RICK'S REAL/REEL LIFE

(L) Joan Fontaine as conniver Christabel in 1950's "Born to Be Bad." (R) Carol Burnett from her TV show, spoofed this noir soap as "Raised to Be Rotten!"

By the end of "Born to Be Bad," everyone wants to strangle Christabel, even herself!

Born to Be Bad is a film noir soap opera that toys with Joan Fontaine's on-screen persona. In the role referenced in the title, Joan's seemingly demure miss recalls the cinematic bouquet of shy English roses that Fontaine played in the '40s. Here, this rose reveals her thorns, as the poor relation who’s a two-faced schemer. Fontaine's memoir was titled No Bed of Roses, ironic since a Bad character sneeringly refers to her schemer’s life in a rich marriage as such. Fontaine was also known off-screen for her sharp-tongued wit. On-screen, her characters were usually soft, wide-eyed, one brow raised, with a Mona Lisa smile. 

Christabel Caine comes to San Fran! "Born to Be Bad's" Joan Fontaine with her go-to expression, the arched eyebrow, slight smile, and "Who, me?" expression!

As conniving Christabel Caine, Joan and director Nicholas Ray use the Fontaine image very cleverly. As other movie fans have noted, Christabel's tactics are much like the same year's passive/aggressive villain, Eve Harrington, in 1950’s All About Eve. Fontaine's acting style is also similar to Anne Baxter’s, but much more dialed down. There's the same raised eyebrow, deer in the headlights looks, and lowered voice, but Baxter often went big!  They even have the same severe curled bob that was mysteriously popular post-war. Christabel wants a rich husband and Eve wants to be a star, and anyone in the way gets steamrollered.

Christabel seems to be the bad seed, an orphan raised by a meek relative. She leaves her Aunt Clara in Santa Flora and moves up to San Francisco to go to business school, and live with career girl Donna, who works for Christabel’s uncle. At first, family and friends are taken by the poor "girl"—it’s amusing to think of over-30 Fontaine’s goal to be a secretary. Not to mention the poor relation arrives with a gaggle of Hattie Carnegie dresses, swanned throughout Born to Be Bad! 

Joan Fontaine's Christabel feigns innocence in 1950's "Born to Be Bad."

Joan Fontaine plays the part in perfect studio era style. The demure diva smirks as the supposedly sophisticated city folk fall for her manipulations. Or the left eyebrow that gets an aerobic workout every time Christabel gets away with her latest scheme. While Joan Fontaine was naturally pretty, it's an eye roll that men are falling all over her or that she's so charismatic that others are blinded by her blatant insincerity. The film’s posters describe Christabel as man-bait and a female savage! Rita Hayworth or Vivien Leigh, she ain’t. The spinster bob, plus a series of shoulderless gowns that accentuate her slightly hunched posture and modest bosom don’t help at all, either.

"Born to Be Bad" hardly lives up to the poster's captions or depicted cup size of Joan!

As Donna, Joan Leslie is natural and surprisingly holds her own. Just 25 at the time, and while no Janet Leigh or Eva Marie Saint, Leslie's playing is straightforward and strong. 

Joan Leslie's Donna realizes that scheming Christabel is "Born to Be Bad!

As the men in Christabel's life, there's Mel Ferrer as Gabriel Broome, the young artist who paints her portrait. Nicknamed “Gobby,” he’s more of a frenemy, and some film fans think he was a coded gay character. No wonder he didn’t fall prey to this perilous mantrap! Then there's Robert Ryan, well-cast as rugged author Nick Bradley, who sees through Christabel but can't help but be captivated by her alleged charms. I loved it when Ryan’s Nick declares he won’t be the vixen’s “backstreet boy!” Another staple of this era's type of film is the "smart" dialogue that comes off campy. And Ferrer and Ryan get the best/worst of the cheesy zingers, usually directed at that devil in disguise, Christabel.

A young Mel Ferrer plays a glib, gay young artist in 1950's "Born to Be Bad."

Robert Ryan is the rugged writer who charms himself & Joan Fontaine in 1950's "Born to Be Bad."

Zachary Scott, at home in a tux or ascot, is the millionaire in 1950's "Born to Be Bad."

Zachary Scott played many characters who were either charmers, creeps, or both. Remember him as the cad Monty in Mildred Pierce? As Donna's rich fiancé Curtis Carey, he's sympathetic, but falls for Christabel's conniving. In the 90 minute film, Donna's out and Christabel is in by the half way mark! But, she still hankers for that rough-hewn Ryan. Natch, Christabel overplays her hand and soon enough gets caught and tossed out on her ear. Donna and the millionaire are reunited, natch. And Christabel contentedly drives off with a carload of furs. 

Carol Burnett as "Christinabelle" in her takeoff of "Born to Be Bad," called "Raised to Be Rotten!" With Harvey Korman, so good at spoofing Scott's rich guys.

