seduces her cousin Donna's wealthy fiancé, marries him while also trying to keep in touch with Nick Bradley, a writer she's sexually attracted to. Firstly, it's interesting to observe the resemblance between Curtis Carey, the billionaire who likes to fly, and Howard The Aviator (Two-Disc Special Edition) Hugues, the real life owner of RKO pictures, a production company which precisely produced BORN TO BE BAD. Then, what strikes the most in this film, is the way Nicholas Ray describes the male characters. They are passive, spectators, properly manipulated by Joan Fontaine even if the painter Gobby Broome and the writer NICk bRAdleY, two cinematic brothers of the director, won't be totally fooled. They are the only ones who will understand the double face of the young woman, another familiar theme of Nicholas Ray. Recommended.

This zone 2 DVD release will attract those of you who own a multizone DVD player. The copy is average, the Spanish subtitles can't be removed and the bonus scarce.

Director Nicholas Ray managed to take his revenge on RKO's Howard Hughes with this real life "Citizen Kane". Hughes was obsessively pursuing Joan Fontaine whose post WWII career was going nowhere. Like Hearst's intervention in Marion Davies' career, Hughes got Fontaine the lead in Ray's "Born To Be Bad" and then meddled in the production to insure that the film became a promotional vehicle for her.

Whatever Ray may have thought of this it was not a complete disaster. Although the 32 year-old Fontaine is not credible in the role of a young business school student, if you suspend disbelief about the age factor, her performance is the equal of Anne Baxter's in "All About Eve". The same thing could be said of Davies; while her career was mismanaged by Hearst's inappropriate casting, her talent was still able to shine through.

Although not give final cut, Ray somehow was able to turn "Born To Be Bad" into a self- parodying melodrama that reflected much of the Hughes-Fontaine relationship. Even making Fontaine's mark (wealthy Curtis Carey-played by Zachary Scott) into a Hughes look- alike, complete with pencil mustashe and a passion for flying.

Unlike Orsen Welles, Ray made a lot of women's pictures, a quality "Citizen Kane" does not share with "Born To Be Bad". Fontaine plays master manipulator Christabel Caine (not Kane), not quite a sociopath but a woman with little sign of a conscience. Unlike most of these women's pictures, it is the men who she has trouble fooling with her innocent act. Cunning gay artist Gobby (Mel Ferrer)) finds her a kindred spirit and novelist Nick (Robert Ryan) is turned on by her greed and lack of moral/ethical boundaries.

Ray has Fontaine play the character in a nice self-parodying style that actually makes her somewhat sympathetic to the viewer, at least for those who can take a guilty pleasure watching her turn on the charm. Unlike her sister, the eternally earthy Olivia deHavilland, age made Fontaine brittle and well suited to villainess roles. With cute little smiles and feigned reaction shots Fontaine keeps the film vicious for its entire length.

Like Ray's "Johnny Guitar", this is a film about two women, one good and one bad (there is no subtlety), who vie for the same man. It is a battle of Joans, as Donna is played by gorgeous Joan Leslie ("Sgt. York"). Donna is a publishing house editor, postwar America was still adjusting to the vocational progress women had made during the war. But the evil Christabel explicitly rejects career opportunities (one can't imagine her contributing to the war effort) in favor of setting herself up for life by landing a rich husband she can set up for a lucrative divorce settlement.

Leslie and Ferrer are especially good in the film. Leslie gives the only restrained performance, which is more powerful because it contrasts so sharply with the overplayed performances Ray gets from the rest of his cast.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

BORN TO BE BAD is a movie about a designing woman who manages to disrupt the lives of those around her for her own personal gain. Joan Fontaine is the star and she is backed by a strong supporting cast which includes Robert Ryan, Joan Leslie, Zachary Scott and Mel Ferrer. Director Nicholas Ray is known especially for his direction of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE.

This movie is a hilarious CAMP CLASSIC! It is one of my all time favorites! I wanted to buy it as my Christmas present to myself but would not be able to watch it in this format which sucks! It's a US film, it really must be released on an American DVD format soon!

this is one of my favorite pictures. joan fontaine is great in it. i only wish
it was in a dvd.

Sometimes, in the overwhelming choice of films to see, it's convenient to decide by lumping all a director's work into one genre. I would have expected "Born to be Bad" to be a gritty film noir, much like "They Drive by Night". Certainly the title gave reason to believe it. Imagine my surprise when I ran across "Born to be Bad" and decided to give it a few minutes. The luxe postwar townhouse setting and slightly madcap opening scenes had me hooked. Joan Fontaine plays an evil schemer so innocently, it's nearly halfway before you realize she knows exactly what she's doing. While the ending may be a little pat, it's the one you were hoping for. Reading previous reviews have added to the fun. I never guessed the Howard Hughes characterization or the state of Joan Fontaine's career at the time. Mel Ferrer is offhand and witty without the brittle mannerisms he later developed (but paints a dreadful portait). Robert Ryan is in his best All American Guy You Should Never Bring Home to Mother mode. Topping it all is a lovely Aunt Clara played by Virginia Farmer. Not Camp, but if viewed in the way it may have been intended, an intelligent drama and on a sly riff on morals and conspicuous consumption at a pivotal point in American culture.

For a movie that most people don't know about the way this one is priced you'd think it was the rarest gem in the world. I suppose it's the old supply and demand theory at work here - if there was more demand the price would go down eh? Well I thought this movie was great. I loved the whole deal with the necklace - how she makes the other woman look like a gold-digger and then ends up eating her own words when she finally steals him away and he gets her the bargain basement version she'd acted like she'd like before. I'm waiting for a DVD and a reasonable price - but the movie is wonderful.

BORN TO BE BAD is a flawed movie about orphaned young woman Christabel Caine (Joan Fontaine) who comes to stay with rich cousin Curtis Carey (Zachary Scott) and manages to break up his engagement through feigned sweetness while engaging in an affair with promising writer Nick Bradley (Robert Ryan). Eventually, Christabel drops Nick and opportunistically marries the newly-available Curtis. It all seems too easy. Apparently, she really loves Nick, but loves money more. Or something like that. As much as I love Joan Fontaine, I had a hard time with this soap opera of a movie for many reasons.

For one thing, Nick is so intolerably smug and arrogant that the part almost seems to be played for laughs by Ryan with lines like, "Have I told you lately how much you love me?" What could anybody possibly see in this guy? Christabel Caine herself is played too sweetly, and it is hard to imagine her as the scheming gold-digger, even though we know she is. Mel Ferrer plays a painter who smirks a lot, but doesn't really add any value to the picture. At least the movie seems to have gotten enough notice to be believably spoofed by Carol Burnett as "Raised to be Rotten," but I think that it parodies itself effectively enough without Burnett's help. The fact that Howard Hughes meddled significantly in the production of this movie goes a long way toward explaining what went wrong with the picture. Director Nicholas Ray (REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE) can justifiably claim a mulligan with this picture. The rest of his career is noteworthy.

To her credit, Fontaine later claimed that "the only acceptable part of the film was my wardrobe." It is not her worst film (MAID'S NIGHT OUT has that honor in my book), but neither is it a very worthwhile movie to see unless you are a die-hard Fontaine fan.

Jeremy W. Forstadt