"In the inter-war period, it wasperhaps Robert Rossen, then a screenwriter and the most prominent professionallyof the Hollywood Communists, who fought with the most obstinacy-and the greatestsuccess-against the completely patriarchal 'law' of the happy ending." (NB)Drawn from headline stories of the vice investigations of Lucky Luciano, MarkedWoman delineates the role of Mary (Bette Davis) and the other"hostesses" of the Club Intime in bringing down Luciano's fictionalcounterpart Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli). In the lauded final scene,Humphrey Bogart, as the prosecutor modeled on Thomas A. Dewey, basks in publicrecognition, while the women, marked by their class and profession, recede insolidarity into the fog. As Davis confides, they "belong to two differentworlds"-only one of which has a happily-ever-after.