Official Synopsis
Man hunter Christabel Caine (Joan Fontaine) sets her traps for Nick Bradley (Robert Ryan) and Curtis Carey (Zachary Scott) in a scandalous tale of lust and betrayal. Christabel is a conniving liar who’ll do anything to anyone for her own gain. Stealing away her roommate’s fiancé so she can marry him for his money. Christabel entices her former lover into continuing their affair, an act of reckless passion that could topple all her schemes.
Born to Be Bad is one of those stories where the ‘bad’ character, Christabel, does so many things wrong that the beauty of the film is how the director (Nicholas Ray) and writer (Edith Sommer) bring all of those wrong things to light and tie them together in one fantastic ending. Christabel really does do some awful things and manipulates a lot of people throughout the film. You see her jump from one situation (and man) to another seamlessly. By the end of the film you (the audience) want things to be put right and have her caught so badly. With that said, Sommer and Ray did a great job with doing just that by the end, which makes the story feel complete.
Having said all of this, the acting is awful. Too much repeating drama that gets old after a while. If it wasn’t for the fact that Christabel is doing so many awful things, I think the movie would be too dull to watch. Her life and lies keep it interesting, of course that is the entire point of the film. She hops back and forth between fella’s on her quest to make her life better without actually giving any effort (outside of the lying thing). BUT! The delivery from the actors is rigid at times and stiff in others. The story could have definitely been chopped down by at least 15-20 minutes, which might have alleviated some of the ‘dull’ moments in the acting.
Now, what makes this release very interesting is the fact that it has an alternate ending. It’s rare to see an alternate ending to a film that was made in 1950. The ending is very Hitchcock, as Christabel doesn’t simply leave the mess she creates and walk shamefully off into the sunset; rather she gets in a car wreck. The car wreck leads her to a hospital where she meets a doctor (and associates). The alternate ending hints that her circle of lies is about to start again. I love it, as it’s brilliant. That should have been the original ending, but I’m sure in 1950’s standard it would have been too dark of an ending.
As for the DVD quality of the film, it is preserved well. There are some hits in the film here and there, but it looks remarkably well kept. Not bad for a film that is 62 years old.
The alternate ending is the only special feature, but a delightful one.