Customer Reviews

Marked Woman [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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....

This 1937 gangster flick is sensational. It tells the story of Mary Dwight and her four roomates who worked as hostesses in a nightclub. When that club is taken over by a gangster named Vanning, the club is transformed into a clip joint for unsuspecting customers. The job of the hostess is to make sure that the customers are having a good time, so that they spend their money drinking and gambling.

When Mary's naive sister, Betty, whom Mary is putting through college, pays her an unexpected visit, Mary is thrown for a loop, as Betty believes that Mary has a legitimate job. Mary struggles to keep of the masquerade for naught, as Mary is arrested by the police on a trumped up murder charge. It seems that one of the nightclub customers, who had welched on a gambling debt to the club, turned up dead with Mary's telephone number in his pocket. With the matter becoming front page news, the veil is pulled from her younger sister's eyes.

When kid sister Betty refuses to return to school, due to the notoriety surrounding the arrest, which was ultimately dropped, Mary keeps her under virtual house arrest. Bored one night, she accompanies one of Mary's roommates to one of Vanning's parties, unbeknownst to Mary. It is a party from which she will never return home. When Mary discovers where her now missing sister had been, she suspects the worst and enlists the help of an idealistic prosecutor to help her.

When she ultimately finds out what happened to her sister, she vows to get Vanning and tells him so to his face. Vanning, naturally, does not take her threat lightly and has his goons place his special mark on her to teach her a lesson and keep her silent. Mary, however, does not let this stop her in her quest to obtain justice for her sister. Enlisting the help of her initially reluctant fellow hostesses and that of the zealous prosecutor, she ultimately has her day in court.Vanning will rue the day he crossed swords with Mary.

This is a terrific film, with wonderful, award calibre performances to be had by all. Davis, as Mary Dwight, is street smart and hard boiled. She is also lovely to look at. Her roommates and fellow hostesses, played by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, and Mayo Methot, all have great chemistry with each other and Mary. All have great dialogue with which to work, fast paced, sharp, and often witty. Moreover, they each have a beautiful wardrobe of clothing.

Jane Bryan also gives a more than credible performance as Mary's fresh faced, younger sister. Eduardo Ciannelli with his authentic Italian accent is aptly sinister as the ganster, Vanning, and a young Humphrey Bogart is terrific as the prosecutor, giving a clipped, no nonsense delivery of his lines.

This is, without a doubt, one of Bette Davis' best films. It is one which is a must see for all fans of Ms. Davis, as well as for all those who simply love great, classic films.

No one will ever accuse MARKED WOMAN of being a great movie, but it still can be a great movie melodrama. Hollywood of the mid 1930s was churning out one potboiler after another, and this movie has the accompanying characteristics. Yet,what places MARKED WOMAN far above its contemporary competition is the terrific acting of Bette Davis ably backed up by Humphrey Bogart and a quartet of extraordinarily convincing female seconds. Bette plays Mary, a 'hostess' for a clip joint run by the gangster Vanning, snarlingly played by Eduardo Ciannelli. Her job is to entertain customers to the point that they drop all their money at the crooked gambling tables. For a while, Mary is content to do this until her sister Bette, played by the ultra-sweet Jane Bryan, gets unintentionally involved in the rackets. Bette is killed, Mary is deliberately disfigured to convince her to keep silent, and Bogie enters as a racket-busting DA who needs Mary's testimony to nail Vanning. If all this sounds like countless other films of the decade, then surely it is so, but the interaction between Bette Davis, her kid sister Jane Bryan, the snappy dialogue bouncing back and forth between the other hostesses, Mayo Methot, Isabel Jewel, and Lola Lane, combine to make the viewer forget that this is only a potboiler and instead focus on what they are really seeing, a movie that makes you care about what happens to the characters. This, then, is the magic of all good films, potboilers or otherwise.

"Marked Woman" was one of the finest examples of Warner Brothers' 1930s gangster films. The movie is violent, lonely and sentimental without being saccharin. "Marked Woman" maximizes the Bette Davis style. Humphrey Bogart is appropriately straightforward as the assistant D.A. His crisp, clipped delivery shows his stage training, but the dynamic Bogie is nowhere to be found. That's okay as this film is not about him but about the five night club hostesses led by Ms. Davis. Rounding out the quintet are Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Mayo Methot and Roslaind Marquis. Their chemistry is superb and the whole movie is charged with an exciting energy. The ironic aspect of this excellent gangster film is the fact that not a single gun is fired.

That is what one movie poster gushed about the one and only Bette Davis, and this one have Ms. Davis in all her firecracker glory in spades.

"Marked Woman" took place when the country was still recovering from the Depression. Bette played Mary Dwight, who is a "hostess" who roomed with four other hostesses, "Gaby", Estelle, Emmylou, and Florrie. The When Johnny Vanning (a thinly disguised Al Capone type) took over the club she worked at and turn it into a clip joint, Mary jumped at the chance to work for him, seeing easy money. However, Mary had a younger sister named Betty who goes to school and is in the dark about what Mary is really doing for a living.

