JohnHowardReid Review of Invisible Stripes

Invisible Stripes (1939)

A great cast hemmed in by an often too-talkative script

[7/10 · 29 May 2015]

A great cast is closeted in a movie that spends a great deal of its running time shooting down the then-current USA parole system. Fortunately, all the characters are well acted, though we see a little too much of impassive parolee, George Raft – here nearing the end of his number one star-billing career – and not enough of people like Paul Kelly, Lee Patrick, Marc Lawrence and Leo Gorcey. After a somewhat too long introduction in the prison showers, Bogart disappears from the movie for long stretches but fortunately figures as a central character in the all-action climax. A pity the movie-makers didn't wrap the film up at that point, but instead they tag on a somewhat overly sentimental all's-well-that-ends-well wrap-up with Bill Holden and Jane Bryan. Available on a superb Warner DVD.