In Reno, the cold-hearted Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) has just divorced from her husband and returns to the boarding house owned by Mrs. Kraft (Esther Howard) to pay her expenses and say goodbye to her and to Mrs. Kraft neighbor and best friend Laury Palmer (Isabel Jewell) since she intends to return to San Francisco early in the morning. Helen goes to a casino to celebrate her divorce and glances at the gambler Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney) and Laury also goes to the casino with her boyfriend Danny Jaden (Tony Barrett). When Laury sees Sam, she sneaks with Danny since she had dated the gambler. Late night, Danny and Laury go to her house and Sam is waiting for them and kills the couple in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Helen sees Laury's dog on the street and brings it to the house. When she sees the bodies in the kitchen, she does not report to the police and heads to the train station, where she meets Sam. They travel together and Sam lodges in the Terrace Hotel. When Sam visits Helen, he leans that she lives in the mansion of her foster sister, the millionaire Georgia Staples (Audrey Long) and is the fiancée of the wealthy Fred Grover (Phillip Terry). The gold-digger Sam seduces Georgia and sooner they get married, but the calculating Helen feels horny for Sam. Meanwhile Mrs. Kraft hires the smart and sleazy private eyes Matthew Albert Arnett (Walter Slezak) to investigate the murder of her friend Laury.

"Born to Kill" is a film-noir that tells the story of a cold, greedy and calculating woman that feels desire for a ruthless killer. Claire Trevor performs an ambitious woman that is an iceberg and plans to marry for money with a good man that controls her bad instincts and sees her world collapsing when she meets the amoral killer Sam Wild. Marty 'Mart' Waterman (Elisha Cook Jr.) has a strange friendship with Sam and the fact that they share a double bad in the low-budget hotel may give a hint that they have a homosexual relationship. Walter Slezak has also a great performance in the role of a sleazy character. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Nascido para Matar" ("Born to Kill")

This noir film directed by Robert Wise is bereft of characters you can sympathize with save for Audrey Long and Phillip Terry. It does however rivet your attention to the leads of Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor, a pair of amorals if I ever saw one.

Back in Reno where Trevor was getting shed of a husband she happens to discover the murders of Isabelle Jewell and Tony Barrett done by a very jealous man played by Lawrence Tierney whom she meets on the train to San Francisco. They like each other, but he focuses on Audrey Long, Trevor's half sister who was lucky enough to have a father worth a fortune.

But Tierney's past is ever so slowly creeping up on him. And Trevor while now engaged to Terry, still she can't resist Tierney. Pity these two just didn't hitch, they truly deserve each other and not the people they were going with.

What I love about Born To Kill is the great care that Robert Wise took in both assembling his supporting cast and fleshing them out. Rarely do you see that in a B film. Those already mentioned plus Elisha Cook, Jr. as Tierney's luckless pal, Walter Slezak as a private detective open to a little blackmail, and Esther Howard as the landlady in Reno who hires Slezak to investigate the murder of her friend Jewell.

Born To Kill will keep you glued to the television or the big screen as it did in 1946 I'm sure. A truly fascinating bunch.

Lawrence Tierney is one cold and scary son of a gun in this film. In many ways, this amoral and detached performance was highly reminiscent of Richard Baseshart's in HE WALKED BY NIGHT, though Tierney was more unpredictable and tended to snap rather easily. Both men lacked the usual leading man charisma or the larger than life gangster style of the likes of Cagney or Bogart--and this was a real plus because the killer seemed much more realistic and menacing. Both men thought nothing of murder.

Now if all this wicked and amoral menace wasn't enough, the film combined his strong performance by an equally awful character played by Claire Trevor. At first, she doesn't seem so bad, but later she reveals herself to be an ugly and greedy opportunist. While not violent like Tierney, she was certainly an excellent femme fatale and was pretty wicked to the core. Combining her character with Tierney's was an excellent choice.

The film didn't feature some of the amazing trademark camera-work, though it's dialog was pure Noir--with lots of violence, snappy comebacks and sparkling as well as steamy dialog. While there are no cops in the film until the end and there are no gangsters, the film has the elements required to please fans of the genre. A top-notch film, though a bit on the unpleasant side for those who are not lovers of Film Noir.