. . . 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.

Somehow at the age of 22, William Holden looked like a better-looking Tom Hanks. And I'll bet there are a lot of people who could sit through "Invisible Stripes" and not know it was William Holden."Invisible Stripes" stars George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, and Jane Bryan.George Raft plays Cliff Taylor who, once released from prison, decides to stay on the straight and narrow. His pal, Chuck Martin (Bogart) has no such intentions. Cliff, who has a brother (Holden) and a mother (Fay Robson) finds the going tough, unable to get a job he can keep for various reasons, usually someone making trouble for him. His kindly parole officer encourages him to keep trying. With his brother Tim wanting to marry his girlfriend Peggy, and the job situation, Cliff decides to go in with Chuck's group.Pretty good gangster flick, with Bogart, not long before his breakout role in High Sierra, giving the strongest performance. Raft is playing a good guy so he doesn't demonstrate a lot of bite. The film has some exciting scenes, particularly toward the end.Holden, as stated above, is just a kid but does a good job as a man in love who wants to give his girlfriend the world, if only he had some money. It would be 11 years before he made his mark in "Sunset Boulevard" and became a true superstar.As an aside, Jane Bryan retired to marry Justin Dart, who took over Rexall Drug chain. She died in 2009 at the age of 91.In many ways a typical Warner Brothers gangster film, but a good one.

You're not missing anything if you skip INVISIBLE STRIPES. None of the players are seen to any particular advantage--not boyish looking WILLIAM HOLDEN or tough guy GEORGE RAFT, paired as hot-headed brothers who can't seem to get away from a life of crime. Raft plays a parolee who tries keeping his kid brother Holden clean, while at the same time tempted to join a gang of thieves when he can't seem to hold down a respectable job.JANE BRYAN, FLORA ROBSON and HUMPHREY BOGART are fine in supporting roles but nothing about their work is liable to stick in the memory. Bogart plays his typical hoodlum role, writhing on the floor under a hail of bullets as was his usual destiny in these sort of things.Bogart, of course, came into his own once he in inherited all the roles George Raft foolishly turned down--including THE MALTESE FALCON. Raft underplays his role here to such an extent that he looks bored with the whole thing--which he probably was.This is strictly a routine Warner crime melodrama with uninspired script and direction and easily one you can skip despite a couple of well-staged shootouts.

George Raft and Humphrey Bogart after a stretch in prison are getting out together. Raft is going to make a go of the straight life, but Bogart just wants to get back to being a criminal.Raft makes a try at it, but the fact he's an ex-con is continually being held against him. Eventually he rejoins the old gang, but keeps it a secret from mother Flora Robson and brother William Holden.Holden in the mean time is barely keeping his financial head above water at the gas station he works at. He's thinking real hard himself that brother Raft might have the right idea. All this is most distressing to Flora Robson and his fiancé, Jane Bryan.At Warner Brothers, it's all been done before, the players slip comfortably into roles that are very familiar to them. George Raft, a guy with limited skills was always believable in the urban criminal milieu because of who he hung out with. From Owney Madden to Meyer Lansky and most importantly Bugsy Siegel, Raft inhabited the wise guy world and basically was what you saw on the screen. Please recall Warren Beatty's film Bugsy which was spot on about Raft's relationship with him.It's interesting to speculate that if Raft had been at Warner Brothers from the beginning of his career instead of Paramount what path it might have taken. The best gangster flicks were done by the Brothers Warner, but by 1939 with their stable of gangster stars established, Raft is like a spare tire there.This was Bill Holden's second film and his joint contract holders of Paramount and Columbia lent him out here. He's playing the callow youth parts he specialized in before Sunset Boulevard. 'Smiling Jim' roles was what Holden disparagingly called these parts. It is rumored that Holden is also one of the extras in the prison yard in the James Cagney-George Raft film Each Dawn I Die. I've never been able to spot him though.Flora Robson's one great actress, her talents allowing her to play a slum mother and Queen Elizabeth the first. Some critics say she's wasted here and maybe she is, but one of her better later roles is as Mrs. Gonzo, the Maltese mother in Alec Guinness's The Malta Story. Very similar part.Jane Bryan's career was cut short all too soon, but not with tragedy, far from it. Shortly after this Bryan married Rexall Drug founder Justin Dart. She concentrated on the wife and mother thing and she was the wife of one of America's wealthiest citizens. Later on she had a hand in convincing her husband to back another of her former Warner Brothers contract players in a political career and lived to see Ronald Reagan become our 40th president.Both Bill Holden and Humphrey Bogart would feud legendarily on the set of Sabrina in the Fifties. No hint of their future troubles here in Invisible Stripes. Bogart's done it all before at Warner Brothers. George Raft helped Bogey in his career by shortly turning down High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon and later Casablanca. Fans of all the players mentioned here including myself will enjoy this film which admittedly won't rank in the top 10 of any of their credits.