Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

funkyfry Although Humphrey Bogart appears second-billed to Bette Davis, most of the actresses in the supporting cast (including Mayo Methot, who would soon become Bogart's wife) get more to do really than he does. However, it's a great Bette Davis picture; heavy drama, a bit contrived and obvious, but well-played. She's a hostess in a nightclub run by a gangster (Eduardo Ciannelli), who happens to be a pretty ruthless character even by movie gangster standards. After testifying for him in a rigged trial, she ends up going after him through the courts for revenge after her kid sister (the impossibly wholesome Jane Bryan) is killed. Bogart plays a government lawyer who gets taken to the cleaners in the first trial but helps Davis trap the bad guy.There's not a lot of poetry in the film.... Lloyd Bacon is usually a very straightforward director, but the final shots of the film are very nice with the women going off into the fog together, the real heroes of the story ignored by the media who are chasing after Bogart, the hero male. In the scene with Davis and Bogart where they say goodbyes, she's waiting for him to say something emotional. Her performance here isn't subtle, but it's not that type of movie. All the scenes with her and Bogart have a nice double-edged chemistry to them, where he's trying to downplay his emotions and she's faking all these wild emotions for various reasons. It's quite an interesting movie to look back on from a feminist angle.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . 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.

adamshl Bette Davis looks as though she was rested (after her hiatus involving litigation) and raring to sink her teeth in a juicy part. Well, she got her wish in this finely directed Lloyd Bacon gangster drama.Davis is alert, focused, and driven here, putting her all into the dance hall hostess. It's one of her best roles in a film unfamiliar to many movie goers.The film is notable for some fine work by most talented character actors, and for an unusual "good guy" role for Humphrey Bogart. This crusading D.A. on a mission is skillfully etched by Mr. B. and his scenes with Davis are particularly engaging.Everyone knows the true life basis for this drama, and the exclaimer at the start doesn't fool anyone. This is a mean expose of some very callus criminals, and has the feel of that period's current newspaper headlines.A well made drama, worth checking out.

Michael_Elliott Marked Woman (1937) *** (out of 4) A prosecutor (Humphrey Bogart) tries to get a key witness (Bette Davis) to testify against her gangster boss. The first hour of this film was only so-so but it certainly picked up in the final half hour when the gangsters start going after Davis and her younger sister. I think the story is just standard Warner stuff but the performances by Davis and Bogart makes this a small classic that makes for a good time. Davis is very good in her role, although I felt she came off a tad bit campy whenever she was playing anger. A few of her anger scenes made me smile but for the rest of the time she's on fire. Bogart is also very good in his role and it's always fun seeing him play a clean good guy without any baggage. The supporting cast is also in good form and features nice performances from Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Eduardo Ciannelli and Mayo Methot (future Mrs. Bogart). Cagney's buddy Allen Jenkins has a fun cameo. The final courtroom scenes are very well handled with some nice cinematography including a great shot during Bogart's closing statement where the camera swoops down on him.