Lady of Deceit - aka Born to Kill - 1947 film review

Lady of Deceit, also known as Born to Kill was directed by Robert Wise, who much later was responsible for The Sound of Music. Two films more different in tone as well as storyline would be hard to imagine. Lady of Deceit, based on James Gunn's novel Deadlier Than the Male, is a dark story about amoral people, and this may account for the fact that it didn't do particularly well on first release. Uplifting it is not.

Claire Trevor plays Helen Trent, who has gone to Reno to get a divorce. Whilst she's there, she gets to know a breezy young woman who goes out with a new man, much to displeasure of Sam Wild (played by Lawrence Tierney), who is obsessed with her. Wild kills both his ex and her admirer. Helen discovers the bodies, but decides not to get involved, and goes back to San Francisco. At the station, she bumps into Wild, and they fall for each other.

However, Helen is engaged to a rich young chap, much to Wild's displeasure. Helen  is the foster sister of wealthy Georgia, played by Audrey Long (who was married at one time to Leslie Charteris, creator of the Saint). Wild seduces nice but naive Georgia, and they marry, but Wild and Helen remain besotted with each other. Wild's admiring chum Marty (Elisha Cook Jr) joins the not very happy household, and when a friend of Wild's victim hires a lazy and unreliable private eye, Marty tries to protect Wild, before events spin out of control.

Esther Howard, who hires the P.I., is perhaps the most appealing character in the film, not that the competition is strong. She's an alcoholic, but she is trying to do the right thing by her friend. Claire Trevor does a good job as the "iceberg" Helen, but I felt that Lawrence Tierney, who late in life became more famous than ever thanks to appearing in Reservoir Dogs, was wooden in the extreme. He tries to be a tough guy in the Humphrey Bogart style, and apparently was a tough guy in real life. But his lack of charisma is a big drawback. Robert Mitchum would have done a much better job, I feel. All the same, this downbeat movie is watchable from start to finish.

Key Largo

Key Largo is a classic black and white thriller, set on one of the Florida Keys during the hurricane season. The cast is outstanding, with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor. I enjoyed it.

The story is straightforward. Bogey drops in at a hotel on Key Largo, to see the owner and his daughter, having fought alongside the owner's late son during the war. It's apparent that Bogey was a war hero, but he gives the impression that his colleague, Temple, was the heroic one. And this idea of heroiosm is a key element in the story. At some points, Bogey's character appears weak and irresolute. But the viewer is always optimistic that he will in the end assert himself - and that's a tribute to the iconic actor's powerful character.

A supposed fishing party, whose members are rather disagreeable, is staying at the hotel. It turns out that they are a gang of crooks, led by Johnny Rocco - played by Edward G. Robinson. The battle of wills between Robinson and Bogart is as compelling as the chemistry between Bacall and Bogart.

A word for Claire Trevor, who plays a drunken former nightclub singer. She puts in a very good performance, and plays a crucial part in the story-line. The story is sound, but it's the acting, and the powerful personalities of the actors, that make this movie memorable.