Marked Woman (1937)

This film is a thinly disguised account of the trial and conviction of the real-life New York gangster, Lucky Luciano. In the film he is called Johnny Vanning, and is played with convincing ruthless menace by Enrico Ciannelli. The fact that the film was really a portrait of Luciano was revealed by LIFE Magazine on April 19, 1937. Bette Davis is feisty, outspoken, and a 'realist' who reluctantly turns into an 'idealist' when her kid sister is murdered by Vanning. The film is extremely well directed by Lloyd Bacon, who began his career by directing many silent shorts in 1922 and became famous in 1928 for directing Al Jolson in the early sound film THE SINGING FOOL. He is probably best remembered today as the director of the outstanding film 42nd STREET (1933). The fact that he directed the football film KNUT ROCKNE ALL American (1940) came to the world's renewed attention when Ronald Reagan became President. His patriotic and impressive film THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS (1944) is also highly thought of. His last film (his 130th) was released in 1954, and he died in 1955. The prosecuting attorney who aids Bette David is played by Humphrey Bogart, who delivers his lines very well and forcefully, but who shows about as much emotion as a marble statue. His eyes are numb. A number of young actresses support Bette Davis very well indeed, namely Lola Lane, Isabell Jewell, Mayo Methot, Rosalind Marquis, and Jane Bryan. Of these, Mayo Methot married Bogart the next year, 1938, having met him during the shooting of this film. She was tempestuous and once threatened Bogart with a gun in front of dinner guests. She divorced Bogart in 1945 and died a few years later at the early age of 47 as the result of years of alcoholism. As for Jane Bryan, who was a special protegé of Bette Davis, it was she and her husband who were responsible for persuading their friend Ronald Reagan to run for President. She then served on the Federal Arts Commission and was one of Reagan's closet political advisors. The only one of the five who soon faded from the screen was Rosalind Marquis. She was a concert pianist who briefly turned actress and made 11 films between 1936 and 1938. But after only two years in the business, she retired from films, became a singer for a few years, and then became a 'socialite' in Kentucky, as wife of the wealthy Ed Axton. Both she and Jane Bryan lived to be 90. Sometimes it can be interesting to research some of the supporting actors and actresses in films, as you never know what you will find. This film made a big hit and deserved to, as it portrayed a group of young women who are the only ones to stand up to a gangster who has terrorised New York City, bribed many of the great and good, murdered many of his enemies and 'girls who might talk' and thrown them into the river, and threatened just about everybody else. When corruption goes that far, an honest society becomes impossible. Bette Davis was the perfect choice for the provocative leading role in this challenging film. The fight against corruption never stops, so this film is as relevant today as it was then.

. . . Betty Davis portrays "Mary Dwight." Ms. Dwight (nee Strauber) earns a facial scar in the form of a cross carved into her cheek toward the end of MARKED WOMAN. Though she doesn't take any potshots at a sitting American president as did Manson groupie Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme, Mary does lead her own sister to a watery doom while under the sway of mercenary sex cult leader "Johnny Vanning." Mr. Vanning is so frightening that Richard Nixon--who made headlines by declaring JV wannabe Charles Manson "guilty" immediately upon the latter's arrest--would have babbled, "He is NOT a crook, he is NOT a crook" had Vanning been arrested during his administration. Since MARKED WOMAN takes place in the 1930s, History spares us such a milquetoast Milhouse. But the real question you'll be asking yourself after watching MARKED WOMAN is, "What about Bob?" Mr. Robert Crandall--would be molester of innocent coeds--seems to get off "scot free" (or "Cosby Clear," for Gen X'Ers). Or, maybe you'll be wondering, "What about Ralph?" Why do Vanning's henchmen allow this bozo from the sticks to run up a one-night dinner club debt of $2,184 (or $62,400, adjusted for inflation)? White Castle would not have sold this deadbeat a slider on credit, so why aren't the duped thugs taken for a ride, instead of Ralph? At least MARKED WOMAN can answer questions about how New York City's bordering rivers got so polluted, with their corps of corpses, compliments of folks like Vanning.

Marked Woman is directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Robert Rossen and Abem Finkel. It stars Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Mayo Methot and Eduardo Ciannelli. Music is collectively arranged by Bernhard Kaun, Heinz Roemheld and David Raksin, and cinematography by George Barnes.In spite of the film's disclaimer put out at the pic's beginning, Marked Woman is an adaptation of the real life case of Lucky Luciano, who the previous year was found guilty of compulsory prostitution after sterling work by U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Ciannelli plays Luciano as Johnny Vanning, Bogart plays Dewey as David Graham and Davis is "madame" Cokey Flo Brown as Mary Dwight Strauber.Unsurprisingly for the time it was made, Marked Woman is a distinctly sanitised version of events, full of euphemisms and hinted at unlawfulness, with the beatings et al off camera. However, it still packs a punch, both in narrative thrust as the underworld shenanigans are brought to life, and as an acting curio to see the young Davis and Bogart bouncing off each other before their respective stars were about to be ignited with petroleum.Interesting aspect of the picture is that it is in essence a gangster movie, with a good guy/bad guy scenario at the core, yet it's the women who rightly dominate the story. The girls are held up as bastions of hardship and heroism, and it gives the production a riveting edge, as well as some much needed glamour in amongst the sordid machinations.Well acted, well told and well interesting. 7.5/10

Mob czar takes over swanky nightclub and turns it into a "clip joint", keeping the hostesses on to tempt and tantalize the male clientèle and using his gorillas as bouncers; when a customer is murdered after trying to skip out on his bill, the Chief Prosecutor hopes one of the working girls will rat her bosses out in the courtroom. Thinly-veiled chronicle of Thomas E. Dewey's real-life legal showdown with Lucky Luciano, now with much of the emphasis placed on Bette Davis' role as tough-talking broad-cum-caring big sister. Screenplay by Robert Rossen and Abem Finkel is unusually taut, while Lloyd Bacon's direction manages to be compact and yet artistically solid. Humphrey Bogart's attorney isn't the dynamic character one is expecting, and his performance seems a little slow and dull. Davis, on the other hand, is at full-throttle, with big, incredulous eyes, nifty costumes, and a flip, exasperated manner. She's the reason to watch. **1/2 from ****