Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Cliff Taylor (George Raft) and his pal Chuck Martin (Humphrey Bogart) are released together from Sing Sing. Cliff wants to regenerate and have a straight life while Chuck has no intention of changing his lifestyle. Cliff wants to support his mother Mrs. Taylor (Flora Robson) and his younger son Tim Taylor (William Holden) that can not afford to get married with his girlfriend Peggy (Jane Bryan). However he is discriminated by the society and has difficulties to get a job. When he sees Tim thinking to switch to a life if crime, Cliff seeks out Chuck and decides to join his gang to heist banks and make money to buy a garage for Tim. What will happen to the Taylor brothers? "Invisible Stripes" is an entertaining gangster film with the story of an ex-con that wants to go straight during his parole but is discriminated by the society, returning to the crime. The fate of Cliff Taylor is predictable. The greatest attractions are probably William Holden very young is his second credited role and Humphrey Bogart in a support role. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): Not Available on Blu-Ray or DVD.

. . . 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.

"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."

"Invisible Stripes" was based on a book by the same former prison warden responsible for the (far better) "20,000 Years in Sing Sing." Casting really does matter.George Raft turns in a characteristically wooden performance as the ex-con trying to go straight in a world stacked against him. It really is heart-breaking to watch the different ways he loses jobs, unable to shake the shadow of the "invisible stripes" that cover any convict. The strictures on parolees in the 1930s, if accurately depicted, *do* seem a little on the strong side--they weren't even allowed to have drivers licenses! Raft is paired with, in the accurate words of another reviewer, an "unrecognizably young" William Holden. Flora Robson, who plays their mother, was actually six years younger than Raft at the time of shooting. Jane Bryan is convincing and touching as Holden's long-time fiancée.Bogart spices up the story considerably, in a performance that may have been routine on the page but which comes fully to life in his hands. The film was originally to have been cast with Jimmy Cagney and John Garfield, but Bogart replaced Cagney in order to give him a vacation. I can't help but wonder how much better the film would have been with Garfield in the Raft role. Raft may have known the gang life inside out, but he couldn't act his way out of a paper bag.