San Francisco socialite Helen Brent has established residence in Reno, Nevada in order to obtain a divorce decree and is lodging in a boarding house owned by the feisty Mrs. Kraft. Helen meets Laury Palmer, a next-door neighbor, and Mrs. Kraft's best friend, who confides that she has accepted a date with a man named Danny in order to incite jealousy in her new beau, Sam Wilde.
Sam sees them together that evening. Later, he enters Laury's house and confronts Danny. He bludgeons Danny to death and then kills Laury.
Helen discovers the bodies and flees to San Francisco, but does not contact the police. She meets Sam and is attracted to his self-assurance. Neither knows the other's part in the events. Back in Reno, Mrs. Kraft hires private detective Albert Arnett to find Laury's killer.
Several days later, Sam arrives unexpectedly at the mansion where Helen is living. It is owned by Georgia Staples, Helen's wealthy foster sister and the heir to her father's newspaper. Georgia finds Sam attractive, and Sam tells his friend Marty Waterman that he will marry Georgia for her money and the opportunity for higher social standing. Helen is distraught at their wedding.
Helen tells Sam that she loves her sister but hates her for her money, and then Sam kisses her. Marty has traveled to San Francisco for the wedding, and detective Arnett has tailed him there. After he interrogates the staff, Helen reveals information about Sam's activities.
Georgia and Sam fight over his demand to run the newspaper, as she knows that he has no relevant experience. However, he wants the job so that he can manipulate people. He says that Helen understands this because "your roots are down here where mine are" and that they are soulmates. After admitting to Helen that he has not married Georgia for love and accusing that she has a similar relationship with her fiancé Fred Grover, Sam passionately kisses Helen.
After overhearing a call to Helen from Reno, Sam believes that she is against him, but Helen secretly bribes Arnett to ignore Sam's role in the murders. After Mrs. Kraft travels to San Francisco to meet with Arnett, Marty visits her. He then visits and chats with Helen, but Sam becomes jealous to see him leaving her room. He leads her to the dunes on the outskirts of town, and just before Marty can stab her, Sam appears and kills him.
The police interrogate the household about Marty's murder, and Helen reluctantly provides an alibi for Sam. Helen meets with Mrs. Kraft, who now knows that Sam killed Laury, and threatens her life if she informs the police. A terrified Mrs. Kraft realizes that she must abandon the search for Laury's killer but spits on Helen as she departs.
Helen meets Sam and informs him that she will extract the money to pay Arnett from Fred. However, Fred cancels their engagement, accusing Helen of having lost her heart, and she panics. When Helen cannot pay Arnett, he tells her that the police will soon arrive for Sam. She reveals Sam's murders to Georgia, who refuses to believe her and realizes that Helen did not tell the truth about Sam until she had lost Fred. Georgia angrily accuses Helen of only loving her for her money. To demonstrate that Sam does not love Georgia, Helen kisses him as he enters the room. Helen exclaims to Sam that Georgia must be eliminated for them to be happy. The police arrive, and Georgia reveals that it was Helen who called them. Sam shoots Helen just before he is shot and killed by the police.
The next day, Arnett reads a newspaper headline announcing that Helen was killed by Sam.
Preproduction for the film began in early February 1945, more than two years before its release. RKO hired author Steve Fisher to write a screenplay based on James Gunn's 1943 novel Deadlier Than the Male.[2][3] By April the studio had replaced Fisher and enlisted screenwriters Eve Greene and Richard Macaulay to compose the script as a team and to manage it through production.[4][5]
Casting began in August 1945 and Lawrence Tierney was RKO's first choice following his powerful performance in Dillinger, released four months earlier.[6] Although RKO wanted Tallulah Bankhead for the role of Helen Brent, she was unavailable. In January 1946, the part went to Claire Trevor, whose work in the previous year's Murder, My Sweet had impressed studio executives.[7] The working title of the project was still Deadlier Than the Male, which appeared in a series of official release charts.[8] RKO did not officially change the title to Born to Kill for domestic release until December 1946.
Filming began on May 6, 1946, with exterior scenes shot first on location at El Segundo Beach[9] and later in San Francisco. As early as July, it was reported that the film was ready to be scheduled for release.[10] These notices proved premature because the studio experienced delays in arriving at a satisfactory final cut. In October 1946, RKO announced that scheduled November 7 previews at a national trade show and at exchange centers were being postponed.[11] A general release date of November 10, 1946 was postponed as well.[12]
Postproduction problems persisted until the final weeks before the film's distribution to theaters.[13]
Themes
Born to Kill is a rare film noir in that it is shown through a woman's eyes. This female subjectivity enables a more nuanced view of the femme fatale, a central motif in film noir, rather than that which is typical of the genre. Although the archetypical film noir femme fatale's sexuality is often merely a tool to manipulate men for material gain, Helen is a more complicated figure. She is drawn to Sam's brutality although she is also interested in Fred's money. Instead of leading the male protagonist into darkness and ruin, she is compromised by Sam.[14]
On the day before the film's official release, Tierney made headlines for his involvement in a drunken brawl and for violating probation related to an earlier conviction for public drunkenness.[15][16] Tierney's frequent offscreen troubles also attracted greater scrutiny of his films by state review boards and local censors, some of which sought to ban Born to Kill in their communities.
