Marked Woman: Bette Davis is basically doing all the heavy lifting here

Is this thing worth a watch?

If you like movies where people talk really fast and smoke until the room turns grey, then yes. If you need your crime dramas to be subtle or realistic, skip it. You’ll probably hate it if you can’t stand watching a protagonist get kicked around for ninety minutes straight.

Bette Davis is just magnetic. She plays Mary Dwight, a hostess at a club that’s definitely not a place you’d want to take your mom. She’s got this way of looking at Humphrey Bogart that makes you wonder why the mob boss didn't just fold immediately. Bogart, meanwhile, is doing his usual crusading DA thing. He’s got the hat, the trench coat, and the tired eyes of someone who’s seen too many bad decisions in one city.

There’s a party scene that goes south fast. It’s supposed to be a good time, but the whole thing feels oily and uncomfortable. When the sister gets killed, the movie pivots into this revenge-by-testimony plot that feels like it’s moving at light speed. Nobody stops to take a breath.

Some random notes I scribbled:

• The lighting in the club is so dim you wonder how anyone finds their drinks.
• The dialogue is sharp enough to cut glass, especially when the girls are talking amongst themselves in the dressing room.
• I’m still not sure if Bogart’s character ever sleeps.
• The scene where they get their faces pushed in... man, that’s rough. It doesn't hold back.

It’s not as polished as some of the other stuff from the era, like maybe Shadow of the Law, but it has way more grit under its fingernails. Sometimes the plot feels like it’s just dragging the characters by their collars from one crisis to the next. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily. It keeps the tension high, even if it feels a bit breathless.

The ending isn't some big, flashy explosion. It’s just people looking tired and damaged. It fits the vibe. 🚬