Lola/Witness

Starring:Charles Bronson, Orson Bean, Honor Blackman, Michael Craig, Paul Ford, Jack Hawkins, Trevor Howard, Lionel Jeffries, Kay Medford, Robert Morley, Susan George, Peggy Aitchison, Tony Arpino, Eric Barker, Erik Chitty, Sheila D'Union, Judith Furse, Marcia Garton, Cathy Jose, Anthony Kemp
Director: Richard Donner
Studio: Delta
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

In the mood for a dose of unfiltered, high-octane Bette Davis? Check out Marked Woman, a bristling 1937 vehicle from her early Warners period. This one is loosely based on the Lucky Luciano saga, with maybe a few borrowings from Edna Ferber's Stage Door. Davis plays the feistiest of a group of clip-joint girls, who board together when they're not cutting a rug with clients (read: suckers) at a nightclub. Crusading district attorney Humphrey Bogart wants Davis to testify against mobster Eduardo Ciannelli, but the price would be high. Meanwhile, Bette's innocent little sister (Jane Bryan) comes to visit from college and gets more than she bargained for. The melodrama of the story is a blunt object, but you won't be able to keep your eyes off Davis, who spits and sparks like a young dragon. She's so electrically "on" that other actors sometimes look a little afraid of her. The film is true to the Warners spirit of surveying a lower tier of society, and the actresses who play the clip-joint girls have an earthy energy (Isabel Jewell is a standout). One of them is Mayo Methot, the tough-looking character actress who married Bogart shortly after the film's release. --Robert Horton

Description

Young assistant District Attorney uses a prostitute to indict gang of racketeers, its czar and his underlings.

Customer Reviews:

Hoods vs. Bette Davis.......2007-06-28

Wow. If the exact same script for "Marked Woman" was re-made today, I guarantee there'd be a move to soften the things that happen to the Bette Davis character, her character's little sister (played by Jane Bryan), and maybe one or two other unlucky stiffs. This really is a hard-hitting gangster film, laced with frequent violence and tragedy. It's really a take-no-prisoners movie. But, of course, it's supposed to be, so one shouldn't complain that a movie for once delivered on its hype.

This gritty little movie about the down and out taking on the corrupt and powerful is supported by a nicely-produced DVD that delivers crisp picture and sound and a handful of interesting extras. These latter include a short piece featuring several film historians discussing the movie's origins and impact, and a couple of Warner Brothers cartoon shorts that might have been seen with "Marked Woman" when in first appeared in theaters. One of the cartoons is really cute: it features an animated Bette Davis and Leslie Howard appearing in "The Petrified Florist", a sharp parody of the stars' flowery, poetic hit film, "The Petrified Forest".

Great movie, great extras. "Marked Woman" is another Warner Brothers keeper of a DVD.

Bogart was particularly effective, both firm, and penetrating..........2007-01-08

In this gangster melodrama directed by Lloyd Bacon, Bogart played the role of a good guy, a district attorney out to deceive a night-club owner (Eduardo Ciannelli) who was exploiting his "hostesses," one of whom was the film's leading lady, Bette Davis, in a role she fought very hard to get after a long series of poor melodramas...

Bogart's performance successfully applied malice determination and calmly exhibited compassion and concern...

He was particularly effective, both firm, and penetrating, in his courtroom scenes, which served as an early warm-up for similar duty twelve years later in Nicholas Ray's "Knock On Any Door."

Mayo Methot was also in the cast as one of the hostesses and it was during the filming that Bogart took her as his second wife...

A Great Ol' Movie!.......2006-10-02

If you're looking for an enthralling classic, you've got to get this film! The script is wonderful and full of old-fashioned, one-line zingers! The acting is great all 'round, and Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis really turn up the heat with their impressive acting and intelligent chemistry. This is defnitely the best drama I've seen of the old Hollywood gangster films. Vanning, the kingpin, is a cunning, evil, and blood-chillilng mafioso you'll never forget.
I've always been a Bette Davis fan, but her performance in this film really captured me. Humphrey Bogart also turns in a very fine performance as an idealistic prosecutor trying to save Bette from herself.
If you like vintage studio cinema, you'll love "Marked Woman"!

Davis Delivers In Knock-Out 'Torn From Today's Headlines' Gangster Classic.......2006-07-30

Bette Davis distinguished herself as an actress in the early 1930s--but even with an Oscar to her credit she found the films offered to her by home studio Warner Brothers increasingly weak. She decided to break her contract, fled to England, and was soon embroiled in a lawsuit that she lost. But as Davis later noted, she lost the battle but won the war: her rebellion forced Warner Brothers to take her demands seriously, and upon returning to the studio she received MARKED WOMAN.

