Zwölf Monate Bewährungsfrist

Invisible Stripes (1939)

Both a crime movie and a message movie, a Warner Bros. look at two convicts released at the same time each trying to go back to some life outside of jail. It's interesting, and well done of course (it's 1939 after all), and stars George Raft who holds his own in his stiff, sincere way. More curious for sure is the secondary role by the up and coming Humphrey Bogart, still a couple years from his breakthrough movies. And then maybe most astonishing to see is a very young William Holden (I didn't even recognize him) in his second credited role.

It's Raft who plays the good guy, almost too good to believe for a guy who did years of jail time, but the idea is that he's learned his lesson and he's going straight. Even with his edgy little brother itching to be a criminal himself. They have for a mom the dependable Flora Robson who is filled with such worldly pathos you can't help but feel for her. The girlfriend here is the really convincing Jane Bryan, who had a short career with mostly stereotyped roles but she exudes true innocent sweetness on screen (she appeared in lots of great Warner films of the late thirties, including "Each Dawn I Die).

And Bogart here plays the bad guy, the ex-con who is going to jump right into his old ways. We don't see much of him for most of the movie, except a couple scenes to show his girlfriend with hair of "gold" and his crooked gang of friends. But of course the two worlds—nice family with two troubled sons and loner man with his thugs—re- collide. Temptations of easy money, a seeming sense of poverty, and several kinds of loyalty (to a brother, to a friend, to a lover) all play together there and the last half of the movie is top notch stuff.

The message part of the movie is simple but important, and as usual has Warner Bros pointing to some problems in society from a generally liberal point of view. That is, an ex-con deserves an honest shake because the system is stacked against him. It works. When the sign lights up at the end and it says "bros" up there (just like Warner Bros), you feel all the ramifications of that built up through the story.

There are enough clichés here, and few little moments that seem a bit rushed or choppy (including the sudden change in attitude of the Holden character) you might not find this to be a classic. But it's really good. See it!

This film should have been more interesting with the potential of such a cast. The script tries to be important. Indeed, we again get a "Les Miserables"-themed story of a parolee trying to go straight but finding all of the rules and society's prejudice forcing him back to crime. But Lloyd Bacon's sluggish direction holds everything back and it is never interesting storytelling.

How can a film with George Raft, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden not be compelling? Thank you, Mr. Bacon, for demonstrating. Raft tries hard to be the nice guy but the script gives the character no depth. He could be any ex-con coming home after a stint in Sing Sing. He seems handcuffed throughout. He does believably make a (much) older brother for Holden - the voice, the nose - but he surely can't pass for 27. Holden is so young and enthusiastic and all his acting mechanics are hanging out there for everyone to see. As few as his scenes are, Bogart is a steady if smarmy hand to get the action started.

Flora Robson, as the mother of Raft and Holden, is the most sympathetic character. The actress had a tremendous soul to give weight to what could be a thankless part. Only through her does any real feeling come into this melodrama. And though nearly seven years younger than Raft, just a little age makeup makes her look as if she could at least be his aunt.

It is interesting that the film never shows the cons in actual prison stripes. The only two scenes of Raft and Bogart in prison are in the shower (thank you) and in the warden's office before leaving.

I do like to show this film to friends after they've seen John Ford's "Mary of Scotland" just so they can be amazed at Moroni Olsen's range.

George Raft and Humphrey Bogart play two parolees who take different paths when they leave prison. Bogie immediately goes back to a life of crime while Raft tries to go straight. But fearing that his younger brother (a baby-faced William Holden) might follow in his footsteps if he can't get a break, Raft turns back to a life of crime.

Solid gangster picture from WB with a good cast. George Raft doesn't always get respect but he shows in this and other films that he was a decent actor. Young William Holden is a little melodramatic here. He still had room to improve. Lovely Jane Bryan is his girlfriend. This was the penultimate movie in her all-too-brief career. Humphrey Bogart plays yet another of his many gangster roles. He may not have been enjoying playing these parts much at this point of his career but he really was perfectly suited for them. He really steals the film from his co-stars. Flora Robson, Paul Kelly, and Henry O'Neill are among the other fine actors in the cast. Leo Gorcey has a small but amusing part. WB had such a strong stable of talent in their crime dramas of the '30s and '40s.

This is in many ways a predictable movie for WB that follows a formula I've seen in many gangster movies. The actors play roles they're very comfortable with, most of them having played similar parts before. But that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. It's very enjoyable for someone like me, who likes not only the genre but the specific way Warner produced these films at the time. They were the go-to studio for urban dramas then and they made many classics that defined these types of stories to this day. This is a good one most fans of Bogart, Raft, and old gangster flicks will like.

Somehow at the age of 22, William Holden looked like a better-looking Tom Hanks. And I'll bet there are a lot of people who could sit through "Invisible Stripes" and not know it was William Holden.

"Invisible Stripes" stars George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, and Jane Bryan.

George Raft plays Cliff Taylor who, once released from prison, decides to stay on the straight and narrow. His pal, Chuck Martin (Bogart) has no such intentions. Cliff, who has a brother (Holden) and a mother (Fay Robson) finds the going tough, unable to get a job he can keep for various reasons, usually someone making trouble for him. His kindly parole officer encourages him to keep trying. With his brother Tim wanting to marry his girlfriend Peggy, and the job situation, Cliff decides to go in with Chuck's group.

Pretty good gangster flick, with Bogart, not long before his breakout role in High Sierra, giving the strongest performance. Raft is playing a good guy so he doesn't demonstrate a lot of bite. The film has some exciting scenes, particularly toward the end.

Holden, as stated above, is just a kid but does a good job as a man in love who wants to give his girlfriend the world, if only he had some money. It would be 11 years before he made his mark in "Sunset Boulevard" and became a true superstar.

As an aside, Jane Bryan retired to marry Justin Dart, who took over Rexall Drug chain. She died in 2009 at the age of 91.

In many ways a typical Warner Brothers gangster film, but a good one.

After a few years when you've been incarcerated, as you've been patient and composed, quietly waited, you're released out on parole, look for work on the payroll, but all you find is that ex-cons are often slated. Persistence is the trait that you exhibit, you find a role that you would usually prohibit, but the die cast long ago, means privilege has to forgo, accused of a recent crime, but it don't fit. So old habits are revived and you go back, to a job that lets you visit and ransack, with Chuck Martin and his gang, you have intent, you have a plan, but there's always going to be, a big payback.