BORN TO KILL **

Excellent, now totally forgotten Robert Wise thriller. The plot may be on the preposterous side, (Claire Trevor is the divorcee who gets involved with a double-murderer who has an eye on her foster-sister's money). Lawrence Tierney is the killer and it's a nice, tough performance from an underrated actor but this is basically Trevor's film; she's as hard as nails and while she may appear to be 'the victim', she's really a rattlesnake with a nice touch in hats. There's also a very good supporting cast that includes Walter Slezak, Elisha Cook Jr., (do he and Tierney really share a bed!), Esther Howard and Philip Terry. Indeed, this is perfect noir terrirtory even when it goes off the rails and is full of characters rotten to the core. The source material was James Gunn's novel 'Deadlier than the Male' and the first-rate script is by Eve Green and Richard Macauley.