Born to Kill (1947)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.4/10   

Réalisateur:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Eve Greene (screenplay) and
Richard Macaulay (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 mai 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drame

Accroche:

The Story of a Woman Who Loved Unwisely...and too well!

Plot:

In Reno a man kills a girl he likes and her boyfriend out of jealousy; it may not be the first time...

Plot Keywords:

Killer | Foster Sister | Train | Murderer | Divorce

Avis des utilisateurs:

The femme fatal meets her match.

Ensemble

Claire Trevor	...	Helen Brent
Lawrence Tierney	...	Sam Wild
Walter Slezak	...	Matthew Arnett
Phillip Terry	...	Fred Grover
Audrey Long	...	Georgia Staples
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Marty
Isabel Jewell	...	Laury Palmer
Esther Howard	...	Mrs. Kraft
Kathryn Card	...	Grace
Tony Barrett	...	Danny
Grandon Rhodes	...	Police Inspector Wilson
reste de la distribution par ordre alphabétique:
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Conductor (scenes deleted)
Stanley Stone	...	Train Conductor (scenes deleted)

Autre(s) titre(s):

Deadlier Than the Male (USA) (working title)
Lady of Deceit (UK)
Né pour tuer (France) [fr]

Durée:

92 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Son:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Classification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved (PCA #11703, Adult Audience)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Guillemet:

Helen Brent: If you go to the police, you'll see Laurie sooner than you think.
Mrs. Kraft: Are you trying to scare me?
Helen Brent: I'm just warning you. Perhaps you don't realize - it's painful being killed. A piece of metal sliding into your body, finding its way into your heart. Or a bullet tearing through your skin, crashing into a bone. It takes a while to die, too. Sometimes a long while.

The femme fatal meets her match.

Truly one of the most sinister of RKO's hardcore noirs, Born to Kill is as close to real nihilism as a Hollywood studio picture was likely to come. The only remotely sympathetic characters are a pair of dupes and an old drunk, everyone who's got anything on the ball is corrupt and ruthless.

Sam Wilde (Lawrence Tierney) is a homme fatal, as attractive yet deadly to women as any of a dozen femmes fatal in other films are to men. Unable to resist his glowering masculine wiles is Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) who is nearly as black-hearted as he is. All the other characters circle around them like moths around a flame. As is to be expected money, murder, and lust all have their parts to play.

To be honest Lawrence Tierney's performance is fairly one dimensional, but it is a hell of a dimension. He menaces, scowls, and swaggers through the picture, always ready to attack, like an alley cat that's found it's way inside. His character's bluntness is played for maximum effect, wisely since Tierney is no Bogart. He does manage some good, direct, lines, in response to Trevor's, "Oh, I wouldn't say that...," he tightens his lips and spits out, "No. You wouldn't say it, but that's how it is." With Tierney turning up the heat, it's up to Claire Trevor to sweat. She rides the moral see-saw much like Fred MacMurray reacting to Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Even without the benefit of a voice-over she pulls it off quite well, convincingly playing a woman caught between her safe, malleable (and rich) fiancée and the exciting but untamed Wilde.

There are three strong supporting performances. Elisha Cook, Jr. is Marty Waterman, Sam's "friend" who does his best to keep the lid on the pot (and to deliver most of the lines in their shared scenes). Esther Howard is Mrs. Kraft, a boardinghouse owner who is important to the plot. Especially good is Walter Slezak as the genteel detective Arnett.

Born to Kill does have a few flaws, the pacing is somewhat questionable and several of the important characters are either missing or blindingly stupid throughout most of the picture. But on the whole Tierney, Trevor, and the others deliver and there's enough tension to keep things interesting. The film is based on a novel 'Deadlier Than the Male' but given Tierney's looks and personality that title doesn't truly seem to fit the movie, it's a rare case of the man luring the woman to her doom.