Censors in places such as Ohio, Chicago and Memphis rejected the film.[17][18][19] The National Legion of Decency considered the film objectionable for its acceptance of divorce but did not condemn the film outright.[20]
Although some industry publications predicted box-office success for the film,[21][22] RKO production head Dore Schary publicly distanced the studio from the film just days after its release. Schary vowed to lessen the "arbitrary use of violence" in RKO films[23] and pledged that the studio would no longer produce "gangster pictures" such as Born to Kill.[24][25] RKO reported a net loss of $243,000 after the film's initial run.[21][22]
The furor regarding Born to Kill and the same year's Shoot to Kill prompted the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to revise its Production Code to strengthen restrictions relating to crime films.[26][27] At a meeting of its board of directors on December 3, 1947, the MPAA voted to bar 14 "'objectionable and unsuitable'" films released between 1928 and 1947 from theatrical reissue, including Born to Kill.[26][28] The MPAA also approved the immediate deletion from its official title registry of more than two dozen films with titles deemed "salacious or indecent."[26]
In 1948, 12-year-old Howard Lang was convicted for using a switchblade and a piece of concrete to kill a seven-year-old boy outside Chicago the previous year.[29] Lang's lawyers argued that he had watched Born to Kill less than three weeks prior to the homicide[30] and that the film's violence triggered a form of temporary insanity.[31] The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Lang's conviction, finding that he was too young to understand his actions.[32] He was then acquitted following a retrial, but the judge recommended laws to censor violent films and hold theater managers liable for exhibiting them.[33]
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called the film "a smeary tabloid fable" and "an hour and a half of ostentatious vice," concluding: "Surely, discriminating people are not likely to be attracted to this film. But it is precisely because it is designed to pander to the lower levels of taste that it is reprehensible."[34]
As unsavory and untalented an exhibition of deliberate sensation-pandering as ever sullied a movie screen. RKO made it, the Johnson office [in Hollywood] sanctioned it, the Palace is now playing it. It muddles them all with dishonor...Were Born to Kill merely a third rate picture hoping nevertheless to entertain, it could be passed by with a sigh. But it is third rate aiming—and with a blunderbuss—to shock, and so it provokes shudders, and not of fear.[35]
Irving Kaplan of Motion Picture Daily found "weaknesses in several departments" of "the heavy-handed melodrama"[21] although he focused his attention on the performances of the "tough and ruthless" Tierney and the "captivating and calculating" Trevor:
The picture itself is one of those affairs which winds up with five corpses ... Portrayals generally betray a tendency toward over-acting and grotesque emphasis, perhaps to achieve over-all melodrama, while the dialogue, in spots, appears forced and weighted with flourishes.[21]
The Film Daily cautioned theater owners about the "homicidal drama," describing it as "a sexy, suggestive yarn of crime with punishment, strictly for the adult trade."[36] William R. Weaver of the Motion Picture Herald[37] found the film's overall look "painstaking and polished" and Robert Wise's direction successful in maintaining "a steady pace"[37] but concluded: "Produced for melodrama fans, [the film] contains enough killing for anybody, but furnishes less than adequate reasons for it."[37]
Some modern-day film critics view Born to Kill in a positive light. Author Michael Keaney describes the film as compelling despite its "hard-to-swallow plot,"[38] stating: "This one is all Tierney. He's outstanding as one of the most violently disturbed psychos in all of film noir, giving even Robert Ryan in Crossfire a run for his money."[38]
Reviewing the film in 2006 for Slant Magazine, critic Fernando F. Croce focused on Wise:
The usually meek Robert Wise trades his chameleonic tastefulness for full-on, jazzy misanthropy in this nasty melodrama ... Wise swims in the genre's amorality, scoring a kitchen brawl to big-band radio tunes, terrorizing a soused matron at a nocturnal beach skirmish, and leaving the last word to Walter Slezak's jovially corrupt detective.[39]
Writing for Film Monthly in 2009, Robert Weston also praised Wise's direction:
This was the first and the nastiest of the noirs directed by Robert Wise ... Wise came to the genre with a background in the Val Lewton horror team and the expressionistic films of Orson Welles, so he was the right tool for the job when it came to film noir ... As the title suggests, Born to Kill is a film about the grimmest corners of the human condition, the wicked place where sex, corruption and violence join hands and rumba round in darkness.[40]
Director Guillermo del Toro has credited Born to Kill as a primary influence on his 2021 film Nightmare Alley, noting that "a couple of the murders in the movie are shocking, even in 2022."[41]
Crossfire is a 1947 American film noir drama film starring Robert Young, Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the 1945 novel The Brick Foxhole by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks. The film's supporting cast features Gloria Grahame and Sam Levene. The picture received five Oscar nominations, including Ryan for Best Supporting Actor and Gloria Grahame for Best Supporting Actress. It was the first B movie to receive a Best Picture nomination.
Robert Earl Wise was an American filmmaker. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965). He was also nominated for Best Film Editing for Citizen Kane (1941) and directed and produced The Sand Pebbles (1966), which was nominated for Best Picture.
