Born to Kill

Started three more ALB- stubs in the morning (ALB-080 - ALB-082), which, due to my continuing cold, was the full extent of my Boobpedia activity today. I did go online in the evening to take a look around some JAV-BBW sites, and found something to warm the cockles of my heart: The image you see at left, of the unjustly under-used Hiyoko Makino. As far as I know of the magnificent Ms. Makino, her only starring appearance was in her December 2011 debut, in the aptly-titled IZM DVD, Unusually Huge Tits (ただごとではない大爆乳 - Tada-goto de wa nai dai-bakunyuu). As you can imagine, I've kept a watch for more from Makino but have turned up nothing so far. She does keep a blog, but, as seems to be common with these models, she uses it mainly to make a record of her daily eating habits. This is no sillier, I suppose, than a record of one's film-viewing habits, but it would be nice to see more images of this gorgeous lady... So this one DVD starring her is just one of the many gifts from BBW-auteur, Ryudai, for which appreciators of the full-figured Asian female form should be eternally grateful. In connection with this release, Tokyo Topless featured Hiyoko-chan in this layout, oddly, with her face removed. I don't know the reason for this face-hiding, but it is pretty common at Tokyo Topless, even with models, like Hiyoko-chan, who already have and continue to show their faces in videos and photo sessions...

I felt crappy last night too, and not in a mood for Internet work, so I went to bed and watched Born to Kill (1947). Like a few recent viewings, it was slightly disappointing after the praise I'd read for it. I've always liked the star, Lawrence Tierney. The reason usually given to explain his limited success in his acting career is that he was as big a bastard off-screen as he was on-screen, so no one wanted to work with him. After seeing this one, however, I have to admit he was actually more of a "presence" than an actor. Sure, he scowls and growls and intimidates well, but he's pretty much on that one note all the time. In this one, rather than his usually likeably despicable criminals, he's completely unlikeable-- a repulsive, psychotic, narcissistic sociopath.

As in some of the recent films seen, a couple of the actors in minor roles make the film much more enjoyable. Esther Howard, again as a tough, boozy old broad (we last saw her in Dick Tracy vs. Cueball; 1946). The great Walter Slezak as a portly, prissy, Bible-quoting sleazeball private eye. (One of his better lines: "As you grow older, you'll discover that life is very much like coffee: the aroma is always better than the actuality. May that be your thought for the day.") The always enjoyably slimy Elisha Cook Jr. also helped raise the quality. (Quoth Cook to Tierney: "You can’t just go around killing people whenever the notion strikes you. It’s not feasible.") The female lead, Claire Trevor, like Tierney, was just plain unlikeable-- scheming, manipulative, greedy-- and not in as entertaining and over-the-top way that Jean Gillie was in Decoy (1946). It's hard to fault the movie for those two characters because they were what they were, which is what they were supposed to be. The film did have its fair share of thrills, as promised in reviews, but it still left me with an overall feeling of slow, talky, soap-opera... Robert Wise could certainly handle film noir, but this (his first in the genre?) is the weakest of the three I've seen so far. The other two are The Set-Up (1949) and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)-- both top-notch films. I have high hopes (not overly high, I hope) for his The House on Telegraph Hill (1951). Overall, I found Born to Kill worth watching, certainly, but not quite top-drawer noir or Wise. A respectable Seven stars out of Ten from me.