Director: Lowell Sherman
Although she was only 21-years-old when she made Born to Be Bad in 1934, Loretta Young had already appeared in a total of 48 pictures. Her career began at the age of 4 when she starred in the uncredited role of a fairy in The Primrose Ring, and she would work regularly until the 1960s, during which time she worked with virtually every important leading man of Hollywood’s golden age. In this pre-Code melodrama, she was cast against type as an immoral woman who is as deceitful as she is seductive. Her one weakness is her love for her son – a rambunctious boy who, despite the genuine affection given to him by his mother, is clearly lacking guidance in his life. The man who crosses her path and falls for her is played by a very young, heavily made-up Cary Grant. Having only two years in the business at this point, he doesn’t quite seem comfortable with himself – considering the career to come, it is a surprise to discover just how unsexy and charmless he was in his earliest roles. Young doesn’t have the sass or resolve as someone like Joan Blondell in similar parts, but she certainly looks gorgeous and is well-dressed by costume designer Gwen Wakeling. The picture was released just six weeks before the pre-Code era would come to an end, but despite being made in a comparatively liberated time in Hollywood history, Darryl Zanuck was forced to reshoot and make cuts, most notably having to exclude several scenes of Young in her underwear.
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