Carol Burnett was famed for her television show’s film takeoffs and she lampooned this type of film perfectly. Here, Born to Be Bad is called Raised to Be Rotten. Carol kicks it up a few notches, playing crafty "Christinabelle!" By the end of the skit, she’s a pickpocket to everyone along the way out. Burnett's spoof cleverly skewers every time Christinabelle and the rugged writer go into a clinch, she swoops into his arms, and the music swells. Or when guest star Richard Crenna as Ryan's writer tells Christinabelle to shorten her name! Carol's got Joan's arched eyebrows and smirk down pat and her bad girl aptly tells Crenna’s bad boy to “take your cheap repartee and get out!” This parody is so close to the bone it reminds me of Carol’s take off of Joan Crawford’s Torch Song.

One thing that makes me laugh about Robert Ryan's rugged artsy type is his proclamations about Christabel as a woman. It reminds me of Dane Clark as the opinionated artist giving Bette Davis guff in A Stolen Life or Steven Boyd's editor to new girl Hope Lange in The Best of Everything. The gist of which is generally: "You know what your problem is? You're afraid of being a real woman!" And their characters surely had a solution for what ailed the leading ladies’ “problem.”

"Read any good books lately?" Joan Fontaine's schemer is feeling Zachary Scott but looking at Robert Ryan, in 1950's "Born to Be Bad."

Born to Be Bad is one of those post-war film noir soaps that served as showcases for its leading lady. Monster hit Mildred Pierce in '45 was surely the inspiration. Joan Crawford herself did a series of such films in the late '40s through the '50s, as did many established female stars. The formula was the film diva was either a woman in jeopardy or a scheming vixen. The latter usually afforded a film fashion show for the star. The supporting cast was usually a bevy of leading men who were knocked over like bowling pins by the star's feminine wiles. Any women in the movies, while usually younger than the star diva, were no competition. Even if the star's character paid for her sins at the finale, she had a lot of fun along the way. And so it is with Born to Be Bad. Enjoy!

Here’s the film that mixed film noir and soap opera, brought Joan Crawford back and created a subgenre for strong female stars.  My look at Mildred Pierce: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-joan-crawford-became-mildred-pierce.html

"Portrait of Joanie?" Mel Ferrer's artist creates this masterpiece of Joan Fontaine's charismatic schemer in 1950's "Born to Be Bad."

"Wait Until Dark" a 1967 suspense film written by Frederick Knott, also had a stage and film hit with "Dial M For Murder." With Alan Arkin & Audrey Hepburn.

If Wait Until Dark was ever remade, it’d have to be done as a period piece.

***Spoiler alerts are discussed throughout this review***

Though there are clever reasons for the villains' actions and plot twists (to show how resourceful the blind heroine is, while tormenting her needlessly), those plot points don't always add up. Alfred Hitchcock never got hung up on plots making perfect sense, as he relied on suspension of disbelief in service of thrills. This is all well and good, though some of Hitch’s lesser sleights of hand were audience head-scratchers. 

The film version of "Wait Until Dark" was a big hit in '67.

Adapted from the 1966 Broadway hit, Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark up close and personal film version shows the plot strings being pulled too obviously. Unlike Gaslight, another woman in distress stage play turned movie, there's no character depth beneath the chills. Watching the heroine's character trajectory in Gaslight works on several levels; in Wait Until Dark, the blind heroine proves resourceful in the face of danger, and presented heavy-handedly. The movie is well-acted enough so that you become invested in the characters. 

The plot of Wait Until Dark is a bit convoluted, but in a nutshell: A young woman, Lisa, runs drugs via a heroin-filled doll. Startled by the villain she sees at the airport, she gives the doll to stranger Sam Hendrix, to be collected later. She's intercepted by the movie's psycho, Harry Roat. And that's all she wrote! Roat lures two small time criminals to the Hendrix apartment and coerces them into shaking down the Hendrix couple to retrieve the doll. Sam thinks it's just a doll and he's away; wife Susy is totally in the dark—figuratively and literally—she’s blind. Roat engineers an elaborate gaslight on Susy to get the valuable doll. Game on!

Richard Crenna as Mike discovers Lisa, who discovered stealing drugs doesn't pay, in 1967's "Wait Until Dark."

On the plus side, the set-up is clever and cast is first-class. On the minus side, there are a number of plot holes. If this movie had more depth of character and plot development, I would not have focused on the deficiencies. But when the characters and logic are as slim as Audrey's figure, the mind wanders.

The big one: Roat's psychopathic villain visits Susy in several elaborate character disguises to find the doll. Why? Susy's BLIND! 

"Nice disguise there, evil genius. Spoiler alert, I'm blind!" 1967's "Wait Until Dark."

The second big one: When Susy catches on to the thug trio's ruse, she enlists neighbor girl Gloria to go to the bus station to get husband Sam home to the rescue. There's a very patronizing undertone to Sam wanting Susy to be more independent after her recent accident-caused blindness. Susy’s rationale that "Sam will know what to do" rings very false. You send three killers looking for drugs on a fool’s errand, they are coming back to kill you, and you send a kid on a mission to the bus station, when she could just go upstairs and call the police?

Audrey Hepburn & Julie Herrod have a nice camaraderie as blind Susie Hendrix and neglected upstairs girl, Gloria, in "Wait Until Dark."

