Born to Be Bad
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Movie Reviews of Born to Be Bad
Movie Review: Too Boring to Be Bad
Summary: 2 Stars
Movie: ** DVD Quality: ** DVD Extras: ****
I've seen enough of Loretta Young's and Cary Grant's early work to know that this movie surely represents some kind of nadir for both stars. Despite their considerable skills, no one could possibly turn this sow's ear of a script into anything resembling a decent film. Loretta plays a 22-year-old never- married mother of a 7-year-old son; the kid is being raised to be just as morally compromised as Mom. Enter Cary as a victim of one of their scams; before you can say, "What the hey?!!!?", Cary and his wife are raising Loretta's son ... Loretta's moving in on Cary to get her boy back ... Cary's wife is all-forgiving of her husband's dalliance ... Loretta does the "noble" thing by walking away and abandoning her son to Cary and wife's care. This all takes a scant 61 minutes that drags on f-o-r-e-v-e-r because no one does anything but talk, talk, and talk ... oh! they also slam doors - lots of doors - in Cary's lavish mansion. It couldn't have been fun for the actors to make this rubbage, but at least they must have known enough to stay away from the finished film!
Certainly whoever wrote the insert notes for this Fox Home Video release never watched the movie! They identify Cary's character as a "dairy farmer" (he's actually the very wealthy head of a dairy corporation); they name aged 50-something character player Henry Travers (Clarence the Angel in "It's a Wonderful Life") as the actor playing Loretta's 7-year-old son; and they describe the film as a "heartwarming, well-made classic" as well as a "gripping classic" (maybe they had this confused with Cary and Loretta's later film, "The Bishop's Wife", which really is a classic).
I doubt that whoever was in charged of transferring the film to video paid much attention to the movie, either. The picture is grainy throughout with some noticeable jumps (indicating bad splices); and the sound is frequently muddy as well. At least Fox doesn't claim it was restored. There is a nice selection of trailers from other movies Grant starred in at Fox, including "I Was a Male War Bride" (1949), "People Will Talk" (1951), "Monkey Business" (1952), "Kiss Them For Me" (1957), and "An Affair to Remember" (1957) ... but the trailer to this film isn't among them. There's also a small photo gallery.
Overall, I can't in good conscience recommend this DVD to anyone except the most diehard Young and Grant fans. But if for some reason you insist on watching it, check out the jurors in the trial scene ... doesn't the man on the front row to the right of your screen bear a resemblance to the producer of the film, Darryl F. Zanuck?
Movie Review: BORN TO BE DISMAL ON DVD
Summary: 2 Stars
"Born to Be Bad" is a very uncharacteristic Cary Grant movie. Uncharacteristic because it's at the beginning of his career, features him in an almost non-comedic role and has him cast as a man double-crossed by a woman of easy virtue in an almost maudelin plot. The story concerns Grant hitting the son of a woman of easy virtue (Loretta Young) with his car. He then having to make the mends. The rest is pure melodrama but pulled off with such panache that you'd scarcely mind any of the hockum. Truly, this is a very, very good movie.TRANSFER: Unfortunately the same can't be said for FOX's transfer. We get a very dirty, very gritty, very grainy transfer that - although free of digital anomalies - is so heavily damanged by age that seeing the film is hardly worth the effort. Black and contrast levels are extremely weak, fine detail is lost in practically every scene and the ravages of time are glaring and obvious throughout. The audio hasn't been cleaned up either for a slight hiss and some unexpected pops along the way.
EXTRAS: Trailers from the other Grant films. Boring, unworthy and disappointing.
BOTTOM LINE: Someone should point out to studio executives that films pre-Star Wars are worth the time, effort and, oh yes, the MONEY that is required to make them sparkle like they did when they were premiered. Really, history is getting shafted here!!!
Movie Review: They should have kept this one on the vault shelf.....
Summary: 1 Stars
Someone should educate 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment about classic movies. Just because a movie is old, doesn't make it a classic, and certainly doesn't justify a DVD release.Fox is sitting on hundreds of great unreleased films, while they end up releasing junk like BORN TO BE BAD. A more accurate title would be FILMED TO BE BAD. Dull and boring (in a poor transfer), this is a waste of time and money.
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