Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

SimonJack Although known mostly for his comedy and mystery-action roles, Cary Grant was in a number of drama films. Those were mostly in his early years, and he was quite good. In "Born to be Bad," Grant plays opposite Loretta Young who also is in a type of role she was much lesser known for in her career. Here, she plays a loose character, con artist and small-time crook who's willing to perjure herself and try any scam to make some money. She has no compunction about the proper upbringing of her young son, or concern for his future and well-being. She's quite happy to use him in any scam.Young was much more the established actor in 1934 and over time she became known for her roles as a decent woman, and caring and loving person. In this film, she commands top billing, along with a much meatier role. She plays Letty Strong. A young Jackie Kelk plays her son, Mickey, who's about 10 years old. He does very well in his role here, but as with most other childhood actors, he didn't have much of a career in films as an adult. Grant plays Malcolm Trevor, a wealthy dairy owner and caring and kind man. He's also no dupe to be hoodwinked by a scam, except possibly one of the heart. He and his wife, Alyce (played by Marion Burns) haven't been able to have children.The story takes off after Mickey is hit by a milk truck that Malcolm is driving; and Letty comes up with a scheme to bilk Trevor's company for serious damages. I won't divulge how the story plays out, except to say that a love triangle soon develops with the alluring Letty duping Malcolm into a romance that may lead to an end to his marriage.The film is a good look at Cary Grant in an early dramatic role, and Loretta Young in a diverse role. It's an interesting and entertaining film, but nothing special.

ivegonemod Fantastic film but so drastically unbelievable in parts. I really enjoyed the relationship between Letty and her son even if she wasn't that great a mother. The son, at the moment I've forgotten his name, was excellent. He really brought a lot to the role, but I just kept thinking he has to be older than 7. The relationship between Letty and Cary Grant's character I didn't get at all. How could they love each other as deep as all that in a less than 8 days? Really? There was no build up to it, perhaps because the movie is so short. Letty should be nothing more than a pretty misguided young woman to Mal or what have you. The relationship between Mal and his wife was a complete joke, but not a single moment of it was funny. How on earth could she know that her husband would have sex with another woman right down the hall from her own bed and just look sad and pitiful and say she loves him with all her heart and he has done no wrong to her? Obviously she cannot have children, so she believes that since Letty could give him a son and she can't that what he did was OK. First of all, that is STUPID! Second of all, Letty did not really give him a son. She had no custody of him but the judge said that if she would agree, he would release the boy to Mal as his legal father. Sure, she agreed, but the alternative was to leave him in a home, and anyway, she tried to kidnap him back. They shouldn't have written the wife as such a sap.

MartinHafer When you see this film, it soon becomes obvious that this is a so-called "Pre-Code" movie--one made before the strengthened Production Code was enforced later in 1934. This new code was enacted because of rampant sex, violence and crudities in films up until that time. The new code made films more boring in some ways, but they also made the films a lot more family-friendly--and this was needed. Examples of some of the excesses before this time were nudity in Biblical epics (such as in the original BEN HUR) and kids' films (one of the Tarzan films has a 2 minute long nude swimming scene).So what is so Pre-Code about this film? Well, it begins with sweet Loretta Young playing a high-priced prostitute! She has an illegitimate child who is an amoral terror and Loretta lets him drink, skip school and run wild. On one of the kid's "adventures", he swings from the back of a truck into the path of a dairy truck. Mom convinces the kid to lie about the accident and claims he's badly injured. However, in court the dairy brings out film of the kid taken after the accident of him romping about with no evidence of the "serious injury". As a result of this obvious perjury, the court sends the case to family court and the little juvenile delinquent is taken from his mom's custody. This is NOT a case of the evil social workers or courts--Loretta is bad and the child was raised horribly by his trampy mother. Loretta Young, the bastion of purity playing this sort of woman?! Yep.Once the kid is in custody of the child protective services, Cary Grant (who owns the dairy) agrees to intervene and takes the kid home to raise him right. However, Loretta sees the kid as a possession and tries to steal the kid back--thinking nothing of the kid's welfare. Interestingly, the boy now has decided that he doesn't want to go back--maybe his mom is unfit. So, when this fails, she insinuates herself into Grant's home and stays a while--while she connives how to win at any cost. She is just bad....real bad...antisocial personality bad.Loretta's shyster lawyer helps her come up with a scheme. Although Grant is married, she will claim that he forced himself on her--thereby blackmailing him into giving her both the kid and a boatload of cash. And, because Grant is such a nice guy, he is a serious risk to succumb to her evil wicked yechy ways! Will she win and destroy sweet Grant or will he wake up and face that she is a soul-less she-devil? Tune in for yourself to find out what happens next. Just remember that it's a Pre-Code film and in such a movie ANYTHING can happen and good doesn't necessarily triumph over evil. And, mothers like Loretta are portrayed as being capable of eating their young!! Overall, it's a very fast-paced and enjoyable film that will most likely shock most audiences today because of its odd moral compass and less than likable characters. For lovers of Pre-Code films, it has plenty to shock you and offers quite a few odd surprises. The only serious negative is Grant's wife. She's just too ridiculously good to be real--no woman is THAT understanding without having a brain injury!! Plus, the changes you see in Loretta late in the film just aren't consistent with the type of character she'd been through most of the film. Still, it's entertaining and fun and worth a look."You're an ill-bred little tramp....You are a common little beast and I intend to tell you..." They just don't make dialog like this any more!!

netwallah A Loretta Young vehicle. She plays Letty, a single mother with an obstreperous son, Mickey (Jackie Kelk). Letty has some sort of job wearing dresses at nightclubs—it's a little obscure, but the point is, she gets to look pretty. Mickey gets knocked over by a milk truck driven by dairy magnate Malcolm Trevor (Cary Grant), and Letty, Mickey, and a shady lawyer try to get damages, but somebody's taken film of Mickey running and jumping, so they throw the case out of court and Mickey gets taken away, first by matrons, and then by the soft-hearted Trevor. Mickey rather likes the posh life, and the affection of Trevor and his wife Alyce (Marion Burns). Then the scheming Letty tries to get her son back by fascinating Trevor—easily done—but the noble response of the wife, first in not making a fuss, and then saving Mickey from drowning in the swimming pool, changes her mind. She dumps Trevor, though he's ready to divorce his wife for her, and walks away, teary-eyed. Big unselfish act, probably her first. The movie ends rather abruptly, after Letty's friend remembers some incident or other from the boy's infancy, saying something about how cute he was. Letty gazes tearfully into the middle distance. "Yeah," she says. That's the end. The bad girl goes good. Young does a decent enough job with this melodrama. The kid Kelk is knobby-kneed, big-eared, and a ham. Grant is mostly a stick figure—any upright actor would do. Good thing it's only an hour long.