Sadly Over-hyped

Really Surprised!

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

. . . within the MPAA movie rating board's Alternate Universe. William Holden plays "Tim," the biggest jerk in this INVISIBLE STRIPES story. Tim also is the only character who seems to have an ax to grind against women, treating his dear Ol' Mum, as well as his eventual wife (Peggy) like dirt. To top it off, Tim is a hot-headed brawler and thief at heart, but turns State's Evidence at the first opportunity. If this were a tale ripped from the pages of Real Life, one would expect Tim the Snitch to wind up with a least a few stitches, right? Well, the MPAA forced Warner Bros. to cash in the chips for the far braver Humphrey Bogart and George Raft during INVISIBLE STRIPES, while allowing Tim to reap the rewards of five bank robberies in the form of a brand new business with a giant neon sign that might as well read, "This is the best joint that Blood Money could buy!" During China's Cultural Revolution in the 1900s, some Americans found it sad that elementary school kids were brain-washed into "turing in" their parents for having Common Sense. Since Tim is old enough to know better than these toddler-age gangsters, his case of family snitching is even more pathetic.

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.

Starts out interesting. Prison scenes are real enough. George Raft carries the "nice guy who just made a mistake" to the point that he appears soft. Then William Holden chews up too much scenery with his angry young man act. Then Raft gets a martyr complex and throws himself in front of the gang's guns to save his kid brother. Marc Lawrence, stereo-typed as a meanie and low life hood, turns in his usual good role. He had to go to Europe in the 50s to be taken seriously as an actor. Paul Kelly's talent is wasted but he does his usual solid performance. The director, Lloyd Bacon, wasted a good cast. Just before he died William Holden told this story about George Raft during an appearance on the Tonight Show shortly after Raft died. Holden was brand new to Hollywood and a little nervous and insecure. Lloyd Bacon was an egomanic and a bully. One day on the set Bacon went berserk and began berating Holden, shouting in his face in front of the cast. Raft ran over and got him by the lapels and said, "That's a man you are talking to, not a dog. If you ever talk to that young man like that again you'll answer to me. You got that?" Bacon became a little more polite. But not a better director.

"Invisible Stripes" is by no means a great film but I enjoy the heck out of it. Any crime picture that has George Raft and Humphrey Bogart is going to be worth a look. Here they play two cons: Raft planning to go straight and provide for his Mom and kid brother while Bogey returns to his criminal ways. There are so many interesting angles to this picture for true film buffs. First, Raft's younger brother is played by 21 year old William Holden in his second film. Watching him in this it is amazing he made many more; he is pretty whiny and forgettable as the hotheaded sibling. The great British actress Flora Robson plays their mother in a colossal bit of miscasting but since her role is minimal she retains her dignity (although some of the lovey-dovey exchanges with her movie son Raft are borderline incestuous). Bogey is his typical brilliant self and easily walks off with the picture. While he is continuing his cycle of bad-guy supporting roles his character is not without some redeeming features. Cast as his moll is Lee Patrick; the two would combine again in a couple of years as Sam Spade & Effie Perrine in "The Maltese Falcon." Another interesting footnote in the film is the brief appearance of Leo Gorcey as a department store clerk.And finally I come to the star, George Raft. He has gained a reputation as a mercilessly wooden performer and some of it is deserved. I have always liked him and find this performance relatively solid; he is acted off the screen by Bogart in their scenes together and his one shot at emoting over his plight as an ex-con is comical but in the overall he is very likable. This is the kind of role Raft wanted to play: the tough guy who is good to his Ma, loyal to his friends, and possessing a strict code of ethics. Despite turning down nearly every role that made Bogart a star, Raft's brief career at Warners represents his best work.If you are a fan of old Warners crime pictures you will have a good time with "Invisible Stripes."