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This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

. . . 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.

In more skillful hands "Marked Woman" might have been a classic Warners picture with a very good Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, still early in their careers, showing signs of the major stars that they would, not too soon after this film, become.However, the director Lloyd Bacon, was more widely known for his direction of musicals (Footlight Parade, 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1937), one of the writers (Robert Rossen) made his film debut with this film, the other writer (Abem Finkel) had his best work in the years ahead. None of them were up to the task of taking a story "fresh from the headlines" and turn it into a compelling drama. It's not even good melodrama.The story of an up and coming DA (Bogart) trying to put away a gangster with the help of 5 "hostesses". Another story involving one of the hostesses(Davis) and her younger, smarter sister. The story of 5 desperate woman trying to scratch out a meager living, by taking advantage of gentlemen who are only too happy to part with their money, if it means having a lovely girl with them all evening. The problem is, taken separately or tied in all together, none of these stories is particularly interesting.It doesn't help that four of the five hostesses are as exciting as watching a bowl of oatmeal. I won't say who is the worst, it doesn't matter, they are all bad. Of course part of the problem is that they don't have very well developed characters to try to do anything with.If you are a fan of Bogart and/or Davis, rent this one, just to get a good look at where they were in their development. But if you are not a fan of them, don't bother, don't waste your time.5 out of 10

Marked Woman was one of those films that was emasculated by the Code when it came out in 1937. Had it been done a few years earlier the women would have clearly been labeled prostitutes instead the euphemistic 'hostess' at a nightclub clip joint. Of course the inspiration for the story wasn't developed yet when the Code came into affect in 1934.The inspiration for the story is what in real life turned out to be the chink in the armor of crime boss Charles 'Lucky' Luciano. The rackets boss controlled prostitution on a large scale and it was the women who worked for him who came to Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey and their testimony is what brought him down. Unlike the crime boss here, Luciano was not charged with murder.Our story in Marked Woman concerns a group of women who worked for boss Johnny Vaning, the Luciano character played with absolute relish by Eduardo Ciannelli. the women are Bette Davis, Isabelle Jewell, Rosalind Marquess, Mayo Methot, and Lola Lane. When a 'john' stiffs on his bill at the clip joint, he's rubbed out and Davis's testimony helps get Ciannelli off. That incidentally was all part of a set up engineered by John Litel as Ciannelli's very shrewd lawyer. Definitely the kind of attorney who really earns his fees from the mob.But when Davis's younger sister Jane Bryan winds up dead, Davis experiences a change of heart. She becomes quite the crusader and this time cooperates with prosecutor Humphrey Bogart for real.Humphrey Bogart is the prosecutor in District Attorney Henry O'Neill's office who is on a mission to take Ciannelli down. His part here is far more of a straight arrow than the usually cynical Bogart we're used to seeing. He's the Dewey figure in the film.When Marked Woman came out Thomas E. Dewey was running for District Attorney of New York County. Dewey was a former Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District in New York and was later made a special prosecutor by joint agreement with Governor Herbert Lehman and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. But as luck would have it he was making his first bid for elected office that year. It was as Special Prosecutor not as an elected District Attorney that he brought Lucky Luciano to the bar of justice. I guarantee there was no one in New York County in 1937 who saw Marked Woman and did not know who this film was referring to. It was a great piece of campaign propaganda for him.Of course Ciannelli is convicted and Bogart is the hero of the hour. But it's that last shot of Davis and her friends going off alone and friendless into the night that will stay with you forever. In fact they were the real heroes, but it's oblivion more than likely for them.Marked Woman is an effective, but rather dated film. Davis is good if melodramatic. The best performances are by Ciannelli and Litel. If you want the real story, I highly recommend Richard Norton Smith's excellent biography on Thomas E. Dewey.

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.