Born to Be Bad (1950)
(On Cable TV, October 2022) While the natural narrative of film noir is one of a crime thriller, you don’t necessarily need murders, conspiracies and hardened criminals to do bad—perfectly average people can be terrible in their own ways without necessarily breaking the law. So it is that the film noir definitions can expand to cover melodrama, especially when you take a look at something like Born to be Bad, in which the lead femme fatale isn’t a murderess as much as a chronic liar, a manipulator and a back-stabber when it comes to getting what she wants. Most of it is perfectly legal… if reprehensible. It’s up to Joan Fontaine to play the cute and deceptively evil lead, and actors such as Robert Ryan and Zachary Scott (but not Mel Ferrer, oh no) to be the victims of her schemes. What could have been a perfectly acceptable “women’s picture” melodrama of no interest to film noir fans is given an extra dimension or two by director Nicholas Ray, as he draws parallels between his anti-heroine’s actions and larger social forces, plus a bit of moody cinematography. Still, I can’t help but suspect that about half of the film’s claim to the film noir club comes from film historians really wanting to include another Nicholas Ray movie in the canon, even if it doesn’t completely fit. But, ah, no matter whether you consider this an overwrought melodrama or a sentimental film noir, Born to be Bad is still a modest success that explores how a cute young woman can get away with just about anything… at least for a while.