Bad girl movies
Bad girl movies are films in which the main character is a provocative, scheming, often sexy or beautiful, but compelling even when not, woman, almost always on the wrong side of the spirit and usually the letter of the law. Some are quite young, others not. Manipulative, seductive, murderous, vengeful, troubled, hedonistic, depraved, or any combination thereof, they were occasionally misunderstood, softened or redeemed, but sometimes only at death's door. Some very early and much later exemplars got away with their crimes, but most paid, one way or another, as the censors required. The film posters of such films usually featured sexy artwork of the actress, posed seductively. Currently, these images in original posters and reproductions are as valued as are the films themselves.
Such films are a subcategory, mostly, although not exclusively, of film noir, labeled by latter-day movie buffs to describe dark films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, but some earlier, and others later.
Such films include:
1920s
- Carmel Myers in Ben-Hur (1925)
- Gladys Brockwell in 7th Heaven (1927)
- Margaret Livingston in Sunrise (1927)
- Louise Brooks in The Canary Murder Case and Pandora's Box (both 1929)
- Ruth Chatterton in Madame X (1929)
- Viola Dana in Two Sisters (1929)
- Jeanne Eagels in The Letter (1929)
1930s
- Evelyn Brent in Framed (1930)
- Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel (1930), Shanghai Express (1932), Stage Fright (1950) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
- Myrna Loy in Renegades (1930), Arrowsmith and A Connecticut Yankee (both 1931), Thirteen Women and The Mask of Fu Manchu (both 1932).
- Lili Damita in Friends and Lovers (1931)
- Bebe Daniels in The Maltese Falcon (1931)
- Sidney Fox in Bad Sister (1931)
- Wynne Gibson in City Streets (1931), My Son Is Guilty (1939), and Double Cross (1941)
- Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton (1932), The Women (1939) and A Woman's Face (1941)
- Claudette Colbert in The Sign of the Cross (1932) and Cleopatra (1934)
- Ann Dvorak in Three on a Match and The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (both 1932)
- Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman (1932)
- Karen Morley in Scarface and Flesh (both 1932)
- Anna May Wong in Shanghai Express (1932)
- Constance Bennett in Bed of Roses (1933)
- Joan Blondell in Blondie Johnson (1933)
- Judith Anderson in Blood Money (1933) and Rebecca (1940)
- Frances Dee in Blood Money (1933)
- Miriam Hopkins in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
- Margaret Lindsay in The House on 56th Street (1933)
- Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face (1933), Double Indemnity (1944), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), and Crime of Passion (1957)
- Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage (1934), Satan Met a Lady (1936 remake of the 1931 film), The Letter (1940 remake of 1929 Pre-Code version), The Little Foxes (1941), Beyond the Forest (1949), Another Man's Poison (1951), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Dead Ringer and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (both 1964)
- Loretta Young in Born to Be Bad (1934) and The Accused (1949)
- Binnie Barnes in The Three Musketeers and Frontier Marshal (both 1939)
- Gail Patrick in My Man Godfrey (1936)
- Benita Hume in Suzy (1936)
- Simone Simon in La bête humaine (1938) and The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
1940s
- Wendy Barrie in The Saint Takes Over (1940)
- Ida Lupino in They Drive by Night (1940) and Lust for Gold (1949)
- Gale Sondergaard in The Letter (1940 remake of 1929 Pre-Code version), The Spider Woman (1944) and The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946)
- Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon (1941; remake of 1931 film)
- Betty Field in Blues in the Night (1941)
- Rita Hayworth in The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Gilda (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Salome (1953)
- Faye Emerson in Lady Gangster (1942)
- Ginger Rogers in Roxie Hart (1942) and Black Widow (1954)
- Patricia Morison in Calling Dr. Death (1943), Dressed to Kill (1946), and Song of the Thin Man (1947)
- Maureen O'Hara in The Fallen Sparrow (1943) and Lisbon (1956)
- Anne Baxter in Guest in the House (1944), All About Eve (1950), Bedevilled (1955), and The Come On (1956)
- Evelyn Ankers in Weird Woman and The Pearl of Death (both 1944)
- Veronica Lake in The Hour Before the Dawn (1944)
- Cornelia Otis Skinner in The Uninvited (1944)
- Kathleen Byron in Black Narcissus (1947)
- Claire Trevor in Murder, My Sweet (1944), Born to Kill (1947), and Raw Deal (1948)
- Ann Blyth in Mildred Pierce (1945) and Another Part of the Forest (1948)
- Hillary Brooke in The Woman in Green (1945)
- Kay Francis in Allotment Wives (1945)
- Lynn Merrick in Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (1945)
- Gertrude Michael in Allotment Wives (1945)