And the third big one: Once Susy has the doll, why doesn’t she just give it to them? She was scared when she heard about the woman (Lisa) found murdered a block away. Now she knows they killed “Mrs. Roat,” does she want to be next?

Once Susy has the drug doll in her possession, why won't she turn it over?

Also, during the final black-out confrontation with killer Roat, he tells her game over as she tries to escape from her chained front door and he's found a light. Why? She still has a knife and matches, and he's still soaked in gasoline. 

Of course, it would be hard to film this movie in present day without major changes: the drug runner getting the doll through security no problem; the two ex-cons making themselves at home in the Hendrix apartment, leaving their DNA everywhere; and today, the three criminals would just get down to business and torture and kill the heroine until they got the doll. This is just for starters.

Audrey Hepburn is ideally cast as a sympathetic blind woman tormented in "Wait Until Dark." Also in '67, Audrey made one of her best, "Two For the Road."

As a popcorn suspense film there are certainly some very clever twists and characterizations. Audrey Hepburn is a natural as Susy Hendrix, the self-described world champion blind lady. Empathy and warmth was the essence of Hepburn's persona. Hepburn plays the character strongly without overplaying and it is a stellar movie star performance. It's noteworthy that Audrey got the film's lone Oscar nomination. She makes you root for and believe in her, though the movie still has a foot in the studio era style: Audrey's Susy just may be the most stylish blind woman in the world. The thought of a blind woman with big false eyelashes made me smile. She even changes clothes in the middle of the movie, for no apparent reason. Also, Audrey gets lovely soft focus close-ups. Wait Until Dark makes this movie more of a throwback to classic ‘50s Hitchcock than a gritty late '60s thriller. Speaking of Hitch, I'm surprised nobody tapped him to do this film. He nearly worked with Audrey before, and also filmed the playwright's Dial M For Murder to great effect. But Terence Young does a solid job here and does the best he can with what was basically a one-set stage piece. 

Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix, a woman recently blinded, in "Wait Until Dark."

Lee Remick played Susy on Broadway to Robert Duvall's Harry Roat. I bet that was something to see. And though I'm sure Lee was just as good as Audrey, Remick was a leading lady who never carried a movie, where Hepburn was one of the few female stars of the ‘60s who could.

Lee Remick won a Tony nomination as Susy Hendrix in the Broadway version of  "Wait Until Dark." Robert Duvall was Harry Roat. And Arthur Penn directed, for whom "Bonnie and Clyde" was just around the corner!

Not having seen this in a number of years, I had forgotten how good Richard Crenna was as "Mike," the criminal pretending to be Sam's old war buddy. He offers what may be the most complex character. A con and crook, yes, but he's also taken by Susy's tenacity. He's the bad guy, but you want to like him! Jack Weston is good as the lowest functioning bad guy, Carlino, a bit of comic relief.

Jack Weston and Richard Crenna as two ex-cons coerced into retrieving a drug doll, in 1967's "Wait Until Dark."

Alan Arkin has the showiest role as Harry Roat. I found him more interesting as the creepy criminal himself than in his various disguises. Humorous, creepy, sly and when he goes one on one with Susy, it's the hair-raising highlight of the film. The last set piece is very well done and I've heard many stories about how audiences in the dark involuntarily gasped and shrieked as Arkin's Roat goes after Hepburn's Susy.

Alan Arkin as the twisted, darkly humorous villain Harry Roat, in "Wait Until Dark."

One plot element and acting I found a bit smarmy: Sam Hendrix, the character and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., the actor. Given the fact his wife has been blind just a year, his tough love bit feels a bit like a husbandly bully, insisting that she "do" for herself. When Sam and the cops finally rescue her, they step over dead bodies, a trashed, gasoline-soaked apartment, and find a hiding Hepburn as Susy behind the fridge door. And Zimbalist's smiling Sam urges her to come to him! I wonder if a blind wife could kick her husband in the balls? And Zimbalist's acting is old-school Ronald Reagan variety, like a charming TV host, complete with a Hollywood tan—while playing a New Yorker.

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is Sam Hendrix, the photographer husband of blind Susy.

Julie Herrod as Gloria, the young girl upstairs, is natural, quirky, and appealing. She also played the character onstage with Lee Remick. Lisa, the doomed drug runner looks like a refugee from Valley of the Dolls, with the most obvious fall, and a more deadly doll than pills! Her stage name is Samantha Jones, which was later used as Kim Cattrall’s character in Sex in the City!

Samantha Jones is Lisa, a drug runner who looks like a runner-up for "Valley of the Dolls," complete with a fall and false eyelashes. Instead of "dolls," this doll has heroin!

The score by Henry Mancini is expertly eerie and the natural NYC location shooting gives this glossy thriller some needed grit.

Don't get me wrong, Wait Until Dark is still a fun thrill ride. Just don't look too closely at the story behind a blind woman's long night from hell.

Despite some serious gaps in logic, you'll be gasping in shock in the last act of "Wait Until Dark."