Born to Be Bad (1934)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Lowell Sherman

Writers:

Ralph Graves (story)
Harrison Jacobs (continuity)

Release Date:

18 May 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Letty, a young woman who ended up pregnant, unmarried and on the streets at fifteen is bitter and determined...

Plot Keywords:

Child | Seduction | Truancy | Lawyer | Cradle

Cast

Loretta Young	...	Letty Strong
Cary Grant	...	Malcolm Trevor
Jackie Kelk	...	Mickey Strong
Marion Burns	...	Mrs. Alyce Trevor
Henry Travers	...	Fuzzy
Paul Harvey	...	Attoney Brian
Russell Hopton	...	Steve Karns
Harry Green	...	Adolph - Letty's Lawyer

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (2005)

Company:

20th Century Pictures

Trivia:

The film ran into censorship problems from the start, mainly from the character portrayed by Loretta Young and the skimpy clothes she wore. It was rejected twice by the Hays office before it was finally given an approval certificate, after several cuts and retakes (and all this before the Production Code was more rigorously enforced). Sidney Lanfield directed retakes on 10 November 1933 because director Lowell Sherman was on vacation; other retakes were made early in 1934. In 1935, the film was on a list at the Hays Office, of those films whose release should be halted, but it is not known if any action was ever taken.

Interesting glimpse at early Grant, mid-Loretta

This flawed second feature -- about a beautiful floozy, her streetwise little boy, and the millionaire who comes to their aid -- sustains interest only thanks to the attractive stars. Young, with her huge eyes and dazzling smile, has the aura of Joan Crawford in her "Dance, Fools, Dance" period, while Grant, who was 30 when this was made, has not yet fully matured into the character we know from the second half of the 1930s. The story, despite its implausibility, is not unappealing; it is pleasant to imagine oneself being a slum-kid one day and being invited to live with Cary Grant and his affectionate wife the next. The screenplay is oddly structured; the story begins with Young being admired by an odd trio that looks as if it wandered off from the set of "Dinner At Eight" and whom we never see again, and the picture ends just as abruptly. Still, not a bad way to spend 65 minutes.