Marked Woman
April. 10,1937 NRIn the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
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Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
1937 was a major turning point for the career of Bette Davis. After spending the last few years in making films for the studio that didn't always benefit her, Davis finally landed the kind of film which would stretch her acting ability most effectively. "Marked Woman" is such a film. This is about as brutal and as realistic as it gets and the film supplies the viewers with plenty of gritty and violent entertainment. "Warner Bros." must have known they were pushing the envelope somewhat with "Marked Woman." Such violent content was unseen in those far more Conservative days but it was a risk that paid off. This is a fine film in every way and I'm sure Humphrey Bogart would have enjoyed the challenge regarding his career. From 1936 til 1940, he played mainly one- dimensional villains. Here, he is cast on the right side of the law for a change. Bogart plays the Assistant District Attorney who is determined to bring about the downfall of a notorious Mafia pimp and godfather. Bette Davis plays one of several call girls to the Mafia Don who initially refuses to help Bogart. However, due to the brutal killing of her younger sister and her own savage beating, Davis decides to finally bring about the decline of her evil boss. The scene where Davis is permanently scarred and assaulted is something that can rival any film made by any studio in Hollywood. I'd wager that the American Film Censors would have frowned down upon some material. Nevertheless, although the scene in question is only heard and not seen, it carries considerable shock value. It is Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart who share the acting honours. The latter delivers a brilliantly written deliberation in one of the closing scenes which takes place in court. "Marked Woman" isn't a typical gangster film by the studio, it is more of a drama with the emphasis on character. The entire film carries an air of hopelessness for the most part but that is how it is meant to be. Applying a word like "Entertainment" isn't correct but the film certainly enlightens and also informs its audience. This is no bit of escapism.
(*Most annoyingly over-used movie-quote of all*) - "Gee! You're swell.".... (uttered about umpteen times throughout the course of the story) Now, I wouldn't exactly say that this 1937 Bette Davis/Humphrey Bogart vehicle was terrible - But, believe me, it came pretty damn close.Yes. With "Marked Woman" now being 80 years old - I really did try to keep that point in mind and cut it some slack - But, let me tell ya - It was (without a doubt) actress, Bette Davis (and her irksome, bug-eyed histrionics) that just about ruined this vintage crime/thriller for me.And, I ask you - (With her totally unconvincing and truly nauseating performance as Mary Wright, the clip joint hostess "snitch") - Was Davis really considered to be one of the Hollywood "greats" of her generation?... Was she!?.... 'Cause in this picture - She was downright awful. She really was.And, even though Davis was playing a character who the audience was expected to care about and root for - I absolutely loathed her like I haven't loathed an actress in many a moon..... Sorry. But that's the way i feel.
In more skillful hands "Marked Woman" might have been a classic Warners picture with a very good Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, still early in their careers, showing signs of the major stars that they would, not too soon after this film, become.However, the director Lloyd Bacon, was more widely known for his direction of musicals (Footlight Parade, 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1937), one of the writers (Robert Rossen) made his film debut with this film, the other writer (Abem Finkel) had his best work in the years ahead. None of them were up to the task of taking a story "fresh from the headlines" and turn it into a compelling drama. It's not even good melodrama.The story of an up and coming DA (Bogart) trying to put away a gangster with the help of 5 "hostesses". Another story involving one of the hostesses(Davis) and her younger, smarter sister. The story of 5 desperate woman trying to scratch out a meager living, by taking advantage of gentlemen who are only too happy to part with their money, if it means having a lovely girl with them all evening. The problem is, taken separately or tied in all together, none of these stories is particularly interesting.It doesn't help that four of the five hostesses are as exciting as watching a bowl of oatmeal. I won't say who is the worst, it doesn't matter, they are all bad. Of course part of the problem is that they don't have very well developed characters to try to do anything with.If you are a fan of Bogart and/or Davis, rent this one, just to get a good look at where they were in their development. But if you are not a fan of them, don't bother, don't waste your time.5 out of 10
Set in the "underworld" of Manhattan, Marked Woman has Bette Davis as a woman who has the nerve to defy one of the city's most powerful, yet surely the most unbelievably stupid, gangsters. The women of the story are "hostesses." What is not acknowledged obviously is that they are essentially prostitutes. They work in a gambling house in the city.Davis briefly meets and befriends a young man who confides in her that he is not able to pay off the debt he has amassed, not surprised to find out later that he has been murdered. Interrogated by investigator Humphrey Bogart, Davis and the other women refuse to rat out their retarded employer, Johnny (it's always a Johnny) Vanning. They fear him, and while behind closed doors loathing him are helpless to free themselves from him. Davis's younger sister, a goody-good college girl, comes to visit, oblivious to the risky circumstances she has walked into, and gets recklessly, inexplicably, is drawn very quickly into the world, against the urging of her older sister.Look, whether this is dated or not, it displays some of the very worst acting I have ever seen. Yes, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart headline the cast, but they are so tacky, almost like they are characters in later movies that love old black and white movie pictures and recite lines from ones they've seen a million trillion times. They are not the only ones. The worst actor is the one who plays the worst character, Johnny Vanning, a hilariously stupid Italian mob boss. He is an actor who cannot act his way out of a paper bag playing a character who cannot think or talk his way out of a paper bag. One of the funniest moments:Johnny runs joints and takes over joints. They all seem to be officially called "joints," even by the city. Never are they ever referred to as anything else. He changes their names to less clever things:One's name is Le Intime. He says, "What does that mean?""It means intimate.""What does that mean?""Affectionate. Being together.""Well why doesn't it say what it means? Charlie. Tell them to change it."He really does not know anything and relies on his henchmen and the people around him, but nobody ever vocalizes this.All of the dialogue is overacted and scripted and corny, the chemistry between all the "hostesses" is trite, and all of my laughter was against the intent of the filmmakers.