Marked Woman 1937

It's been years since I've seen the movie Marked Woman. Over the last two days, I watched it twice.

This was Bette Davis's first film after a suspension from Warner Brothers. It was a better role and a better film than some others Warners had offered her (lady lumberjack, anyone?)

Here are a few weird things in the beginning of the film that I noticed. Only the men's last names are listed in the cast of characters. A message says that the film was fictitious. It was widely known to be a version of Lucky Luciano's story. A Warner Brothers movie Black Fury is shown on a movie marque in the opening shot.

The story starts with a new man in town: Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) taking over all the nightclubs/clip joints in the city. He already knows Gabby (Lola Lane) is impressed with Mary's (Bette Davis) smarts, and is interested in Emmy Lou (Isabel Jewell.)  In the next scene, the "girls" (as they're called throughout the film) walk home together.

This is not a subtle movie. The dialog can be over the top. Mary says she knows all the angles, and plans to get to easy street. Here are some direct quotes:

"They found him in a ditch full of slugs."

"I'll get you even if I have to crawl back from the grave to do it."

Davis seems a bit over dramatic in a few scenes. At first it makes sense because Mary is acting to convince attorney David Graham (Humphrey Bogart) to believe her false testimony. In a later scene with Bogart, I don't get the overacting.

In Bette's defense, she fought for realism on this film. Instead of the tiny movie star bandage, she went to her own doctor to be bandaged as a woman who was severely beaten.

There is some weird dialogue in the courtroom scenes. Vanning's lawyer Charlie Delaney (John Litel --an upstanding lawyer from the Nancy Drew films) asked questions that were logically better asked by the prosecution. Did John Litel just need more lines?

I loved the last few minutes of the film. Vanning is found guilty of murder of Mary's sister (Jane Bryan) based on the testimony of the girls. They leave the courtroom as David Graham seeks Mary. He wants to help her because she's had a bad time. She seems to be hoping for more.

Reporters clamor for David--he could be the next district attorney or even the next governor--as the women walk off in the night. (Are court proceedings at night? Never mind, it's a great visual.)

The women walk off and literally disappear into the fog.