''Born to Kill'' (released in the U.K. as ''Lady of Deceit'' and in Australia as ''Deadlier Than the Male'') is a 1947

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

film noir co-starring

Lawrence Tierney Lawrence James Tierney (March 15, 1919 – February 26, 2002) 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 ...

Claire Trevor Claire Trevor ( Wemlinger; March 8, 1910April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Key Largo'' (1948), and received nomina ...

and

Walter Slezak Walter Slezak (; 3 May 1902 – 21 April 1983) was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood producti ...

, with

Esther Howard Esther Howard (April 4, 1892 – March 8, 1965) was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career ...

Elisha Cook Jr. Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in films noir. According to Bill Georgaris of TSPDT: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, Cook appeared in a total of 21 film ...

, and

Audrey Long Audrey Gwendoline Long (April 14, 1922 – September 19, 2014) was an American stage and screen actress of English descent, who performed mainly in low-budget films in the 1940s and early 1950s. Some of her more notable film performances are in '' ...

in supporting roles. Directed by

Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...

for

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

, the feature was the first film noir production by Wise, whose later films in the

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

include '' The Set-Up'' (1949) and '' The Captive City'' (1952).

Plot

San Francisco socialite Helen Brent has established residence in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

in order to get a divorce decree and is lodging in a boarding house, owned by the feisty Mrs. Kraft. Helen meets Laury Palmer, a fellow boarder and Mrs. Kraft's best friend, who confides that she is going on a date with Danny, to incite jealousy in her new beau, Sam Wilde. Sam sees them together that evening. Later, he enters Mrs. Kraft's house, and confronts Danny. Sam bludgeons him to death, and then kills Laury, because she was a witness. Helen discovers the bodies and flees to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, but does not contact the police. Sam also leaves for San Francisco that night; they meet each other at the train station and begin to travel together. Helen is attracted to his self-assurance. Back in Reno, Mrs. Kraft hires a 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. Sam tells Marty Waterman, his long-time roommate and

enabler In psychotherapy and mental health, enabling has a positive sense of empowering individuals, or a negative sense of encouraging dysfunctional behavior.

Cast

as Helen Brent *

as Sam Wilde *

as Albert Arnett *

Phillip Terry Phillip Terry (born Frederick Henry Kormann, March 7, 1909 – February 23, 1993) was an American actor. Early years Terry was born in San Francisco, California, the only child of German Americans, Frederick Andrew Kormann and Ida Ruth Voll. Hi ...

as Fred Grover *

as Georgia Staples *

as Marty Waterman *

Isabel Jewell Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972) was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of her more famous films were '' Ceiling Zero'', ''Marked Woman'', ''A Tale of Two Cities (1935 film), A Tale ...

as Laury Palmer *

as Mrs. Kraft *

Tony Barrett Tony Barrett (born Martin Lefkowitz; May 24, 1916 – November 16, 1974) was an American actor, writer, and producer. He was born on May 24, 1916 New York City. He worked as a radio and screen actor, screenwriter, and television writer and pro ...

as Danny

Production

Pre-production on the film began in early February 1945, more than two years before its release. Thalia Bell of ''Motion Picture Daily'' and Irving Spear for ''Boxoffice'' reported then that RKO had hired author Steve Fisher to begin writing the screenplay for James Gunn's 1943 novel ''Deadlier Than the Male''. By April, however, the studio had replaced Fisher and enlisted freelance screenwriter

Eve Greene Eve Greene (May 21, 1906 – July 15, 1997) was an American screenwriter active primarily during the 1930s through the 1950s. Biography Early life Greene grew up in Champaign, Illinois, and dreamed of being a Hollywood writer. Career ...

and later

Richard Macaulay Richard Macaulay (1909–1969) was an American screenwriter. He wrote a number of films with Jerry Wald while under contract to Warner Bros. He was a noted anti-Communist and was a member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of A ...

to compose the script as a team and to manage its editing through production. Cast selections began in August 1945 with

being

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

's first choice due to his rising popularity after his powerful performance in Monogram Pictures' ''

Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dill ...

