Marked Woman

Warner Bros. Pictures presents "MARKED WOMAN" (1937) (96 min/B&W) -- Starring Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Eduardo Ciannelli, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot & Jane Bryan, .

Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Lloyd Bacon directed this tough, fast-paced film about "hostesses" in a nightclub run by a ruthless gangster. Star Bette Davis shines in the leading role, but it's cobra-like Eduardo Ciannelli who steals the film as the crime kingpin. A sleek, urbane actor, Ciannelli was a doctor before turning to the stage. He made his film debut in the previous year's Winterset, and would go along to become a top movie villain for the next several decades. Ciannelli had about him an air of refined cruelty that made him compelling to watch. Unlike Davis, his is a name that never became well-known.

Dedicated to realism, Bette Davis left the set when the makeup department outfitted her with dainty bandages for the hospital scene following the physical attack on her character by mobsters. She drove to her own doctor and instructed him to bandage her as he would a badly beaten woman. Returning to the set, she declared, "You shoot me this way, or not at all!" They did.

This film also shows wonderful examples of the Art Deco style in the Club Intime nightclub sequences. The design is lustrous. Hollywood Deco always signified glamor, modernity, and sexual liberation.

This film also has an up-and-coming actor by the name of Humphrey Bogart along with his soon-to-be-real-life-wife Mayo Methot. Get a load of some of the other female names in the cast: Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell and Rosalind Marquis - all "marked" women!

Special footnote -- Screenwriters Rossen and Finkel capitalized on a sensational trial reported by the "New York Times" between May 14 and June 22, 1936 according to film historian Charles Eckert. Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey was the prosecutor and Charles "Lucky Luciano" Lucania his target. Dewey went on to become New York governor and a two-time Presidential candidate while Luciano went on to organize Dannemora, the New York dock workers, and the international drug trade. The women whose testimony led to a conviction left the House of Detention and were sent to Dewey's offices in the Woolworth Building, where they received sums ranging between $150 and $175 dollars, barely a half week's wages that they earned as prostitutes. Then, according to Eckert they "disappeared, as they do in the film, into the fog."

BIOS:
1. Lloyd Bacon [aka: Lloyd Francis Bacon]
Date of Birth: 4 December 1889 - San Jose, California
Date of Death: 15 November 1955 - Burbank, California

2. Bette Davis [aka: Ruth Elizabeth Davis]
Date of Birth: 5 April 1908 - Lowell, Massachusetts
Date of Death: 6 October 1989 - Neuilly, France

3. Humphrey Bogart
Date of Birth: 25 December 1899 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 14 January 1957 - Los Angeles, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 96 min on DVD ~ Warner Bros. Pictures ~ (05/30/2006)

Eduardo Ciannelli gives an wonderful, controlled performance as the gangster heavy, Vanning in "Marked Woman". His studied calm nicely offsets the histrionics of the hostesses in his employment. Betty Davis, naturally, is given the most screen time reacting hysterically to her myriad sorrows and complaints. The rest of the girls just stand around mostly like mannikins in stolen designer dresses. One of them actually sings for her supper at Club Intimate. These songs prompted me to suggest a name change: Club Irritate. The music is fluff, filler--that doesn't do anything to move the story along.

Overall, the story is quite predictable in some parts. What makes the film work is the brilliant dialogue and the unobtrusive direction. The actors are allowed to speak. The result is nonstop clever banter that never gets too serious until the end. The courtroom scene gets pretty heavy--particularly when the sentence is handed down to Vanning and his henchmen. The "message" of the film is clearly expressed by the judge during sentencing. His venomous hatred towards Vanning is made entirely too explicit.

The film presents a low opinion of the entire underground milieu. A clear distinction is made between the 5 hostesses and Mary Dwights tender, mopey sister Betty. Betty is esentially void from the moment she arrives to surprise her sister. Typically, the prey is introduced as innocent and sweet before her inevitable fate is sealed. In this case, it is the terrible realization that her college education has been payed for with dirty money that drives her to act out of character (like her sister). Naturally, it is this behaviour that gets the poor stupid girl killed. The rest of the film is built around absolving the death of this pure, guileless creature. The film suffers, despite the exellent oratory by Bogie in the courtroom. It requires the sinister machinations of the Vanning gang in order to sustain its corrosive ambience of gloom and terror. That all gets lost in the courtroom, and the verdict is a foregone conclusion. Still, the film offers a sharp script and excellent acting by the entire cast. The plot is rather pedestrian and offers no surprises. The film relies on its actors to make it plausible and for the most part, this is done with the utmost craftsmanship. 4/5

Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart were a rugged team in this 1938 pot-boiler that stands above the crime melodramas of the period because the central characters are women caught in a web of evil due to their virtual enslavement to a ruthless gangster. Supposedly based on true crime files, the girls were supposed to be prostitutes but censorship demanded the term "clip-joint hostess"!!! The cast is excellent but Davis shines as Mary the central figure whose little sister winds up being killed by the gangster boss. Mary wages a battle but pays a dear price for her efforts (see the movie) and she and her co-workers (the other "girls") end up walking away into the fog with an uncertain future forever scarred by their experiences. This film demands DVD treatment. It is unforgettable once seen and a classic reminder of what movie-going once was long ago. I strongly recommend it to Davis and Bogie buffs but also to classic 30's crime fans. It's beautifully made and surprisingly tough for the period ( despite the stupid censorship regulations). Check it out....