Invisible Stripes (1939)

An ex-con who wants to go straight has difficulties trying to reintegrate into society while on parole.

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Warren Duff (screen play), Jonathan Finn (from a story by)

Stars:

George Raft, Jane Bryan, William Holden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Raft	...	Cliff Taylor
Jane Bryan	...	Peggy
William Holden	...	Tim Taylor
Humphrey Bogart	...	Chuck Martin
Flora Robson	...	Mrs. Taylor
Paul Kelly	...	Ed Kruger
Lee Patrick	...	Molly
Henry O'Neill	...	Parole Officer Masters
Frankie Thomas	...	Tommy
Moroni Olsen	...	Prison Warden
Margot Stevenson	...	Sue
Marc Lawrence	...	Lefty
Joe Downing	...	Johnny (as Joseph Downing)
Leo Gorcey	...	Jimmy
William Haade	...	Shrank

Storyline

Cliff Taylor (George Raft) and Chuck Martin (Humphrey Bogart) leave prison together. Cliff tries the straight life but falls back into crime with Chuck and his gang. When he makes enough to enable his brother Tim (William Holden) to buy a garage and marry his sweetheart, Cliff quits crime again. But when he tries to help Chuck later on, he's implicated again.

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Plot Keywords:

damsel in distress | deception | violence | reprisal | retribution | 

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Taglines:

Three Men and a Girl... Bound by Invisible Ties - Branded by Invisible Stripes

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to contemporary articles in The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers bought the rights to the book as a vehicle for James Cagney and John Garfield. Humphrey Bogart replaced Cagney so that he could go on vacation, and William Holden was borrowed from Paramount Pictures.

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Goofs

Cliff arrives home from prison and unwraps a parcel and puts the contents on the dining room table. Later, when Peggy and Tim arrive, Mrs. Taylor is seen holding a beaded purse, which appears to be what Cliff brought home. Nothing is mentioned about the item, so there must have been a deleted scene.

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Quotes

Chuck Martin: [to Cliff] This is one time we'll fool Old Peter. We won't be back,

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Connections

Featured in TCM Guest Programmer: Robert Redford & David Lowery (2018)

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Soundtracks

It Had to Be You
(1924) (uncredited)
Music by Isham Jones
Played at the cafe after the bank robbery

User Reviews

William Holden at 22

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 December 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Invisible Stripes

Filming Locations:

Sing Sing Penitentiary - 354 Hunter Street, Ossining, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1