Main Cast: Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott, Joan Leslie, Mel Ferrer
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
One of the most oft-revived of the pre-Technicolor Nicholas Ray efforts, Born to Be Bad offers us the spectacle of Joan Fontaine portraying a character described as "a cross between Lucrezia Borgia and Peg O' My Heart". For the benefit of her wealthy husband Zachary Scott and his family, Fontaine adopts a facade of wide-eyed sweetness. Bored with her hubby, she inaugurates a romance with novelist Robert Ryan. All her carefully crafted calculations come acropper when both men discover that she's a bitch among bitches. She might have gotten away with all her machinations, but the censors said uh-uh. Originally slated for filming in 1946, with Henry Fonda scheduled to play the Robert Ryan part, Born to Bad was cancelled, then resurfaced as Bed as Roses in 1948, this time with Barbara Bel Geddes in the Fontaine role. RKO head Howard Hughes' decision to replace Bel Geddes with the more bankable Fontaine was one of the reasons that producer Dore Schary left RKO in favor of MGM. Based on Anne Parrish's novel All Kneeling, Born to be Bad is so overheated at times that it threatens to lapse into self-parody; though this never happens, the film was the basis for one of TV star Carol Burnett's funniest and most devastating movie takeoffs, Raised to be Rotten. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although it’s hardly a great movie, Born to Be Bad is a lot of fun – if one is in the mood for a bitchy, campy, over-the-top melodrama. Bad has little time to waste on subtlety; it’s much more concerned with celebrating its “bad girl” protagonist, and in presenting its soap in the most operatic terms possible. Indeed, the screenplay that has been crafted from Anne Parrish’s book is one line of memorable dialogue after another - sometimes memorably good, sometimes memorably bad, but always out to make an impression. Nicholas Ray’s direction is similarly heated; it’s not his best work by a long shot, but it still has that distinctive Ray flavor to it, and he finds some interesting camera angles to add some aesthetic interest to the trashy goings-on. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot he can do with leading lady Joan Fontaine, who is cast against type – to her and the film’s detriment. Although Fontaine’s performance is fun on a campy level, she’s never remotely believable (and not just because she’s ten years too old for the part), and some of her mannerisms are actively annoying. Her two “love” interests are better; neither Robert Ryan nor Zachary Scott turns in a great performance, but they do what is asked of them. Better is Mel Ferrer, who has fun with his closeted character; even better is Joan Leslie, whose understated, lovely performance is far and away the best in the film. Fortunately, artistic considerations are beside the point with Bad. It’s really just the kind of film that one should sit back, put questions of artistry aside and just enjoy for its over-the-top fun. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Harold Vermilyea - John Caine; Virginia Farmer - Aunt Clara; Kathleen Howard - Mrs. Bolton; Dick Ryan - Arthur; Bess Flowers - Mrs. Worthington; Joy Hallward - Mrs. Porter; Hazel Boyne - Committee Woman; Irving Bacon - Jewelry Salesman; Gordon Oliver - Lawyer; Barry Brooks - Man; Ann Burr - Schoolgirl; Jack Chefe - Man; Donald Dillaway - Photographer; Sam Harris - Old Man at Ball; Bobby Johnson - Kenneth; Peggy Leon - Caine's Secretary; Sam Lufkin - Taxi Driver; John Mitchum - Guest; Al Murphy - Man; Frank Arnold - Man at Art Gallery; Ray Johnson - Guest; Homer Dickenson - Art Gallery Attendant
Credit
Fred Fleck - First Assistant Director, Nicholas Ray - Director, Frederic Knudtson - Editor, Sid Rogell - Executive Producer, Frederick Hollander - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Gordon Bau - Makeup, Albert S. D'Agostino - Production Designer, Jack Okey - Production Designer, Nick Musuraca - Cinematographer, Clifford Stine - Cinematographer, Harry J. Wild - Cinematographer, Robert Sparks - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, Harley Miller - Set Designer, Phil Brigandi - Sound/Sound Designer, George Oppenheimer - Screenwriter, Charles Schnee - Screenwriter, Robert W. Soderberg - Screenwriter, Edith R. Sommer - Screenwriter, Anne Parrish - Book Author, Anne Parish - Short Story Author
Born to Be Bad is a 1950melodrama starring Joan Fontaine as a manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It was based on the novel All Kneeling by Anne Parrish.
