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Marked Woman
A gutsy performance by Bette Davis in the title role is the primary attraction of a 1937 noir-ish crime drama called Marked Woman worth a look.
Davis effectively chews the scenery as Mary Dwight, a "hostess' at a fancy nightclub called Club Intimate, which has just obtained a new owner in the name of a ruthless gangster named Johnny Vanning. Vanning assigns Mary to entertain an important guest of his who turns up dead the next morning after spending the night with Mary. Then Mary's kid sister, Betty turns up, who doesn't know what Mary does for a living and it's not long before Betty finds herself in danger, thanks to Vanning as well.
There are some slightly dated elements to the screenplay by Robert Rossen (The Hustler) and Abem Finkel (Jezebel), mostly involving legal procedures that might ignite a chuckle. There's a scene after Mary has been arrested for this guy's murder where she storms into the DA's office asking when she's going to be released. In real life, a prisoner would not be allowed to leave her cell and march into the DA's office. Also, a couple of the objections that are raised during the trial would be laughed out of a real courtroom or a contemporary movie courtroom.
But when this movie gets stuff right, it really gets it right. We get the feeling that prostitution (of course it couldn't be referred to as such in 1937) as being trapped in a cage. Mary and her co-workers secretly want a way out, but they just can't find one. We also see this Vanning character as a pimp who considers these women his possessions who are instructed who to entertain and that the customer always gets what he wants. We see that this life has toughened Mary but her softer side comes out with the arrival of her sister. She's not only interested in preserving the way her sister idolizes but she wants to keep her out of danger as well. And what happens to Mary when she decides to testify against Vanning is not pretty.
Lloyd Bacon's direction is taut and gets first rate performances from most of the cast. Davis is fire and ice as Mary and Humphrey Bogart is effective as the hot shot DA trying to help Mary and bring Vanning down. Eduardo Ciannelli is a little on the wooden side as Vanning though. Someone like Cagney or George Raft might have been more appropriate in the role, but the film's limited budget probably prevented an A-lister from being cast in the role. but Davis and Bogart still manage to make this a pretty smooth ride.
A gutsy performance by Bette Davis in the title role is the primary attraction of a 1937 noir-ish crime drama called Marked Woman worth a look.
Davis effectively chews the scenery as Mary Dwight, a "hostess' at a fancy nightclub called Club Intimate, which has just obtained a new owner in the name of a ruthless gangster named Johnny Vanning. Vanning assigns Mary to entertain an important guest of his who turns up dead the next morning after spending the night with Mary. Then Mary's kid sister, Betty turns up, who doesn't know what Mary does for a living and it's not long before Betty finds herself in danger, thanks to Vanning as well.
There are some slightly dated elements to the screenplay by Robert Rossen (The Hustler) and Abem Finkel (Jezebel), mostly involving legal procedures that might ignite a chuckle. There's a scene after Mary has been arrested for this guy's murder where she storms into the DA's office asking when she's going to be released. In real life, a prisoner would not be allowed to leave her cell and march into the DA's office. Also, a couple of the objections that are raised during the trial would be laughed out of a real courtroom or a contemporary movie courtroom.
But when this movie gets stuff right, it really gets it right. We get the feeling that prostitution (of course it couldn't be referred to as such in 1937) as being trapped in a cage. Mary and her co-workers secretly want a way out, but they just can't find one. We also see this Vanning character as a pimp who considers these women his possessions who are instructed who to entertain and that the customer always gets what he wants. We see that this life has toughened Mary but her softer side comes out with the arrival of her sister. She's not only interested in preserving the way her sister idolizes but she wants to keep her out of danger as well. And what happens to Mary when she decides to testify against Vanning is not pretty.
Lloyd Bacon's direction is taut and gets first rate performances from most of the cast. Davis is fire and ice as Mary and Humphrey Bogart is effective as the hot shot DA trying to help Mary and bring Vanning down. Eduardo Ciannelli is a little on the wooden side as Vanning though. Someone like Cagney or George Raft might have been more appropriate in the role, but the film's limited budget probably prevented an A-lister from being cast in the role. but Davis and Bogart still manage to make this a pretty smooth ride.