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Born to Kill (1947 film)
Encyclopedia
Born to Kill is a 1947 film noir
starring Lawrence Tierney
and directed by Robert Wise
. It was the first film noir
to be directed by Wise, who later directed The Set-Up
(1949), The Captive City
(1952), and Odds Against Tomorrow
(1959). The film also features Claire Trevor
, Walter Slezak
, and Elisha Cook Jr.
) has just received a Reno
divorce. That night, she discovers one of her neighbors, Laury Palmer, and a gentleman caller murdered in Palmer's home. The killer is her neighbor's other boyfriend, Sam Wilde (Lawrence Tierney
), an insanely jealous man who won't abide anyone "cutting in" on him. Helen discovers the bodies, but says nothing to the police; she's leaving town and doesn't want to be impeded. She meets Sam on the train, and she is instantly attracted to his self-confidence and brutality, but she is engaged to marry a wealthy boyfriend, Fred (Phillip Terry
). Sam tells Helen that he will call on her wherever she is staying in San Francisco. He arrives and meets Georgia Staples (Audrey Long
), Helen's foster sister, also rich, and Sam soon shifts his attentions to her, marrying her for her money after a whirlwind romance. Neither Helen's engagement nor Sam's marriage is an impediment to their beginning an affair.
Meanwhile, back in Reno, the owner of the boarding house where Helen lived has hired a mercenary, verse-quoting detective, played by Walter Slezak
, to find out who killed Laury. The detective follows Sam's friend, Marty (Elisha Cook Jr.
), to San Francisco, and soon begins to make blackmailing overtures to Helen. Marty finds out who hired the detective and attempts to kill her, but Sam thinks he's trying to cut in on his action and kills Marty. Fred is troubled by the resulting police investigation and breaks it off. Sam and Helen face off in a fatal confrontation as their schemes begin unraveling, with Sam killing Helen before he is slain by police.
Critic Fernando F. Croce wrote of the film, "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."
At the time it was released, the film was condemned by New York Times critic Bosley Crowther
. He called it "a smeary tabloid fable" and "an hour and a half of ostentatious vice." His review concluded: "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."
More recently, critic Robert Weston said, "This was the first and the nastiest of the noirs directed by Robert Wise...Wise came to 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. Director Robert Wise suggests that we all share a collective dark side, that one way or another we are all 'born to kill,' and in the final throw of the dice, only the incontrovertible laws of chance can set the record straight."
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
starring Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
and directed by Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
. It was the first film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
to be directed by Wise, who later directed The Set-Up
The Set-Up (1949 film)
For 2011 Set Up see hereThe Set-Up is an American film noir boxing drama directed by Robert Wise and featuring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. The screenplay was adapted by Art Cohn from a 1928 poem written by Joseph Moncure March. The film is about the boxing underworld.-Plot:Stoker Thompson ...
(1949), The Captive City
The Captive City
The Captive City is a 1952 film, considered film noir, directed by Robert Wise.John Forsythe plays a crusading small city newspaper editor in a semidocumentary depiction of corruption and vice in paranoid post-World War II America. This is one of several 1950s films to have storylines influenced by...
(1952), and Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
(1959). The film also features Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
, Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
, and Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
Plot
Helen Brent (Claire TrevorClaire Trevor
Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
) has just received a Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
divorce. That night, she discovers one of her neighbors, Laury Palmer, and a gentleman caller murdered in Palmer's home. The killer is her neighbor's other boyfriend, Sam Wilde (Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
), an insanely jealous man who won't abide anyone "cutting in" on him. Helen discovers the bodies, but says nothing to the police; she's leaving town and doesn't want to be impeded. She meets Sam on the train, and she is instantly attracted to his self-confidence and brutality, but she is engaged to marry a wealthy boyfriend, Fred (Phillip Terry
Phillip Terry
Phillip Terry was an American actor.He was born Frederick Henry Kormann in San Francisco, California, the only child of German Americans, Frederick Andrew Kormann and Ida Ruth Voll .He attended grade school in Glendale, California. His father was a chemical engineer in the oil fields who moved...
). Sam tells Helen that he will call on her wherever she is staying in San Francisco. He arrives and meets Georgia Staples (Audrey Long
Audrey Long
Audrey Long is an American movie actress, who played supporting roles in films during the 1940s and 1950s....
), Helen's foster sister, also rich, and Sam soon shifts his attentions to her, marrying her for her money after a whirlwind romance. Neither Helen's engagement nor Sam's marriage is an impediment to their beginning an affair.
Meanwhile, back in Reno, the owner of the boarding house where Helen lived has hired a mercenary, verse-quoting detective, played by Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
, to find out who killed Laury. The detective follows Sam's friend, Marty (Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
), to San Francisco, and soon begins to make blackmailing overtures to Helen. Marty finds out who hired the detective and attempts to kill her, but Sam thinks he's trying to cut in on his action and kills Marty. Fred is troubled by the resulting police investigation and breaks it off. Sam and Helen face off in a fatal confrontation as their schemes begin unraveling, with Sam killing Helen before he is slain by police.
Cast
- Claire TrevorClaire TrevorClaire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
as Helen Brent - Lawrence TierneyLawrence TierneyLawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
as Sam Wilde - Walter SlezakWalter SlezakWalter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
as Albert Arnett - Phillip TerryPhillip TerryPhillip Terry was an American actor.He was born Frederick Henry Kormann in San Francisco, California, the only child of German Americans, Frederick Andrew Kormann and Ida Ruth Voll .He attended grade school in Glendale, California. His father was a chemical engineer in the oil fields who moved...
as Fred Grover - Audrey LongAudrey LongAudrey Long is an American movie actress, who played supporting roles in films during the 1940s and 1950s....
as Georgia Staples - Elisha Cook, Jr. as Marty Waterman
- Isabel JewellIsabel JewellIsabel Jewell was an American actress most active in the 1930s and early 1940s.-Early life and career:...
as Laury Palmer - Esther HowardEsther HowardEsther Howard was a film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in over 100 movies in her 23-year film career.-Career:...
as Mrs. Kraft - Kathryn CardKathryn CardKathryn Card was an American radio, television and film actress who may be best remembered for her role as Mrs. McGillicuddy, Lucy's mother on I Love Lucy....
as Grace - Tony Barrett as Danny
- Grandon Rhodes as Inspector Wilson
Critical reception
At the time it was released, the film was condemned by New York Times critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
. He called it "a smeary tabloid fable" and "an hour and a half of ostentatious vice." His review concluded: "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."
More recently, critic Robert Weston said, "This was the first and the nastiest of the noirs directed by Robert Wise...Wise came to genre with a background in the Val Lewton
Val Lewton
Val Lewton was an American film producer and screenwriter, best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s.-Early life:...
horror team and the expressionistic films of Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, 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. Director Robert Wise suggests that we all share a collective dark side, that one way or another we are all 'born to kill,' and in the final throw of the dice, only the incontrovertible laws of chance can set the record straight."
Notable quotes
- Albert Arnett: "As you grow older, you'll discover that life is very much like coffee - the aroma is always better than the actuality."
- Marty Waterman: "You can't just go around killing people when the notion strikes you. It's just not feasible."