A lot of critics and film buffs are fascinated with this rather violent noir film. It is an unusual film for gentleman director Robert Wise and looking over his filmography it does stick out as something different in his career.
However for this viewer I found the film's plot ridiculous and the dialog rather stilted. Wise's direction isn't much to behold except for a couple of murder scenes when he rises to the occasion otherwise it's point and shoot for the most part. Only in these kiling scenes does Wise show much enthusiasm for what he's doing and it could be argued that they are are very influenced by his former producer, Val Lewton.
Let's get to the cast, Claire Trevor is once again the femme fatale scheming to steal her step sister's inheritance. Her step sister has married Lawrence Tierney who is a very bad guy to put it mildly, he kills a couple of people at the beginning of the film almost as a whim. The great character actor Elisha Cook Jr shows up and you know he's gonna be toast. There is a private detective played by Walter Slezak running around blackmailing everyone. Slezak gives the best performance in the film.
I honestly don't think this is a very good film but it what it has going for him it is the performance of Lawrence Tierney who is as scary on the screen as he was in real life. The guy is simply compelling to watch and considering his violent off screen shenanigans you almost expect him to attack and kill the cast and for that matter the production crew. His performance alone in Born to Kill makes it worth having a look at.
The film was written by Eve Greene and Richard Macaulay, the running time is 92 minutes.
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