'', which had been released four months earlier. After announcing the casting of Tierney in August, film-industry publications in September and October reported that

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...

was RKO's top pick for the role of Helen Brent, but the actress was unavailable. According to the ''Film Bulletin'' the "timing was bad for Miss Bankhead" to join the project, so the part went to Claire Trevor, whose work the previous year in RKO's ''

Murder, My Sweet ''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The film ...

'' had impressed studio executives. Trevor in January 1946 signed the contract to co-star in the "psychological mystery" ''Deadlier Than the Male'', which continued to be the working title for the production, as well as the title used later in the year in a series of official release charts. RKO would not officially change the title to ''Born to Kill'' for domestic release until December 1946. Regular news notices document that filming of the production began on May 6, 1946, with exterior scenes being shot first on location at El Segundo Beach, situated about 25 miles southwest of Hollywood. Additional location work was done in San Francisco as filming continued into the latter half of June. As early as July, it was reported that the film was ready to be scheduled for release. Those notices proved to be premature, for problems evidently arose generating a satisfactory final cut of the film. These persisted into October 1946, when RKO announced that scheduled November 7 previews of "Deadlier Than the Male" at a national trade show and at exchange centers were being postponed. In updating the status of the film, the Hollywood news journal ''Box Office Digest'' revealed that the picture was still being edited in October and was on a list of productions identified to be on RKO's "Back Log In Cutting Room". A general release date of November 10, 1946 published earlier for the film was postponed as well. Post-production problems persisted right up to the final weeks prior to the film's distribution to theaters.

Complicated femme fatale

The picture 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 what is usually shown. For example, the archetypical femme fatale's sexuality is merely a tool used to manipulate men for material gain. But in this film, 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, it is she who is compromised by Sam. Moreover, her transgressions are a cause of anxiety for her. Her atypical concern over her dark turn results in contradictory behavior, like turning Sam, her lover, over to the police.

Reception in 1947

At the time of its release in 1947, RKO's production was panned by

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

, film critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', who 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."

Cecelia Ager Cecelia Ager ( Rubinstein; January 23, 1902 – April 3, 1981) was an American film critic and star reporter for ''Variety'' and the ''New York Times Magazine''. Life and career Ager was born Cecelia Rubenstein in Grass Valley, California, a mi ...

of '' PM'', another New York newspaper, was equally blunt in expressing her utter contempt. Portions of her assessment are quoted in the May 26, 1947 issue of the ''Independent Exhibitors Bulletin'': Irving Kaplan, the reviewer for the trade journal '' Motion Picture Daily'', found "weaknesses in several departments" of "the heavy-handed melodrama", although his appraisal of the film was far less severe.Kaplan, Irving
"Reviews: 'Born to Kill'"
''Motion Picture Daily'' (New York, N.Y.), April 21, 1947, p. 7.

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

, San Francisco, California. Retrieved September 12, 2020. Kaplan focused his attention on the performances of the "tough and ruthless" Tierney and the "captivating and calculating" Trevor: After previewing the picture two weeks prior to its release, the trade paper ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' cautioned theater owners about the "homicidal drama", describing it as "a sexy, suggestive yarn of crime with punishment, strictly for the adult trade.""Reviews: 'Born to Kill'"
''The Film Daily'' (New York, N.Y.), April 17, 1947, p. 7. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 12, 2020. Other reviewers in 1947 also recognized the "yarn" as adult fare, but some still commended various elements of the film. William R. Weaver, the critic for the ''

Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Heral ...

'', watched a final cut of ''Born to Kill'' in mid-April at RKO and rated it "Good".Weaver, William R
"Born to Kill: RKO Radio—Murder Melodrama"
''Motion Picture Herald'' (New York City), April 19, 1947, p. 3585. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 14, 2020. He found the film's overall look "painstaking and polished" and Robert Wise's direction successful in maintaining "a steady pace". Weaver did, though, find fault with what he viewed as a distinct imbalance between the motives and actions portrayed in the story. "Produced for melodrama fans," he noted, "

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

contains enough killing for anybody, but furnishes less than adequate reasons for it."

