Tonight's Movie: Marked Woman (1937) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

MARKED WOMAN (1937) is a terrific exemplar of '30s Warner Bros. style, featuring an excellent cast in a gritty crime drama.

As the movie begins, crime boss Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) has taken over a nightclub which is actually a clip joint, taking customers for as much money as possible through highly questionable means.

The club's "hostesses," including Mary (Bette Davis), are expected to help lighten the guests' wallets and must also turn over some of their tips in return for "protection," including the lawyers they will sometimes need.

Mary has increasingly bad experiences under Vanning's rule, including a "client" who writes a bad check being murdered, which leads to her spending time in jail. Eventually the dark goings-on reach Mary's innocent kid sister (Jane Bryan)... Can assistant district attorney David Graham (Humphrey Bogart) put Vanning in prison at long last?

This is an engrossing 96 minutes with a typical Warner Bros. cast of the era, including John Litel, Allen Jenkins, Lola Lane, and Henry O'Neill. My husband walked in the room just as the movie was starting, took a look at the cast, and exclaimed "A Warner Bros. special!" It's a fairly standard story, but I think that's part of the charm when we turn on a movie like this, we know what we'll get, including the familiar faces, and we like it.

Davis is always compelling, and her character is interesting in that she's got enough nerve to stand up to Vanning to a degree, but not enough nerve to strike out on her own in a more savory career. She makes a speech about not wanting to get by on a minimal income in another job, but given her character's smarts we have to wonder if her alternatives were really so poor.

Characters played by Isabel Jewell and Mayo Methot are more believably stuck in their jobs, clearly terrified of what's going to happen to them as they age out of being glamorous enough to attract wealthy male clients.

There's a great scene near movie's end when the women realize that they are all headed toward a "dead end," one way or another, and decide they will testify against Vanning, because they no longer have anything left to lose.

As a side note, Methot became Mrs. Humphrey Bogart in 1938, with the marriage ending in the mid '40s, after which he married Lauren Bacall. Bogart is good in this, if not yet exhibiting his full range of star power.

MARKED WOMAN was directed by Lloyd Bacon and the uncredited Michael Curtiz. It was filmed in black and white by George Barnes. The screenplay was written by Robert Rossen and Abem Finkel, with added dialogue by Seton I. Miller.

The sharp Warner Archive Blu-ray print is absolutely great. This is the kind of film we'd watch on TV as kids with scratches, riddled with commercials, and now it looks spectacular; this raises enjoyment of the film to an even higher level. The print is from a new HD master from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative. Sound quality is strong.

Extras consist of the featurette RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES, which was carried over from the DVD release of two decades ago, plus the trailer and the cartoons PORKY'S HERO AGENCY (1937) and SHE WAS AN ACROBAT'S DAUGHTER (1937).

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

Post