Alicia I love this movie so much

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

LeonLouisRicci An Iconic Cast of Warner Bros. Gangsters and Other Actors Worthy of Note are All Brought Together in This Typical Social Commentary that the Studio was Well Known. This One is About Ex-Cons Not Getting a Fair Shake in the Unemployment Line.Notable for Not Only Humphrey Bogart in One of His Last Pictures Before He Went Into the "Big Time", but George Raft Riding His Now Unfathomable Star Power, a Very Young and Handsome William Holden in His Second Film, Flora Robson as the All Loving Mother, Paul Kelly and Marc Lawrence as Hoodlums, and the "Babes", Jane Bryan and Lee Patrick. All Doing Typical Good Work.The Movie is Never Preachy and Seems to be Even Handed on its Subject Matter. The Characters are More than One Dimensional and Overall a Pretty Good Movie. There is a Rousing Robbery and Escape Sequence with Cars Screeching and Bullets Flying.Overall, Slightly Above Average with the Cast Elevating it Somewhat to the Must See Category. Nothing, Story Wise, is Special. Still It's Got Something for Those Attracted to Slick WB Gangster Flicks and Fans of Raft, Bogart, and Holden.

Michael_Elliott Invisible Stripes (1938) *** (out of 4) Another Warner gangster film this time a gangster (George Raft) gets paroled and plans on going straight until he overhears his younger brother (William Holden) thinking about entering the racket so that his new wife can have a better life. To prevent that from happening Raft goes back into the racket with the help of #1 guy (Humphrey Bogart). Great performances and chemistry between Raft and Holden with good support from Bogart really pushes this one over the edge. The nice story and backslap at the parole board are interesting and the various shoot outs and bank robberies are filmed perfectly. A couple of The Dead End Kids (including Leo) have a funny cameo.

Karen Green (klg19) "Invisible Stripes" was based on a book by the same former prison warden responsible for the (far better) "20,000 Years in Sing Sing." Casting really does matter.George Raft turns in a characteristically wooden performance as the ex-con trying to go straight in a world stacked against him. It really is heart-breaking to watch the different ways he loses jobs, unable to shake the shadow of the "invisible stripes" that cover any convict. The strictures on parolees in the 1930s, if accurately depicted, *do* seem a little on the strong side--they weren't even allowed to have drivers licenses! Raft is paired with, in the accurate words of another reviewer, an "unrecognizably young" William Holden. Flora Robson, who plays their mother, was actually six years younger than Raft at the time of shooting. Jane Bryan is convincing and touching as Holden's long-time fiancée.Bogart spices up the story considerably, in a performance that may have been routine on the page but which comes fully to life in his hands. The film was originally to have been cast with Jimmy Cagney and John Garfield, but Bogart replaced Cagney in order to give him a vacation. I can't help but wonder how much better the film would have been with Garfield in the Raft role. Raft may have known the gang life inside out, but he couldn't act his way out of a paper bag.

classicsoncall George Raft and an unrecognizably young William Holden are top billed as brothers Cliff and Tim Taylor in this 1939 gangster genre film that has both brothers skirting opposite sides of the law as they try to make a life for themselves.The story opens with Cliff Taylor and fellow Sing Sing inmate Chuck Martin (Humphrey Bogart) about to leave prison with their sentences completed. Taylor is determined to go straight, Martin can't wait to get back to his criminal life. As Cliff tries to settle back into his former life with his family, events conspire against him making it difficult to stay on the straight and narrow. Additional pressure comes from brother Tim, who wants to make a better life for himself and fiancée Peggy (Jane Bryan), but earning twenty dollars a week as a mechanic makes him fantasize about "taking what he wants".The film see-saws it's way back and forth for Cliff, who alternately tries to play it straight and then gets mixed up with Martin's gangster pals. In that regard, George Raft really gets to portray a con man, hiding his involvement from Tim and his mother (Flora Robson), until events spiral out of control during a botched robbery attempt by Martin's gang.If you're into film nuances, this one offers a number of treats. For starters, there's the scene where Bogey's character Martin is shown coming out of a movie theater with his blonde girlfriend Molly (Lee Patrick); the film that's playing - 1939's "You Can't Get Away With Murder", starring Humphrey Bogart! Speaking of Molly, she's almost a dead ringer look alike for Bette Davis, making me do a couple of double takes. And then there's the brief uncredited appearance of Dead Ender Leo Gorcey as the head stock boy for a general store where Cliff briefly finds a job.I found myself enjoying this film, even if uneven at times. George Raft and Humphrey Bogart went on to make one more film together in 1940's "They Drive By Night", where they share equal billing as brothers involved in wildcat trucking, one might call them brother truckers.For it's own part, "Invisible Stripes" may be hard to come by, not available as a studio release, but many of these Warner Brothers films find their way onto classic movie TV channels like TCM or are available through specialty video houses. This one would be well worth your time, especially if you're a fan of Raft, Bogey, Holden or the gangster genre itself.