Born To Be Bad (1950)

Nicholas Ray a made at least half a dozen films held in high esteem within the noir canon.


And he also provided us with Rebel Without A Cause in 1955.

Films like In A Lonely Place (1950) stand alone as examples of psychological doubt run wild.

On Dangerous Ground (1952) and They Live By Night (1949) are both rural noirs, and special for numerous reasons, the least of which are driving intensity of their stories and characters.

Born To Be Bad (1950) is also special. It isn't an A-grade example of film noir; there is no murder, and no murky shadows in which lurk criminal gangs, weakened males and femme fatales wreathed in cigarette smoke. There are no thugs, sluggings and it's also not that full of dark secrets, merely propping itself on the one, which the audience are soon aware of.

Yet Born To Be Bad carries a different sort of weight and to understand it, one must consider the so-called 'women's pictures' of the day.

Unlike more male-centered films which are often filmed outdoors, woman's films are set in the domestic sphere, which of course defines the lives and roles of the female of the era. The events in woman's films, such as weddings, proms, births, are socially defined and the action in male films, such as pursuit and fighting, tend to be story-driven.
The themes in woman's and male-oriented films are often opposed: fear of separation from loved ones, emphasis on emotions, and human attachment in women's films .... as opposed to fear of intimacy, repressed emotionality, and individuality in male-oriented movies.

The plot conventions of woman's films can revolve around love triangles, unwed motherhood, illicit affairs, a rise to power, and mother-daughter relationships, as best exemplified in Mildred Pierce. This narrative depends on the activity engaged in by the heroine and usually includes sacrifice, affliction, choice, and competition.

Or in this case, quite the opposite! Acquistion, manipulation, targetting and callous betrayal. Perhaps then, what Nicholas Ray engaged with in Born To Be Bad was fine film noir, insofar as it is an anti-woman's-picture in theme, but not in format.

Born To Be Bad may well therefore be riffing on one of these aforementioned women's pictures. The darkness of the melodrama lies not in the crimes being undertaken and the paranoia of its characters, but form a different kind of dark side. This is presented as psychological manipulation, undertaken by someone who may be unwell, but whom in all likelihood is, as the title of the film suggests, merely bad, and born that way. 

One of Joan Fontaine's early indicators to the audience that she is going to upset everything and is not what she says she is, is a returning motif of her touching her neck. 



There are reasons for this, and answers to be found in the body language of love and lies. The vulnerable and hormone-scented neck does both loving - and lying. This interest is perhaps echoed in one of the picture's most popular lines:

Woman at Party: Do you think my husband would like a picture of me hanging above the fireplace?

Gabriel Broome: I think your husband would like you hanging anywhere.

The bad 'un in question is Joan Fontaine, who is a disturbed creature indeed. Not content to get her hooks into other people's boyfriends and their money, she remains far from content with being content, and the story, which is fairly unrealistic and exists as much to poke fun at upper class habits as it does to dismantle the character of its lead, tells of her slow rise and slow downfall. 

As well as Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan appears as a rough and tough writer guy, who finally appears to be a match for the manipulating lead.

(Born to be Bad, 1950)

And there is Zachary Scott, whom all film noir fans remember fondly as the characterful 'Monty' from Mildred Pierce.

Zachary Scott (Born to be Bad, 1950)

Born To Be Bad does not feel like an average studio picture, and has a distinctly independent feel, perhaps evident in the budgeting. The action takes place in the bright middle and upper class homes of its protaganists. It feels more like a modern TV sit-com than a movie, as it has very little location shooting, and is framed with regular and attractive shots of San Francisco.

As the story rolls, Joan Fontaine's character Christabel connives her way into the wealthy heart of a man who was previously the boyfriend of the woman who took her in to her home and introduced her to society. She also loves and rejects and loves again Robert Ryan's writer character, and they seem at times to actually have feelings for each other.

When he makes his move, quite early on, Robert Ryan's romantic attitude is almost violent, certainly he has quite a grip. 





No matter what happens to her, however, Christabel is unrepentant, and this is a genuine film noir twist to the standard trope, which is that the baddie gets some kind of comeuppance.

The manipulative creature's favourite stance begins something along the lines of: "Please don't worry about me, I'll be alright" but then she starts giving evil eyes into the distance when nobody is looking. Sometimes it seems to be a seriously choked laugh about the powers of gossamer femininity. 

Gabriel: (to Christabel, as she's moving her belongings out of Curtis' house) Now, what about the furniture?

Christabel: I wouldn't want anything that belonged to Curtis. It would only remind me of... happier times.

Gabriel: (as the butler comes out with a large armload of expensive fur coats and puts them in her car) Won't those remind you... just a little?

Christabel: (coyly) I'll simply have to force myself.






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