Scott Amundsen
Some films are simply greater than the sum of their parts. Ingrid Bergman went on record several times that no one on the CASABLANCA shoot had any clue that they were making a film that would rival the likes of CITIZEN KANE for the title of "Greatest American Film." One suspects the same "business as usual" atmosphere prevailed on the set of THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, a noir melodrama directed by Raoul Walsh for Warner Bros in 1940. A partial reworking of an earlier film titled BORDERTOWN, this film follows the ups and downs of the Fabrini brothers, long-haul truckers trying to move up from dodging poverty and the bill collectors at every turn to sufficient success to allow one brother to marry and the other, already married, to start a family.Good enough setup for noir melodrama, but it deviates wildly right in the middle of the picture into a crime drama. The crime in question is murder and the criminal case dominates the second half of the film. Somehow the transition from one kind of story to another works remarkably well, so well that I would consider it a classic of the noir genre.All the more remarkable when you realize that this was a B picture. Shot on a budget of $400,000.00, a modest sum even in 1940, with a cast of Warner Bros stalwarts, none of whom were great stars at the time.Joe Fabrini, the older, unmarried brother, is played by George Raft. Raft was in fact two years younger than Bogart, but his character is definitely the alpha dog, calling the shots and looking out for his brother in the time-honored manner of older brothers everywhere. Raft was never much of an actor, and never quite made it out of the B pictures, but in the right part, with the right director, he could be quite good, as is the case here.Brother Paul is played by Humphrey Bogart, who in 1940 was still a couple of years away from his eventual superstardom. Bogart displays a gentleness and sensitivity that he seldom got to show once he became a big star.The rest of the men in the cast are Warner's contract players, solid character actors all. It's the women who really elevate the piece to near A status.Ann Sheridan plays Cassie Hartley, a wise-cracking, down-on-her-luck waitress with whom Joe falls in love almost against his will, focused as he is on the trucking business. Sheridan brings her usual "oomph" to the role and gets most of the best smartass lines.Paul's wife Pearl is played by Gale Page, an actress of decent ability whose career was pretty much spent in B pictures, probably because she excelled neither in dramatics or in beauty. But Page is just right here; putting someone with bigger acting chops or greater beauty in this role would have thrown the picture badly off balance.Then there's Ida Lupino as Lana Carlsen, the wife of a friend of Joe's who owns his own trucking company and who secretly lusts after Joe despite his repeated curt rejections; he admits she's attractive, but he's a man of honor: he will not betray his friend by sleeping with his wife. Ever.Lana's passion for Joe is ultimately her undoing. She does not love her husband, and probably only married him for his money, so one night after a party at which he gets sloppy drunk, she puts the car in the garage, leaving it running, and closes the doors. Her husband, dead drunk, dies of carbon monoxide poisoning.The DA rules it an accident, so Lana cons Joe into coming into her late husband's business as her "partner," though it is clear that her use of that word implies more than just business. Joe reluctantly agrees, mainly so that he can give a job to Paul, who in the middle of the film loses an arm in a wreck after falling asleep at the wheel.Lana thinks she's got him. But he still wants nothing to do with her, partly because her late husband was his friend but because by this time he has decided to ask Cassie to marry him. Driven to desperation, Lana confesses her crime to Joe in a misguided attempt to show proof of her love for him. Appalled, Joe makes tracks, and Lana, not about to be outdone, decides to tell the DA that yes, she killed her husband, but she did it because Joe Fabrini told her to.The trial that follows is pretty standard stuff for a noir melodrama, until Lana takes the stand. What happens in these few minutes should have garnered Lupino an Oscar nomination, but she was still a B actress being groomed as a possible foil for Bette Davis. In fact, watching this film, I thought what a great part Lana would have been for Davis. I don't know if it was ever offered to her, but if it was and she turned it down, it was a happy mistake, because as much as I love Bette Davis, Ida Lupino is so perfect, so compelling, and at the end so utterly chilling in the part that she OWNS it. And then some.Not bad legs for a B picture, it was a huge hit that propelled Bogart toward full stardom. Unfortunately it did not do the same for Lupino, a brilliant and gifted actress whom the studio cruelly misused; with her titanic talents, she could have given even La Davis a run for her money if the studio had only allowed her to.This is one of those movies that I always simply MUST sit down and watch whenever it comes on. It is a great demonstration that it is not always necessary to break the bank to make great entertainment.
