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	...	The Warden
Margot Stevenson	...	Sue
Marc Lawrence	...	Lefty
Joe Downing	...	Johnny (as Joseph Downing)
Leo Gorcey	...	Jimmy
William Haade	...	Shrank

Storyline

Cliff and Chuck 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 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:

garage | prison | parole | police | toolbox | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 December 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hombres marcados

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$114,000, 24 February 1940

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to William Holden, during the fight scene between the brothers, Holden accidentally hit George Raft in the eye with his head and opened a gash.

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Goofs

When George Raft Goes into William Holden's room for a fight, he is wearing arm bands with his shirtsleeves pulled down over them. Then they disappear, and return in another shot in the same scene.

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Quotes

Old Peter: [to Chuck and Clint as they are leaving] Have a good time, boys, but don't stay away too long.
Cliff Taylor: So long, Peter.
Old Peter: You'll be back. You'll be back.

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Connections

References You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939)

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Soundtracks

Sweet Georgia Brown
(1925) (uncredited)
Music by Maceo Pinkard and Ben Bernie
Second tune played by the band at the dance

User Reviews

"I'm one of them there realists."

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.