Born to Kill

Superior film noir classic directed by the late Robert Wise about Claire Trevor and her love for a killer, Lawrence Tierney. A couple is murdered by Tierney in Reno because he was jealous and easily angered to the point of violence. Trevor finds the bodies but leaves after finalizing her divorce. While on the train, she meets up with Tierney and has instant chemistry with him. Only trouble is that she has a fiancée with a lot of money and Tierney is broke. Well, just like with any film noir, it gets more complicated with Tierney marrying Trevor's foster sister(a wealthy woman in her own right) and being tailed by sleazy, literate detective Walter Slezak. Wise does a more than adequate job creating tension and suspense in this film and leaving no character's sense of good in tact. All of the characters it seems are of dubious natures with Esther Howard's roly-poly drunk with a heart of gold coming out as the most ethical! The acting by the leads and the supporting cast are first-rate. I am so surprised that Tierney, a man I immediately remembered from a Seinfeld episode and from Reservoir Dogs, was so good so long ago. He seemed to have dropped out of the public eye for so long, but his acting definitely shows great potential. I believe I read that alcoholism was behind this. At any rate, Tierney is very good, Trevor plays one of the coldest performances on screen(her lines to Howard were absolutely chilling), Slezak is vintage Slezak - an oily, good-humoured man looking out for himself, Elisha Cook Jr. gives another good turn as Tierney's buddy, and Howards excels as the drunken woman. The scenes with her and Cook were well-paced and effectively frightening. Born to Kill is nothing great in terms of plot or story - we have seen much of the same before - but under the adroit eyes of Wise and aided by big performances by talented actors and actresses - it rises above the mundane to be a vintage film noir classic. Tieney and Trevor really personified cold wickedness as well as anyone I have seen on screen.