edwagreen
Wow! Ida Luppino gives a memorable performance in this Humphrey Bogart, George Raft film.Ida was such an under-rated actress. What did she have to do to win an Oscar yet alone be nominated? That's right, Ida Luppino was never nominated for an Oscar even though she would win the New York City Film Critics award in 1942 for "The Hard Way." Unbelievable!In this film she plays the frustrated wife of truck owner Alan Hale. Trapped in a bad marriage, she desires for lust but certainly can't get that from the happy-go-lucky Hale. When the Bogart-Raft brothers come to work for Hale, Luppino thinks she has found romance with one of the brothers. She decides to end her marriage by killing Hale with gas fumes from his car.When spurned by her suitor, she allows him to be blamed for Hale's death.Her crack-up scene in court at film's end must be one of the greatest scenes filmed on screen. Hysterically shouting that the doors made her do it, Luppino proved one again that she was one of Hollywood's greatest femme fatales.Ann Sheridan proved her mettle in the film as well. This picture was sort of a warm up for two years later for Sheridan, when she made a hit as Ronald Reagan's girl friend in the 1942 memorable "King's Row."
philip flight
An intriguing movie in many ways, 'They Drive by Night' was made just after a series of classic Warner Bros gangster movies such as 'Angels with Dirty Faces' and a year before the era of a cycle of films popularly known as film noir began. It contains plenty of the grittiness that both genres, and indeed the studio itself, were noted for.In fact, had it been released a few years later the movie may well have been regarded as a prime example of film noir. The first half is the story of the Fabrini brothers (George Raft and Humphrey Bogart) who drive trucks for a living. This is a bit of a dead end job, and both rarely get a good nights' sleep- "Oh boy, I'd like to stay in bed a week, not even get up to eat." This job brings its' dangers- notably the risk of falling asleep at the wheel ("Every minute when I'm alone I expect someone to knock on the door and tell me I'm a widow"- Bogarts' wife, played by Gale Page). At the end of the day, both brothers desperately need their "dough" to make ends meet- after all, this is the depression era. In the second half of the film we witness lust, murder, jealousy and madness, much of which centres around Lana Carlsen (Ida Lupino).The main reason I enjoy this film so much is the performances of the cast. The leading role falls to George Raft and he performs adequately enough. Better known as a gangster in the decade that had just passed, this movie gave him the opportunity to display his acting skills as an honourable 'Ordinary Joe' character. However, I enjoy the other performances most of all. Humphrey Bogart was on the verge of his big career breakthrough when he appeared in this film and although he is only really involved in the first half of the movie there is no doubting the presence he has in the final supporting role of his film career. Ann Sheridan, known as the 'oomph girl' to many (a name I understand she resented) is on top form as a tough, no nonsense working class dame who is resistant to the charms of most of the men she meets ("All right, that's enough of the x-ray treatment"), with an obvious exception being Raft. Then there is the wisecracking, hugely likable character actor Alan Hale (seen often in Errol Flynn movies) who plays the charming and friendly manager of a lucrative truck firm (just look at the state of the art technology of his garage door!) Unfortunately he has two weaknesses- alcohol and his unfailing devotion to his wife, who shall we say is not the gentlest of people.It is in the latter role that Ida Lupino provides the performance of the film as an untrustworthy wife driven to all kinds of insanity by her jealousy of another female, her resentment of her drunken husband ("Your liver must look like a bomb hit it") and her lust for another man. The London-born actress turned many heads here and an especially notable moment sees her in hysterics in the court room scene at the end of the film ("Yes! The doors made me do it!" is a very memorable quote). She clearly took her opportunity to steal the picture with both hands.Moviegoers who enjoy witty lines will have a field day with this picture- there are lots of these to be found in its' 90 minute running time. It's not a comedy but it is the humour that lifts this movie to the impressive heights it reaches in terms of sheer entertainment, despite its' serious side.
