Marked Woman
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Marked Woman is the title of a crime melodrama film released by Warner Brothers Studios in 1937.
It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and starred Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Mayo Methot, Eduardo Ciannelli, Rosalind Marquis, Jane Bryan and Allen Jenkins.
The film proved to be a major success for Warner Brothers, and was one of Davis' most important early films. Davis had recently filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers, with part of her protest being the inferior quality of scripts she was expected to play. Although she lost the lawsuit, she garnered considerable press coverage, and "Marked Woman" was the first script she filmed upon returning to Hollywood. She was reported to be very pleased with the script and the dramatic possibilities it afforded her; Jack Warner was said to be equally pleased by the huge public reaction in favour of Davis, which he rightly predicted, would increase the appeal and profitability of her films.
Co-stars Humphrey Bogart and Mayo Methot met on the set of "Marked Woman" and were married in 1938.
Set in the underworld of Manhattan, "Marked Woman" tells the story of a woman who dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters. The women of the story are "hostesses". What is implied, but not stated clearly is that they are prostitutes, who work from a gambling den in the city.
Davis' character, Mary, briefly meets and befriends a young man who confides in her that he does not have the money to repay the gambling debt he has accrued during the night. He feels that it's a game, but Mary warns him that he is in real danger. She is shocked, but not surprised to learn soon after that he has been murdered.
Questioned by investigator, Bogart, Mary and the other women refuse to implicate their employer. They fear his retribution, and while privately detesting him are powerless to free themselves from his influence. Mary's younger sister Betty comes to visit, and unaware of the dangerous situation she has entered, behaves recklessly against the advice of her older sister. When she is killed, Mary agrees to testify against the gangster. Beaten by his thugs, scarred and disfigured, she becomes the "Marked Woman" of the film's title, but rather than silencing her, it strengthens her resolve to testify. Aware that they can only be free of the gangster if they find the strength to stand against him, the other women agree to testify also.