Adverse publicity and efforts to ban the film

In the weeks before and after the film's release, RKO faced two significant public-relations problems in promoting and distributing ''Born to Kill'': widespread news coverage of the ongoing turmoil in Lawrence Tierney's personal life and actions by some state and local authorities to ban the film's presentation within their jurisdictions. On May 2, 1947—the day before the film's official release—newspapers across the country were reporting yet another arrest of Tierney for his involvement in a "drunken brawl" and for violating probation on an earlier conviction for public drunkenness."Tierney Fights Brother; Gets 90 Days In Jail", ''Los Angeles Times'', May 2, 1947, p. 2.

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

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. Other newspapers as far from Hollywood as Baltimore, Hartford, Atlanta, and Austin picked up the story, one adding that the actor had already been spending his weekends in a Los Angeles jail as punishment for three earlier convictions for public intoxication. Ohio Bans Born to Kill, general news item, 1947

Ohio Bans Born to Kill, general news item, 1947

Tierney's frequent off-screen troubles with law enforcement also attracted greater scrutiny of his screen projects by state film-review boards and local censors, who began advocating banning ''Born to Kill'' in their communities. Among other publications, ''

'' in its April 8 issue reports that Ohio's board of censors had rejected the film and banned it from state theaters."Ohio's Censors Reject RKO's 'Born to Kill'"
''The Film Daily'' (New York, N.Y.), April 19, 1947, p. 4. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 14, 2020. The same news item added that Chicago's police censor board had "declined to pass" the motion picture. The trade paper then reported in subsequent issues that censors in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

had "cracked down" on films they deemed unacceptable and had also banned all presentations of ''Born to Kill'' in theaters in Memphis or anywhere else in Shelby County."'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. Then, in mid-May, ''

The Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Herald ...

'' disclosed that the

National Legion of Decency The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictur ...

had not condemned the film outright for its depictions of violence, although the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

organization had rated it "Class-B" or "objectionable in part, because it 'reflects the acceptability of divorce.'"

Box office and the film's effect on future RKO productions

In the weeks leading up to the film's release, some industry publications predicted that the crime drama would be "a strong draw at the box-office".Jewell, Richard B. (2016) ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Berkeley, California: University of California Press. The controversies surrounding ''Born to Kill'', however, forced

Dore Schary Isadore "Dore" Schary (August 31, 1905 – July 7, 1980) was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed just one feature film, '' Act One'', the film bio ...

, RKO's executive vice-president in charge of production, to distance the company publicly from the film just days after its release. Schary in assorted interviews with reporters in early May insisted, "As a result of unfavorable reaction to 'Born to Kill', RKO will cut down on the arbitrary use of violence in its films." The Hollywood executive at a motion-picture conference in New York City on May 5 was even more emphatic in his statements about production changes, vowing that "gangster pictures" such as "'Born to Kill' will no longer be produced by RKO Radio". RKO ended up reporting a net loss of $243,000 on the production after the film's run.

Barred from re-release by MPAA

Negative reviews and unfavorable public reactions to ''Born to Kill'' and to another 1947 release, '' Shoot to Kill'', prompted the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

(MPAA) before the end of the year to revise its

Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

to strengthen restrictions relating to the content of crime-related films."MPA Strengthens Code on Titles And Crime Films", ''Motion Picture Herald'', December 6, 1947, p. 20. Additions were also made to the Code's guidelines under Section XI for judging and rejecting unacceptable titles given to studio productions. Following a meeting of its board of directors in New York City on December 3, 1947, the MPA announced to the press that its members had voted unanimously to bar 14 "'objectionable and unsuitable'" films released between 1928 and 1947 from ever being reissued to theaters, including ''Born to Kill''. The association also approved the immediate deletion from its official title registry more than two dozen films with names deemed "salacious or indecent". The day after the New York meeting, the ''Los Angeles Times'' summarized the board's decisions in a front-page story headlined "Film Heads Vote Ban On Gangster Pictures" and reported that the American film industry was ceasing the "distribution of new and old pictures glorifying gangster names or criminal practices"."Film Heads Vote Ban On Gangster Pictures", ''Los Angeles Times'', December 4, 1947, p. 1.