When a man whom Mary was with was found murdered, Mary and her sister was inadvertendedly dragged into the plots of an idealistic D.A. played by Humphrey Bogart, who was determined to bring Vanning down. Mary sided with Vanning, but quickly switched allegiance her sister fell victim to Vanning. The other four woman were less enthusiastic about taking the side of the law, fearing retribution from Vanning and his goons.

"Marked Woman" is one of my all time favorite Bette Davis movie, the pacing is quick and never lets up once the plot got into motion. It is filled with rapid fire one-liners, and snappish and sarcastic humour that only the Golden Age of Hollywood can deliver. Great supporting performances by Lola Lane (Gaby) and Isabel Jewel (Emmy Lou). Although I found it interesting that one of the girls, Florrie, barely said a word.

Two songs in the the movie, "Silver Dollar Man" and "Mr. and Mrs. Dough" re-iterate the times, it is right after the Depression, and ANY money, no matter where it's from or how it's made, is better than none at all. Mary and her cohorts do not want to go back to poverty row, thus making their choice to do right all the more difficult, and one can understand and sympathize with their plight.

If you haven't seen Marked Woman, see it. You won't be disappointed.

If you're looking for an enthralling classic, you've got to get this film! The script is wonderful and full of old-fashioned, one-line zingers! The acting is great all 'round, and Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis really turn up the heat with their impressive acting and intelligent chemistry. This is defnitely the best drama I've seen of the old Hollywood gangster films. Vanning, the kingpin, is a cunning, evil, and blood-chillilng mafioso you'll never forget.
I've always been a Bette Davis fan, but her performance in this film really captured me. Humphrey Bogart also turns in a very fine performance as an idealistic prosecutor trying to save Bette from herself.
If you like vintage studio cinema, you'll love "Marked Woman"!

This is a very interesting picture for Bogart fans. His soon-to-be 3rd wife, Mayo Methot, is one of the five "hostesses" featured in this movie, who will bring down Eduardo Ciannelli; one of the few 30's films that I've seen that shows an actual Italian actor playing the crime boss. I love the art deco neon sign displaying "Club Intimate", the club where a lot of the action takes place. The 2 songs in the movie are done near the beginning and comic relief Allen Jenkins is only allowed one scene that's alsofairly early. Actually, I think Bogart is excellent in what he was given, that of a young district attorney with compassion and authority. The scene where he's forced to tell Davis about the death of her sister is quite touching. Bette in the title role gets to ham it up and at times looks simply marvelous. Isabel Jewell is quite a knockout as the ditzy blonde. Lloyd Bacon's direction stays at a brisk pace and Bette's off-camera beating and stabbing is still quite dramatic and terrifying. The 5 girls have good report with each other. The reason I didn't give this 5 stars is I thought the marquerade that suppose to fool Davis's kid sister somewhat weak, making her look like an idiot. But it's very forgivable as the censors at the time this was made couldn't let the girls be called prostitutes. Still, highly recommended.

Bette Davis distinguished herself as an actress in the early 1930s--but even with an Oscar to her credit she found the films offered to her by home studio Warner Brothers increasingly weak. She decided to break her contract, fled to England, and was soon embroiled in a lawsuit that she lost. But as Davis later noted, she lost the battle but won the war: her rebellion forced Warner Brothers to take her demands seriously, and upon returning to the studio she received MARKED WOMAN.

The story was very loosely based on mob boss 'Lucky' Luciano, who was felled by the testimony of New York prostitutes who revolted against his abusive reign. By 1937 Hollywood was under the "production code," a self-censorship program; consequently the script was somewhat veiled; even so, it went quite a bit further than most other films of its time. In the process it firmly re-established Davis as both actress and star and gave Humphrey Bogart a push toward the major stardom he would acheive in the 1940s.

New York night spot Club Intime is a reasonably respectable lounge until it is taken over by mob boss Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli), who adds illegal gambling to the club's attractions and lays down harsh new rules for the "hostesses" in his employ--including Mary Dwight (Davis), who proves as tough as her new boss. But when a club patron is found dead, all the girls are caught up in the investigation, including Mary's innocent kid sister Betty (Jane Bryan.) And when Betty herself falls prey to Vanning, Mary determines to even up the score "if I have to crawl back from the grave to do it!"

The script is somewhat inconsistent in the way it presents its characters, who tend to shift in unexpected ways as the film progresses, but the cast easily overrides this defect. This is particularly true of the "hostesses," which include Lola Lane, Mayo Methot (who would marry Humphrey Bogart after the film wrapped), Isabell Jewel (best recalled as Emmy Slattery in GONE WITH THE WIND), and Rosalind Marquis. Bogart is memorable as the district attorney who convinces the girls to testify; so too is Eduardo Ciannelli as mob boss Vanning. But the film belongs to Davis, and she makes the most of it.

