MARKED WOMAN
US, 1937, 96 minutes, Black and white.
Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Mayo Methot, Isabel Jewell, Eduardo Cianelli, Jane Bryan.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon.
Marked Woman is one of many gangster films produced by Warner Bros. in the 1930s. It is distinctive, however, with having Bette Davis in the starring role. She is a goodtime girl, a companion for wealthy businessmen who go to a nightclub run by Eduardo Ciannelli. She supports him, but when he betrays her sister (played by Jane Bryan), she is roughed up and becomes the marked woman. She then joins forces with District Attorney, Humphrey Bogart in a law-abiding role, to expose Ciannelli. Familiar material but briskly done in the Warner Bros. style - director Lloyd Bacon had made many of this kind of film.
1. The popularity of the gangster film in the '30s? Warner Bros. emphases on gangster films? Portraying the gangster world, characters? The law? Exposés? Moralising tone? The tradition during the '30s? This film from 1937?
2. Production style: Warner Bros. sets, black and white photography, crisp style? Musical score and songs?
3. The contribution of the stars? The particular points in their career? An offbeat role for Bette Davis? Humphrey Bogart moving towards star roles?
4. The significance of the title? The focus on women? Not only Mary but the group of women? The point about relationships between men and women, treatment?
5. Setting the situation: the clubs, the hostesses and their duties, the bosses? Glamour, style? Relationships? Good times? Cheap and expensive? The women being used? The hours, the behaviour, coaxing the drinks etc.? The brutality of the owners? The subsequent violence? Corruption. the law? The expose? and the five women walking off at the end? Optimistic ending?
6. Mary as the focus of the film? Strong, standing up to Vanning? Her leadership of the girls? Work, the apartments? The nightclub. their routines? The accompanying of the man who didn't pay his account? His death and her association? The arrival of Betty, her sister not knowing Mary's job? Her trying to protect her, indicate that she belonged to fashions? The police arriving, the arrest? The trial and the pressure on Mary from Vanning's men? The discussions with Dave, Mary's double-cross? The clash? Betty and her reaction to Mary in court? Betty's going to the party, clash with her sister, her death? Mary's vengeance? Going to Dave? The dangers. her being physically abused and marked? The court case? Newspaper headings? Her winning? The friendship with Dave? The friendship with the women and standing up for them? The five going off at the end?
7. The picture of Betty: school, hopes, naive. coming to the city. her reaction to Mary's trial, going to the party, the $100 bill Vanning, her death? The catalyst for the expose?
8. The portraits of the girls, tough, hostesses in action, singers, clothes, money, contacts, apartment? Vanning's dominance? Their fears? Dangers? Their deciding to testify?
9. Vanning and his brutality? Wealth. ignorance (club 'intimate'), his henchmen, thugs, the murders, the lawyers? Press reaction? The judge?
10. The sketch of the police, the courts, their reaction to corruption?
11. Humphrey Bogart as District Attorney, earnest, building a case, ambitious, working with Mary, losing the case and her doublecross? Pursuing Mary and getting her to testify, the cross examinations, the end of the trial?
12. The picture of victims, gambling, dangers? American society in the cities of the '30s? The style of the gangsters? Influence on subsequent gangster films?
