When the authorities finally sent Mafia boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano to prison, they did so partly thanks to the assistance of prostitutes under his employ. With 1937’s Marked Woman, we get a fictionalized take on these events.

Gangster Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) takes over a nightclub. A “clip joint”, it employs “bar girls” to woo male patrons and get them to waste money.

When Vanning’s goons murder deadbeat customer Ralph Krawford (Damian O'Flynn), Mary Dwight (Bette Davis) comes under suspicion. Crusading prosecutor David Graham (Humphrey Bogart) convinces Mary to testify against Vanning, a choice fraught with danger.

Of course, given that Marked came out in the early era of the “Production Code”, the film can’t paint Mary or her associates as “ladies of the evening”. Instead, it makes their jobs shady but not illegal.

This neuters the story somewhat, but the “sugar-coating” of events doesn’t become the movie’s biggest problem. Instead, Marked falters more due to various story choices.

For one, Marked evolves in a somewhat scattered manner. It develops the narrative in a way that sends it along on a circuitous path that feels less than dynamic.

Marked also comes with some trite choices, mainly related to the involvement of Mary’s younger sister Betty (Jane Bryan). She exists as nothing more than a plot device.

And a cliché one at that. The movie could find better ways to explore its themes without going down such a cheap and cheesy path.

Davis does well as our lead, at least. Her signature moxie carries the day and she brings depth to the thinly-written role as well.

Davis and Bogart worked together six times, with Marked as the fourth in that run. They show an easy chemistry together that helps make their scenes compelling.

Unfortunately, too much of Marked sputters to make it a consistently engaging tale. While it comes with positives, it fails to explore them as well as I’d hope.

Marked Woman appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not a stellar image, this one still held up well for its age.

Sharpness became the only moderate concern here, as the movie could lean a little soft at times. These tendencies didn’t seem substantial, though, as the majority of the film looked pretty well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed natural, and print flaws didn’t materialize.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows were smooth and clear. Despite some softness, I felt pleased with this largely age-defying presentation.

While the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack seemed more dated, it worked fine for a mix of this one’s vintage. Speech could be brittle but the lines remained intelligible.

Music played a fairly small role and sounded pretty thin but lacked issues with distortion. Effects also lacked much to do here but they came across as acceptably accurate, albeit without much life. The audio seemed more than appropriate for a circa 1937 recording.

A featurette called Ripped from the Headlines runs 12 minutes, 34 seconds. It provides notes from film professor Rick Jewell, biographer Charlotte Chandler, author Boze Hadleigh, and film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini.

“Ripped” looks at the story/characters of Marked Woman and its real-life inspirations as well as Production Code issues and aspects of the movie’s creation. It becomes a short but effective look at these domains.

Along with the film’s trailer, we get two vintage animated shorts. The disc includes Porky’s Hero Agency (7:35) and She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter (8:38).

Via Hero, Porky fantasizes that he interacts with mythological entities. It seems cute and comes with some laughs.

Daughter shows a night at the movies and attempts humor via the onscreen material and the antics of the audience. It’s not a classic, but it amuses well enough.

With Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogarts as its leads, Marked Woman comes with ample star power. Although the actors do well, the rest of the movie seems less positive. The Blu-ray comes with pretty positive picture and audio as well as a smattering of supplements. Davis and Bogart make the movie watchable but it still disappoints.