Where most film stars worked hard to maintain a glamorous image on the screen, Davis was among the very few who was willing to "look bad" on screen. When Ciannelli slaps her across the face in a pivitol scene, there's no doubt that the slap is real, and although Mary's beating at the hands of mobsters is played off screen it is power stuff--and so to are the results of the beating. According to film lore, Davis was greatly displeased with the dainty bandages the studio gave her for post-beating scenes and went to her own doctor for more realistic ones; she also insisted on realistic make-up in her hospital scenes. Audiences of the day were shocked by the film's brutality.

While it is flawed in terms of inconsistent characters and in the necessity of bowing to censorship of the day, MARKED WOMAN is an extremely, extremely watchable film and a must for Davis fans, as well as fans of 1930s ganster drama. The print offered here is as good as it gets short of digital remastering, and while the bonuses are slim the featurette "Marked Woman: Ripped from the Headlines" is both informative and enjoyable. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Marked Woman was made in 1937 and featured the wonderful Bette Davis in a gritty, less than glamorous role. The movie is all about crime, the mobster underworld and hard-bitten alluring hostesses. There's violence and cruelty to women and murder, with most of the more grueling scenes taking place behind closed doors. One can just imagine the sensors take on this movie - they were almost certainly appalled at the subject matter, which was probably quite provocative for the time.

The story pretty much centers on the racketeering at the New York Club Intimé and the group of "hostesses" who work there. Underworld huckster Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Cianelli) has acquired the Club after renovations, and he wants to make sure that the girls are giving him the appropriate cut and that they are fulfilling their duties of encouraging men to spend on champagne and gamble in the secret casino hidden in the back room.

Mary Dwight Strauber (Davis) rooms with a number of hostesses who go along with the new deal, even though they know Vanning has murdered men who think they can trick the club. Mary is well aware that Vanning is up to no good, but her very life is placed on the line when a witness sees her with one of the men who was murdered.

Along with the other girls, Mary is hauled down to the DA's office and forced into a lineup. Mary then gets an offer of protection from David Graham (Humphrey Bogart), and she agrees to help, only to have her reputation as a professional party girl backfire on her - now she's got her picture in the paper, her reputation forever ruined.

There's a trial and a Mary gives a bent testimony, mainly because she's terrified of what Vanning might do to her. Things get even more complicated when Mary's innocent sister Betty (Jane Bryan) arrives in town, and not only accidentally gets pulled in on the police raid, but decides to adopt the call-girl lifestyle. Disillusioned, she accompanies the least dependable and rather flighty hostess Emmy Lou (Isabel Jewell) to one of Vanning's parties.

Perhaps the most memorable scene - and the most violent - is when poor Mary gets roughed up by one of Vanning's henchmen. Of course the director Lloyd Bacon wasn't allowed to show anything, so it all takes place in her bedroom with us outside, but this ironically gives the scene even more of an impact. Davis is really good here, not just in the one-to-one scenes with Bogart, but also when she's with her group of girls and she really manages to portray Mary's strength and fragility in the same moment. It's a very atypical role for an actress at this time.

Of course, the movie is all about the triumph of women over men who treat them badly and exploit them, and punch them out at the lightest provocation, and you can really feel the social relevance oozing off the screen - even if the full impact of it was tempered by the sensors. All these women must find their inner strength after an initial false boldness and it is only with the help of each other can they band together to eventually take these henchmen down. Mike Leonard July 06.

This was Bette Davis's first film after being suspended by Warner Brothers whereafter she fled to England, There was a sensational London trial. Davis was ordered by the judge to honor her contract and she returned to Los Angeles. Warner Brothers actually paid her legal fees and gave her the prime role of a nightclub B-girl (in those days they had to call them "hostesses") in this film based on New York's Lucky Luciano and his gang. Perhaps she was glad to get back to work as well, for, although a bit too overdone to my taste, she does give a firecracker of a performance. Ms. Davis in this film, or any other for that matter, is never dull.

Her sister, played by Jane Bryan (she was still a teenager and this was her second film: she was later to marry the industrialist Justin Dart), comes to the Big Apple and unwittingly gets herself involved with the Big Boss (played by Eduardo Cianelli to the hilt) with tragic results. The hostesses at this point are all marked women and they know it. What results is a dramatic courtroom trial with Humphrey Bogart in a dynamic performance as a crusading district attorney. Mayo Methot (his soon-to-be third wife; they were both awaiting the finalization of their divorces during the filming, Bogart from Mary Philips, his wife of nine years, and Methot from Percy T. Morgan, co-owner of a popular Sunset Boulevard restaurant) plays Estelle Porter, one of the hostesses, impressively, although she found little film work after that and did not live up to her promising youthful New York stage appearances. Bogart himself thought she was a very talented actress.

The action is swift, the lines are curt and often witty, and there is pathos in the ending as one really grows to care for these lost and seemingly hopeless women. Bogart offers to try to help Davis on to a new road. Perhaps she will. Perhaps she won't. To the film's credit, we are left wondering.