Marked Woman

"Marked Woman" was banned on it's original release here in Australia then abruptly withdrawn at the last moment from it's initial television screening here in 1966. Why all the fuss? Well it's because of those female leads playing "hostesses" in a "clip joint" are obviously playing prostitutes! Shock! And in a film from 1937!

This film followed hot on the heels of the sensational and newsbreaking 1936 trial of mobster Lucky Luciano who was convicted on the evidence of the prostitutes who worked for him. This was the sort of material ("torn from the headlines") that was the staple and was very much a part of the house style of 1930's Warners - gritty, hard boiled, tough stories concerning the working person facing the depression. At the end of the opening credits there is a title card disclaiming any resemblance to persons real or otherwise in the film. This was rarely if ever stated so strongly in films of this period. Warners were obviously very conscious about being seen to be not capitalizing on such a headline event so soon after - which they were!

Simple sets abound reflecting the obsession that Warners had with economy - even the nightclub is rather plain with not too many long shots to expose too much. This nightclub over at RKO would have had a distinctly chic Art Deco look as per the trademark of that studios Art Director, and the whole production is also in stark contrast to the lavish Crawford and Shearer vehicles over at MGM.

This film is late in Davis' "early period" - one which I find fascinating with it's odd mix of narrative concerning women and crime. It is also a very interesting vehicle of Humphrey Bogart still years off from the super-stardom he found from "High Sierra" in 1941. His role is very much the reflection of the censors requirement from 1934 that the law makers be glorified and not the law breakers as was very much the case and staple of pre-1934 Warners output. His speech as District Attorney in court has an abundance of force and conviction.

Other players in the film to my mind fit like a glove. Eduardo Ciannelli is suitably creepy and sleazy as the crime boss. Lola Lane, Rosalind Marquis (both giving us two nice Warren and Dubin numbers in the nightclub), Mayo Methot (soon to be Mrs Bogart in real life in what was a very stormy union) and Isabel Jewell (the perfect little gold-digger) portray with the toughness required and as the other "marked women" trapped in a life on the wrong side of the law. Costuming reflects perfectly their "class" in spite of their lucrative profession.

"Marked Woman" also closely followed the landmark court case between a very unhappy Davis (trapped in what was very much a man's studio) and Warners over the crummy scripts she was repeatedly presented in spite of her landmark performances in "Of Human Bondage" ('34) at RKO and "The Petrified Forest" ('35). After being off the screen for almost a year she lost the case and came back humbly with the studio relieved to have their "upcoming" leading female star back in action (tempramental star Kay Francis career at Warners was winding down by this stage) and eventually giving her more meaty and suitable parts like "Marked Women" with their really coming to the party in giving her "Jezebel" in 1938.

"Jezebel" was the doorway for Davis' "mature" phase for it was the director of "Jezebel" (and subsequent vehicles "The Letter" (40) and "The Little Foxes" (41)) William Wyler was able to tame her and provide much assistance in maturing her performances. Simultaneously Warners became a outfit turning out extremely polished vehicles and one of the champions of the "Womens Picture" through the 1940's.

We are very fortunate in the Australian National Film and Sound Archive having a good 16mm copy of the film which we will be screening at our film society this year. There's nothing like seeing a film like this in it's intended environment - the big screen!

Enter a suspended state of disbelief and enjoy this entertaining and gritty melodrama from Hollywood's golden age!

A night-club owner called Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) was exploiting his hostesses, one of whom was Mary Dwight (Bette Davis). She was asked with her companions of the Club Intime to induce clients to drink, gamble and spend freely…

A few nights later Mary brings a sucker, Rulph Krawford (Damian O'Flynn) to the club… After Krawford loses a large amount of money gambling and then refuses to pay off the debt, Vanning orders his henchman Charley Delaney (Ben Welden) to get rid of him…

When special prosecutor, David Graham (Humphrey Bogart), questions Mary concerning Krawford's assassination, she denies in providing any helpful information…

Bogart's performance successfully applied malice determination and calmly exhibited compassion and concern… He was particularly effective, both firm, and penetrating, in his courtroom scenes, which served as an early warm-up for similar role twelve years later in Nicholas Ray's "Knock On Any Door."

