Grade: C+
Synopsis: After struggling to reestablish himself in society, an ex-con (George Raft) goes to work for a hoodlum (Humphrey Bogart) in order to finance his younger brother’s (William Holden) dreams.
Director Lloyd Bacon almost ruined Invisible Stripes. Usually, when it comes to casting, studios override directors to the detriment of the film—think 20th Century Fox’s nixing Billy Wilder’s choice of Walter Mathau for the lead in The Seven Year Itch (1955)—but here it’s the other way round. Bacon wanted to cast perennial lug Wayne Morris in the prominent role of George Raft’s character’s younger brother, but the studio, Warner Bros., insisted on William Holden, who’d just come off his breakout role in Golden Boy (1939). Bacon reluctantly agreed, but rode Holden mercilessly throughout production, up until Raft finally told the director to “lay off the kid.”
History would, of course, prove Bacon wrong, as Holden would go on to become a major star while Morris wound up regulated to character-actor status, with his best work coming in Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory (1957).
Here, Holden makes the film, as despite receiving only third billing, he has a significant amount of screen time and a lot of showy scenes, many of which Morris would have overdone, yet Holden nails perfectly, foreshadowing the cynical, frustrated, everyman he would embody in many of his later, famous roles.
The rest of the cast is solid as well. George Raft and Humphrey Bogart make a believable pair of tough-guy ex-cons, with Bogie as the villain, and Raft as the levelheaded, would-be reformer. By this point, both men had these parts down pat, having played variations of them in most of their prior films. Jane Bryan is also fine in a limited role as Holden’s character’s girlfriend.
All of this makes Invisible Stripes a solid little crime melodrama. The ABC plotting and tinny dialog keep it from being great, but as a genre piece, it rises toward the top.