The story was very loosely based on mob boss 'Lucky' Luciano, who was felled by the testimony of New York prostitutes who revolted against his abusive reign. By 1937 Hollywood was under the "production code," a self-censorship program; consequently the script was somewhat veiled; even so, it went quite a bit further than most other films of its time. In the process it firmly re-established Davis as both actress and star and gave Humphrey Bogart a push toward the major stardom he would acheive in the 1940s.

New York night spot Club Intime is a reasonably respectable lounge until it is taken over by mob boss Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli), who adds illegal gambling to the club's attractions and lays down harsh new rules for the "hostesses" in his employ--including Mary Dwight (Davis), who proves as tough as her new boss. But when a club patron is found dead, all the girls are caught up in the investigation, including Mary's innocent kid sister Betty (Jane Bryan.) And when Betty herself falls prey to Vanning, Mary determines to even up the score "if I have to crawl back from the grave to do it!"

The script is somewhat inconsistent in the way it presents its characters, who tend to shift in unexpected ways as the film progresses, but the cast easily overrides this defect. This is particularly true of the "hostesses," which include Lola Lane, Mayo Methot (who would marry Humphrey Bogart after the film wrapped), Isabell Jewel (best recalled as Emmy Slattery in GONE WITH THE WIND), and Rosalind Marquis. Bogart is memorable as the district attorney who convinces the girls to testify; so too is Eduardo Ciannelli as mob boss Vanning. But the film belongs to Davis, and she makes the most of it.

Where most film stars worked hard to maintain a glamorous image on the screen, Davis was among the very few who was willing to "look bad" on screen. When Ciannelli slaps her across the face in a pivitol scene, there's no doubt that the slap is real, and although Mary's beating at the hands of mobsters is played off screen it is power stuff--and so to are the results of the beating. According to film lore, Davis was greatly displeased with the dainty bandages the studio gave her for post-beating scenes and went to her own doctor for more realistic ones; she also insisted on realistic make-up in her hospital scenes. Audiences of the day were shocked by the film's brutality.

While it is flawed in terms of inconsistent characters and in the necessity of bowing to censorship of the day, MARKED WOMAN is an extremely, extremely watchable film and a must for Davis fans, as well as fans of 1930s ganster drama. The print offered here is as good as it gets short of digital remastering, and while the bonuses are slim the featurette "Marked Woman: Ripped from the Headlines" is both informative and enjoyable. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

"You're a survivor Mary".......2006-07-03

Marked Woman was made in 1937 and featured the wonderful Bette Davis in a gritty, less than glamorous role. The movie is all about crime, the mobster underworld and hard-bitten alluring hostesses. There's violence and cruelty to women and murder, with most of the more grueling scenes taking place behind closed doors. One can just imagine the sensors take on this movie - they were almost certainly appalled at the subject matter, which was probably quite provocative for the time.

The story pretty much centers on the racketeering at the New York Club Intimé and the group of "hostesses" who work there. Underworld huckster Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Cianelli) has acquired the Club after renovations, and he wants to make sure that the girls are giving him the appropriate cut and that they are fulfilling their duties of encouraging men to spend on champagne and gamble in the secret casino hidden in the back room.

Mary Dwight Strauber (Davis) rooms with a number of hostesses who go along with the new deal, even though they know Vanning has murdered men who think they can trick the club. Mary is well aware that Vanning is up to no good, but her very life is placed on the line when a witness sees her with one of the men who was murdered.

Along with the other girls, Mary is hauled down to the DA's office and forced into a lineup. Mary then gets an offer of protection from David Graham (Humphrey Bogart), and she agrees to help, only to have her reputation as a professional party girl backfire on her - now she's got her picture in the paper, her reputation forever ruined.

There's a trial and a Mary gives a bent testimony, mainly because she's terrified of what Vanning might do to her. Things get even more complicated when Mary's innocent sister Betty (Jane Bryan) arrives in town, and not only accidentally gets pulled in on the police raid, but decides to adopt the call-girl lifestyle. Disillusioned, she accompanies the least dependable and rather flighty hostess Emmy Lou (Isabel Jewell) to one of Vanning's parties.

Perhaps the most memorable scene - and the most violent - is when poor Mary gets roughed up by one of Vanning's henchmen. Of course the director Lloyd Bacon wasn't allowed to show anything, so it all takes place in her bedroom with us outside, but this ironically gives the scene even more of an impact. Davis is really good here, not just in the one-to-one scenes with Bogart, but also when she's with her group of girls and she really manages to portray Mary's strength and fragility in the same moment. It's a very atypical role for an actress at this time.