Mayo Methot was also in the cast as one of the hostesses and it was during the filming that Bogart took her as his second wife

This is a star vehicle for Bette Davis. And she really gives a top performance as a professional hostess in a night club owned by a brutal mobster. The character she plays lives through a kind of moral awakening, and with it Davis' appearance changes also. First she wears heavy make up, at the end of the movie almost none. In between she gets beaten up badly by the mobster's thugs who carve a cross into her cheek. But she is attractive throughout. Incidentally, this is NOT a movie for Bogart fans. For once he is a clean cut good guy, not one of Bogart's fortes. His performance struck me as being one dimensional and totally uninspired.

Marked Woman has a good script by Abem Finkel and Robert Rossen (All the King's Men, The Hustler). Excellent portrayal of the brutal, uneducated mobster by Eduardo Ciannelli. Almost reminded me of Peter Sellers. Every now and then he grandly orders one of his bodyguard to make a note of some unimportant detail – the bodyguard just nods obediently, he does not look like a master of calligraphy. The club the mobster takes over is called Club Intime. „What does that mean, intime?" asks the mobster. „Uh, intimate", answers the intimidated restaurateur. „What does THAT mean?". The restaurateur writhes, presses fore and middle finger together and holds them out. „Like that." „Ah ... THEN WHY DON'T YOU SAY SO!" The chandelier in the club has to go, of course. Indirect lighting, that's the thing. The best line belongs to one of Davis' companions, calling an evening dress „the sugar that makes the flies come round". Max Steiner's musical score for this movie is good and fitting.

This film moves swiftly in that wonderfully fast-paced,1930s no-holds- barred Warner Bros. manner. The storyline is based on the Lucky Luciano vice lord expose of the previous season, which would have been familiar to most film-goers. Warner Bros.melodramas thrived on the kind of gritty, working class stories that were "ripped from the headlines" during the Depression years. Until the Production Code clamp-down of 1934, the girls in the film would have been shown as more clearly identifiable prostitutes. Here it's all thinly veiled. Just what IS a "clip-joint hostess," one wonders. They obviously perform other business in the upstairs rooms. But the movie never goes there. The women are shown to be strong, independent, yet exploited. Though they are bordello babes, the audience sympathy is for them. The film was made the same year as "Stage Door," and it's got some similarities. These young ladies of the evening seem like they're staying in a sorority house for hookers.

For Bogart fans, this is a rather stilted, seemingly out-of-character performance for him. It's like watching Bogie's clone--the role doesn't quite seem to fit him.

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.

Bette Davis insisted her make-up following the beating and slashing look horrific. If Joan Crawford had played this role, she might have sported a slight bruise. Here Davis is heavily bandaged--realistic and frightening.

This is an overblown melodrama but it shows Warner Bros. and Bette Davis doing what they did best--telling a fast-paced story with lots of scintillating, snappy dialogue. Jack Warner may not have been much different than Lucky Luciano in many ways, but his studio sure could churn out some gripping tales.

Bette Davis looks as though she was rested (after her hiatus involving litigation) and raring to sink her teeth in a juicy part. Well, she got her wish in this finely directed Lloyd Bacon gangster drama.

Davis is alert, focused, and driven here, putting her all into the dance hall hostess. It's one of her best roles in a film unfamiliar to many movie goers.

The film is notable for some fine work by most talented character actors, and for an unusual "good guy" role for Humphrey Bogart. This crusading D.A. on a mission is skillfully etched by Mr. B. and his scenes with Davis are particularly engaging.

Everyone knows the true life basis for this drama, and the exclaimer at the start doesn't fool anyone. This is a mean expose of some very callus criminals, and has the feel of that period's current newspaper headlines.

A well made drama, worth checking out.