Film showcased in murder trial, 1948

Although ''Born to Kill'' faced multiple problems in 1947 with regard to its reception and distribution, RKO's production had to cope with even worse publicity in 1948, most notably with news coverage of the film's alleged connections to a homicide in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The case involved 12-year-old Howard Lang, who was charged with using a

switchblade A switchblade (aka switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, Stiletto, flick blade, or spring knife (Sprenger,Benson, Ragnar (1989). ''Switchblade: The Ace of Blades''. Paladin Press. pp. 1–14. . The sw ...

and a heavy "chunk of concrete" to kill a seven-year-old boy in

Thatcher Woods The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are mostly set aside as natural area ...

outside

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in October 1947.Murder Trial Begins For Chicago Boy Of 12", ''Los Angeles Times'', February 17, 1948, p. 2. ProQuest. At the time, Lang was the youngest person ever to be arrested and formally tried for murder in that city. The boy's initial trial, which drew widespread media attention, occurred in February 1948. Lang was convicted of the crime, and on April 20 he was sentenced to 22 years in the state

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

. As part of Lang's overall defense and during the successful appeal of his conviction, his lawyers informed the court that their client had seen ''Born to Kill'' less than three weeks prior to the homicide."Bans Film From Court"
''Boxoffice'', April 6, 1948, p. 64. Retrieved September 29, 2020. The attorneys insisted that the violent, morally destructive aspects of the film "had affected the boy because of his emotional instability", impairing his judgement and fostering in him a form of temporary insanity."'Born to Kill' Movie Cited In Mitigation For Boy Slayer Lang", ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', March 20, 1948, p. 3. ProQuest. They petitioned the presiding judge to view the film himself so he could appreciate the substance of their allegation that the "gangster" film was a contributing factor in the crime. In the media's ongoing updates on the murder case, newspapers reported that allegation in articles with titles such as "Movie Blamed", "'Born to Kill' Movie Cited In Mitigation For Boy Slayer Lang", and "Court Refuses Plea of Lang Attorney To View 'Killer' Movie". Less than a year after Lang's initial sentencing, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned his conviction on the grounds that the boy was too young to understand his actions. Lang was then acquitted of the murder in a second trial held in Chicago. The end of the case, however, did not erase the additional negative attention that the trial had focused on ''Born to Kill'' and on RKO Pictures itself. In acquitting Lang in April 1949, Judge John A. Sbarbaro recommended the enactment of several new laws to help prevent such ghastly crimes by children, two of those recommendations being to restrict the content of comic books and "to censor movies to the extent of holding theater managers liable for exhibiting 'harmful pictures'".

More recent assessments of the film

Some film critics have come to find ''Born to Kill'' something of a harmless guilty pleasure. In his 2003 reference work ''Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959'', Michael Keaney describes ''Born to Kill'' as compelling despite its "hard-to-swallow plot".Kearney, Michael. ''Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003, pp. 63-64. "This one is all Tierney", Keaney states. "He's outstanding as one of the most violently disturbed psychos in all of film noir, giving even

Robert Ryan Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

in ''

Crossfire A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. S ...

'' a run for his money." Reviewing the film in 2006 for '' Slant Magazine'', critic Fernando F. Croce focuses on the production's director rather than on Tierney: In 2009, writing for ''Film Monthly'', Robert Weston also focused his attention on Wise's directorial work: 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."

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Born To Kill (1947 Film) 1947 films 1947 crime drama films American black-and-white films American crime drama films 1940s English-language films Film noir Films based on American novels Films directed by Robert Wise Films scored by Paul Sawtell Films set in Reno, Nevada Films set in San Francisco Films shot in Nevada Films shot in San Francisco RKO Pictures films 1940s American films