Of course, the movie is all about the triumph of women over men who treat them badly and exploit them, and punch them out at the lightest provocation, and you can really feel the social relevance oozing off the screen - even if the full impact of it was tempered by the sensors. All these women must find their inner strength after an initial false boldness and it is only with the help of each other can they band together to eventually take these henchmen down. Mike Leonard July 06.

Average customer rating:

TERRIBLE DVD QUALITY
Worst Copy to DVD ever...
Nice to see Bronson in a light hearted comedy

Lola/Witness
Starring: Charles Bronson , Orson Bean , Honor Blackman , Michael Craig , and Paul Ford
Director: Richard Donner
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Drama | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Kids & Family | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Charles Bronson: Cabo Blanco/U.S. Marshal
Violent City
Assassination (1987)
Chato's Land
Messenger of Death

ASIN: B00004YKQX
Release Date: 2000-10-17

Description

In Lola, a middle-aged writer of adult novels meets and falls in love with a sixteen year-old girl. This alone is cause for concern but when the couple gets married and moves to America, the trouble really begins. The Witness is an episode of Four Star Playhouse.

Customer Reviews:

TERRIBLE DVD QUALITY.......2006-04-04

This was one of the best remembered Movies from the sixties starring the fabulous Susan George. However, there are several different releases of this Movie on DVD - do not waste your money on any of them; I bought all three hoping each time to replace my VHS shop-bought Video Copy for my Collection, but the quality of these DVDs are horrendous...

I don't know what is wrong; they all look like copies of a copy of a copy... I thought DVDs were supposed to give you a better quality source than Video Tapes - like CDs are supposed to be better quality than records, but this isn't the case with this particular Movie 'Twinky'/'Lola'. I can't understand why no one is doing anything about this; something is very wrong. What Master Tape are they using for these DVD releases?? The most recent release of only this month (March 2006) is no better, but exactly the same as the others...

If anyone feels the same, then please email me and let's get together to get this out on DVD properly! In the meantime, I'm holding on to my Video release which is FABULOUS quality! Instead of buying any of the DVD releases available, look around for a looked-after Video release.

Another Movie which has exactly the same problem as these is 'The Beast In The Cellar' - same story with regard to quality.

Worst Copy to DVD ever..........2001-08-31

It almost seems like there was a diliberate attempt to find the worst possible copy of the movie and imprint on a DVD. Perhaps, the goal of the producers was exactly that, and if you are after the nostalgia of seeing that movie as it was shown in the theater with a broken projector, you may want to get this. However, if you are living in the real world, where records were replaced by CD's some time ago, you may want to abstain from this copy, even if the price is tempting, as it was for me.

I could not even finish watching the DVD, both because of the quality and the movie itself, even thought I am a fan of Bronson films. But this copy... is relative to Condid's interview - everything that could have been made wrong, was made wrong.

Nice to see Bronson in a light hearted comedy.......2000-10-22

Charles Bronson in a different sort of role as a 38 year old porn writer who has a loving romance with a 16 year old girl by the name of lola. Of course their love is not meant to be and the viewer sees that. But during the film you get a chance to see Bronson act in a more comedy sense than his usual no nonsense tough guy image and it's a welcome relief. DIfferent type of film for Bronson and it does falter a bit towards the end but it's still a decent attempt.

Charles Bronson: Lost Episodes - Lola/The Witness

Average customer rating:

4 TV shows & a movie all with Bronson

Charles Bronson: Lost Episodes - Lola/The Witness
Starring: Charles Bronson
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Violent City
Breakheart Pass

ASIN: B00008G87X
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

4 TV shows & a movie all with Bronson.......2004-05-07

The 4 half hour TV shows are in black in white without the original commercials. Print quality for these is very good. They are:

US Marshall Pursuit. Bronson is an AWOL army private on the run.

Four Star Playhouse. He's a man on trial for a crime he didn't commit.

Man With A camera. 2 episodes. Missing, where he looks for a mans wife & String Of Pearls, where he helps stop a con man.

The movie is Lola. 1:66 aspect ratio (letterbox with thin lines top & bottom of screen) & in color. Bronson is a writer in England in love with a 16 year old girl. A good movie but a used film print with some scratches here & there. The color is good and so is the sound.

I bought the DVD in a computer/video store & was not disappointed with the video/sound quality or the contents. In other words is was worth the $6 I spent and is a title I will keep in my collection.

DVD:

DVD

Walt Disney Classics: Cinderella 2, The Lady And The Tramp 2

DVD: Hollywood Tough Guys

In den Straßen der Bronx