- Ann Savage in Apology for Murder and Detour (both 1945)
- Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
- Veda Ann Borg in Accomplice (1946)
- Ava Gardner in The Killers (1946), The Bribe (1949) and My Forbidden Past (1951)
- Jean Gillie in Decoy (1946)
- Lola Lane in Deadline at Dawn (1946)
- Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
- Martha Vickers in The Big Sleep (1946) and The Burglar (1957)
- Janis Carter in Framed (1947)
- Jane Greer in Out of the Past (1947) and Station West (1948)
- Jayne Meadows in Lady in the Lake (1947)
- Lizabeth Scott in Dead Reckoning (1947) and Too Late for Tears (1949)
- Alida Valli in The Paradine Case (1947)
- Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street (1948)
- Leslie Brooks in Blonde Ice (1948)
- Dorothy Lamour in Lulu Belle (1948)
- June Vincent in Shed No Tears (1948)
- Marie Windsor in Force of Evil (1948), Trouble Along the Way (1953), The Bounty Hunter (1954), and The Killing (1956)
- Dorothy Hart in Undertow (1949)
- Margaret Leighton in Under Capricorn (1949)
- Virginia Mayo in Flaxy Martin (1949)
- Audrey Totter in Alias Nick Beal and Tension (both 1949)
- Helen Walker in Impact (1949)
- Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross (1949)
1950s
- Lucia Bosé in Cronaca di un Amore (1950)
- Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
- Lauren Bacall in Young Man with a Horn (1950)[1]
- Peggy Cummins in Gun Crazy (1950)
- Faith Domergue in Where Danger Lives (1950)
- Joan Fontaine in Born to Be Bad (1950)
- Laurette Luez in D.O.A. (1950)
- Lee Patrick in Caged (1950)
- Ann Sothern in Shadow on the Wall (1950)
- Jane Wyatt in The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
- Angela Lansbury in Kind Lady (1951), Please Murder Me (1956), All Fall Down (1962), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- Beverly Michaels in Pickup (1951) and Wicked Woman (1953)
- Christine Norden in The Black Widow (1951)
- Jan Sterling in Ace in the Hole (1951) and Female on the Beach (1955)
- Danielle Darrieux in 5 Fingers (1952)
- Gloria Grahame in Sudden Fear (1952), The Big Heat (1953) and Human Desire (1954)
- Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and Niagara (1953)
- Cleo Moore in On Dangerous Ground (1952) and One Girl's Confession (1953)
- Jean Simmons in Angel Face (1952)
- Peggie Castle in I, the Jury (1953)
- Jean Peters in A Blueprint for Murder (1953)
- Dominique Wilms in La môme vert-de-gris (1953)
- Mercedes McCambridge in Johnny Guitar (1954)
- Gaby Rodgers in Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
- Simone Signoret in Les Diaboliques (1955)
- Arlene Dahl in Wicked as They Come (1956)
- Barbara Hale in The Houston Story (1956)
- Jane Russell in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956)
- Danièle Delorme in Voici le temps des assassins (1956; English title: Deadlier Than the Male)
- Diana Dors in The Unholy Wife (1957)
- Jeanne Moreau in Elevator to the Gallows (1958) and The Bride Wore Black (1968)
- Mamie Van Doren in High School Confidential (1958)
1960s
- Brigitte Bardot in The Truth (1960)
- Juliette Gréco in Crack in the Mirror (1960)
- Catherine Rouvel in Chair de poule (1963)
- Lola Albright in Les Félins (1964)
- Jane Fonda in Les Félins (1964)
- Annu Mari in Branded to Kill (1967)
- Catherine Deneuve in Manon 70 (1968)
- Tuesday Weld in Pretty Poison (1968)
1970s
- Jessica Walter in Play Misty for Me (1971)
- Bernadette Lafont in Une belle fille comme moi (1972)
- Shirley Stoler in The Honeymoon Killers (1970) and Seven Beauties (1975)
- Karen Black in Family Plot (1976)
1980s
- Kathleen Turner in Body Heat (1981), Prizzi's Honor (1985) and Serial Mom (1994)
- Maruschka Detmers in Prénom Carmen (1983)
- Isabelle Adjani in L'été meurtrier (1983)
- Mieko Harada in Ran (1985)
- Nicole Garcia in Péril en la demeure (1985)
- Theresa Russell in Black Widow (1987)
- Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction (1987) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
- Isabelle Huppert in Une affaire de femmes (1988)
1990s
- Victoria Abril in Amantes (1991)
- Sharon Stone in Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and Casino (1995)
- Rebecca De Mornay in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and Mother's Day (2010)
- Drew Barrymore in Poison Ivy (1992)
- Nicole Kidman in Malice (1993), To Die For (1995), Birthday Girl (2001) and The Golden Compass (2007)
- Lena Olin in Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
- Alicia Silverstone in The Crush (1993)
- Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction (1994)
- Rose McGowan in Devil in the Flesh (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999)
- Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions (1999)
2000s
- Paz Vega in Carmen (2003)
- Laura Smet in La Demoiselle d'honneur (2004)
- Connie Nielsen in The Ice Harvest (2005)
2010s
- Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl (2014)
See also
References
- Bacall in Young Man with a Horn, primalscenes.blogspot.com; accessed August 14, 2014.