Carver Dana Andrews was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigious roles and character parts into the 1980s. He is best known for his portrayal of obsessed police detective Mark McPherson in the noir Laura (1944) and his critically acclaimed performance as World War II veteran Fred Derry in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
Susan Hayward was an American actress best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories.
Dorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress for Friendly Persuasion (1956). She starred as the mother in the popular films Old Yeller (1957) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).
Gloria Grahame Hallward was an American actress. She began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM.
Julius Dassin was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, where he continued his career. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Screen Directors' Guild.
Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley. The film is based on Raymond Chandler's 1940 novel Farewell, My Lovely. It was the first film to feature Chandler's primary character, the hard-boiled private detective Philip Marlowe.
Ann Marie Blyth is an American retired actress and singer. For her performance as Veda in the 1945 Michael Curtiz film Mildred Pierce, Blyth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, and became the earliest living acting Academy Award nominee upon the death of Angela Lansbury in 2022.
Lawrence James Tierney was an American film and television actor who is best known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and tough guys in a career that spanned over 50 years. His roles mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law. In 2005, film critic David Kehr of The New York Times described "the hulking Tierney" as "not so much an actor as a frightening force of nature".
The Spiral Staircase is a 1946 American psychological horror film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, and Ethel Barrymore. Set over the course of one evening, the film follows a mute young woman in an early-20th century Vermont town who is stalked and terrorized in a rural mansion by a serial killer targeting women with disabilities. Gordon Oliver, Rhonda Fleming, and Elsa Lanchester appear in supporting roles. It was adapted for the screen by Mel Dinelli from the novel Some Must Watch (1933) by Ethel Lina White.
The Killers is a 1946 American film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene. Based in part on the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, it focuses on an insurance detective's investigation into the execution by two professional killers of a former boxer who was unresistant to his own murder. Directed by Robert Siodmak, it featured an uncredited John Huston and Richard Brooks co-writing the screenplay, which was credited to Anthony Veiller. As in many film noir, it is mostly told in flashback.
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a 1946 American film noir drama directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. It follows a man who is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband; both the childhood friend and her husband believe that the man knows the truth about the mysterious death of the woman's wealthy aunt years prior. The screenplay was written by Robert Rossen, adapted from the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick.
Three on a Match is a 1932 American pre-Code crime drama film released by Warner Bros. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and stars Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak, and Bette Davis. The film also features Lyle Talbot, Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins, and Edward Arnold.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is a 1948 American noir-thriller film directed by Norman Foster. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Gerald Butler, it stars Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, and Robert Newton. The film faced minor opposition from fundamentalist groups in the United States and the Commonwealth, with regard to its gory title. In some markets, the film was released under the alternate titles The Unafraid or Blood on My Hands.
Katherine Lester DeMille was a Canadian-born American actress who played 25 credited film roles from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s.
Beau Bandit is a 1930 American Pre-Code Western film, directed by Lambert Hillyer, from a screenplay by Wallace Smith, based on his short story, "Strictly Business" which appeared in the April 1929 edition of Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan. The film starred Rod La Rocque, Mitchell Lewis, Doris Kenyon, and Walter Long. The story is based loosely on the legend of Robin Hood.
Professional Sweetheart is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic comedy directed by William A. Seiter from a screenplay by Maurine Watkins. It stars Ginger Rogers in her first film for RKO Radio Pictures, with Norman Foster, ZaSu Pitts and Frank McHugh. The film is a satire of the radio industry.
Danger Patrol is a 1937 American drama film directed by Lew Landers from a screenplay by Sy Bartlett based on a story by Helen Vreeland and Hilda Vincent. Produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, it was released on December 3, 1937, and stars Sally Eilers, John Beal, and Harry Carey.
Deadlier Than the Male is a 1942 crime novel by the American writer James Gunn. It was the only published novel of Gunn, better known as a screenwriter. While in Reno to gain her divorce Helen Brent discovers the bodies of two people murdered by Sam Wild. A few days later Wild meets and swiftly marries her wealthy sister Georgia.
↑ "Deadlier Than the Male", Boxoffice Barometer (a supplement published by Boxoffice), November 1946, p. 196. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
↑ "Riding Herd on the Studio News Range", The Film Daily, August 29, 1945, p. 8. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
↑ "RKO-RADIO", The Film Bulletin, October 15, 1945, p. 26. I.A. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
↑ "Tierney Fights Brother; Gets 90 Days In Jail", Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1947, p. 2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Ann Arbor, Michigan; subscription access through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.
↑ "'Dillinger' Tierney In Trouble Again", The Atlanta Constitution, May 2, 1947, p. 1. ProQuest.
↑ "'Born to Kill' Joins Memphis Banned Pix", The Film Daily, April 25, 1947, pp. 1, 3. Internet Archive; "Memphis Bans Another Film", The New York Times, April 25, 1947, p. 29. ProQuest.
1 2 Jewell, Richard B. (2016) Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN9780520289673
↑ "Good Story Material Scarce", Motion Picture Herald, May 10, 1947, p. 19. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
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