Born to Be Bad (1950)

Christabel fools everyone with her sweet exterior including her cousin Donna and Donna's wealthy fiancée Curtis. The only one who sees through her facade is Nick, a rugged writer who loves ... See full summary »

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Edith R. Sommer (screen play), Charles Schnee (adaptation),

Stars:

Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joan Fontaine	...	Christabel Caine Carey
Robert Ryan	...	Nick Bradley
Zachary Scott	...	Curtis Carey
Joan Leslie	...	Donna Foster
Mel Ferrer	...	Gabriel 'Gobby' Broome
Harold Vermilyea	...	John Caine
Virginia Farmer	...	Aunt Clara Caine
Kathleen Howard	...	Mrs. Bolton
Dick Ryan	...	Arthur - Curtis's Butler
Bess Flowers	...	Mrs. Worthington
Joy Hallward	...	Mrs. Porter
Hazel Boyne	...	Committee Woman
Irving Bacon	...	Jewelry Salesman
Gordon Oliver	...	Harrison - the Lawyer (scenes deleted)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Chefe	...	Man (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Christabel fools everyone with her sweet exterior including her cousin Donna and Donna's wealthy fiancée Curtis. The only one who sees through her facade is Nick, a rugged writer who loves her anyway. Christabel also loves Nick, but she loves Curtis' money more. After convincing Curtis that Donna is only interested in him for his money, she tricks Curtis into marrying her. Of course, she still dallies with Nick on the side.

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Plot Keywords:

airplane | house party | marriage | opening night | score influenced by popular music styles | 

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Taglines:

Baby-faced Savage in a jungle of intrigue!

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 August 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

All Kneeling

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 90 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

RKO had originally scheduled this film to be filmed twice previously: in 1946 with Fontaine, Henry Fonda, John Sutton, and Marsha Hunt. It was canceled. In 1948, RKO put the film on its filming schedule under the title of BED OF ROSES, with Barbara Bel Geddes in the role of Christabel. However, Howard Hughes decided he did not care for Bel Geddes and postponed it.

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Quotes

Nick Bradley: You love only one person in the world Christabel, and it's the love of a lifetime.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Carol Burnett Show: Episode #7.13 (1973)

User Reviews

A fun change of role for Fontaine

`Born to be Bad' is a great melodrama from 1950 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring the normally genteel Joan Fontaine. In this film however, Fontaine plays Christabel, a young socialite who purports to be an earnest and innocent woman, yet has a pretty insidious duplicitous nature. (Think a slightly less deranged Eve Harrington) Throughout the course of the film, Christabel connives her way into winning the heart of a wealthy man who was previously betrothed to the woman who took her in to her home and introduced her to society as well as love and throw away a famous writer who she seems to actually have feelings for, yet cannot give up the allure of marrying for money.

The great thing about `Born to be Bad' is that no matter what happens to her, Christabel is pretty unrepentant, even up until the very end. This is somewhat varied from the great melodramas of the 30's-50's, where the `evil man/woman' sees the error in their ways, or gets their comeuppance. Nicholas Ray of course went on to direct the classics `Johnny Guitar' and `Rebel Without a Cause', the very model from which teen angst films stemmed, but `Born to be Bad' is a pretty simple film that has a lot of good scene-chewing scenes. I particularly enjoyed watching Fontaine practically get whiplash every time one of her men would grab her and kiss her with fervent passion; it's just that cheesy and good. `Born to be Bad' is another fine example of why the melodramas of this era play so much better than any of that genre today, and even in the last couple of decades – it is intelligent, with a great script and even better acting, and is just simply fun to watch.

--Shelly