Born to Be Bad, from 1934, is a pre-code drama starring Cary Grant and Loretta Young. While there is a 1950 film of the same name, starring Joan Fontaine, Zachary Scott, and Robert Ryan (reviewed HERE), this film is not the original of that. Though the two films have the same name, they are two completely different movies, with completely different storylines. This film is quite short...running time is only 61 minutes.
Letty Strong (Loretta Young) is a single mom of a seven-year old boy named Micky. Having had her son when she was fifteen years old, Letty has been on her own ever since. The boy is quite a juvenile delinquent...smoking, skipping school, and running with a rough crowd. One day, while roller skating, Micky gets hit by a milk truck, and though he wasn't badly injured, Letty instructs him to pretend that he was so that he will get a large settlement.
Malcolm Trevor (Cary Grant) is the man who hit Micky, and at his trial, it comes out that Micky wasn't injured at all, that he has been faking it. The judge deems Letty, who encouraged her child to lie, an unfit mother and removes the child from her care. Malcolm, feeling somewhat responsible for all that has happened, asks the court to give him and his wife custody of the boy. Letty, meanwhile, is determined to get her son back...no matter what it takes, no matter who gets hurt in the process, no matter if she has to seduce Malcolm in the process. How it all plays out is the balance of the film.
This was not a film I enjoyed at all. While I am a huge fan of both Cary Grant and Loretta Young, I absolutely did not like either of them in this. Loretta was beautiful---maybe more beautiful than ever---but her character was totally unlikeable; never for a minute did I like her, care about her, or want her to succeed. And Grant's character...well, he started off as a decent guy, but he very quickly became someone I couldn't root for or care about. (I can't say more without giving away the rest of the story.) Oh, and I never really cared about or liked the little boy either. So for me, when I want a "sacrificial mommy movie," I'll go with the 5-star Stella Dallas or Madame X.
If Born to Be Bad sounds like a film you are interested in seeing, it is available on Net Flix instant viewing. I've also seen it on TCM's schedule fairly regularly.
Happy viewing!!
