They Drive by Night (Snap case) |  | Directors: Crane Wilbur, Raoul Walsh
Actors: George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Fritz Feld, Kathryn Kane, John Carroll
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
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Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 23644
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD65841D
ISBN: 0790783061
UPC: 012569584129
EAN: 9780790783062
ASIN: B0000B1OGF
Theatrical Release Date: August 3, 1940
Release Date: November 4, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
By turns hard-nosed and ribald, They Drive by Night smashes through a vintage Warner Bros. yarn about truck drivers, the Depression, and one duplicitous dame. The opening reels are a forceful look at the dangerous lives of independent truckers (George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as brothers--Bogie in the supporting role, though he would soon eclipse Raft in Hollywood), battling the system and the economy. The final section veers into a less exciting murder frame-up, but Ida Lupino is so delicious as the Black Widow, it works. The robust humor of director Raoul Walsh dominates the film, with some truly hilarious double entendres aimed at outfoxing the censors. At the center of many such one-liners is Ann Sheridan, as a waitress who slings more than hash. It's close to being a classic, and the road sequences are as vital as those in The Grapes of Wrath, made the same year. --Robert Horton
Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/12/2005 Rating: Nr
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
 Melodrama's so much fun, in black and white for everyone to see... January 16, 2010
Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
They Drive by Night (Raoul Walsh, 1940)
Manly-man director Raoul Walsh (High Sierra, They Died with Their Boots On, etc.) was just as capable of doing melodrama as the next guy. He just hid it in the guise of a murder mystery involving manly-men like George Raft and, in his final non-leading role, Humphrey Bogart, doing manly-man kinds of things. In this case, as the title should tell you, they do things like drive trucks. It may be the most fun you'll ever have with a Hollywood Weepie, though the film was made over a decade before the phrase was coined.
Raft and Bogart play Joe and Paul Fabrini, brothers involved in the long-haul trucking business along the west coast. They haul produce, stop along the way to jaw with pals, that sort of thing. Joe takes a shine to a waitress named Cassie (Ann Sheridan) in a one-horse town, and she just happens to be on her way to the big city. Paul, who's already married, is above such things, of course. Problem is, while Joe and Cassie are getting close, Lana Carlsen (Ida Lupino), the wife of one of the magnates who often employs the brothers (Alan Hale), has developed quite the obsession where Joe is concerned. How to get her husband out of the way so she can pursue Joe full-time?
And I'm just scraping the tip of the iceberg here. This is top-shelf melodrama, modeled (however unconsciously) on the film serials popular at the time, and so anything like a complete synopsis would drive us much farther into spoiler territory than I've already gone. It's a blast, though, and even the inevitable overacting is fun to watch. (I think Ida Lupino was going for Peter Lorre in M during the climactic scene, but she ended up looking more like Lucille Ball in the conveyor-belt chocolate-candy episode.) Neither Bogart nor Walsh were at their finest here, and Raft was a pretty far piece away, but you can't combine a cast this good with a director this good and not come up with a winner. ***
 Yawn.... September 14, 2009
Mr. Michael J. Lupo
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This movie is terrible. It's obvious why a young Bogie surpassed Raft like he was standing still after this movie. Raft was an awful actor. The only decent role he had was "Each dawn I die", and that's because Cagney carried him. To compare him with Cagney or Bogie is like comparing Tiny Tim to Elvis !!!!
A Movie with alot of Drive! July 11, 2009
Robert Badgley (London,Ontario,Canada)
"They Drive by Night",released in July 1940 and a remake of a British film done just two years earlier,is an absorbing tale of two men in that decades old venerable trade of long haul trucking;the men who ply the roadways at night delivering the goods from point A to point B.
The story here involves the Fabrini brothers, Paul(Bogie)and Joe(Raft) who own their truck but work for a crooked boss.They,like many others,get stiffed when it comes to getting paid.When their truck unexpectedly breaks down they have a final confrontation with their boss,collect their dues by force and leave his employ.The boys have been told they should hook up with Carlsen trucking where they get paid a salary and the company takes all the risk,but at this point they like the independent life too much.One day Joe takes a gamble and buys a load of lemons to haul,thereby becoming their own bosses.While on the road Paul falls asleep at the wheel and runs off the road.The truck,which they had just paid off,is a ruin and while Joe had been thrown clear of the crash,Paul comes out of it minus his right arm.
As Paul convalesces at home,Joe finally relents and goes to work for Mr Carlsen(Alan Hale).Carlsen is a straight shooting and very affable man and treats Joe very well.However his wife Lana(Ida Lupino) has had a crush on Joe for a long time and refuses to let Joe alone.Lana is a frustrated individual who hates her life with Carlsen.And even though Joe has fallen for a waitress he came to know by the name of Cassie(Ann Sheridan),it still doesn't deter Lana from her pursuit of Joe.After a
long night of partying Lana drives her husband home and parks the car in their garage.She sits thinking for a moment about everything and her expression alone tells us what is to come.She walks out of the garage,the car still running, and closes the doors behind her.Her husband is of course found dead the next day and after a short routine interrogation by the D.A., she is let go.
Now that she is "free" of her burden she finds her life alone isn't exactly a bed of roses.She brings Joe in to the firm as a half partner,trying to get him closer to her.After a particularly nasty confrontation with Lana, Joe reveals he is going to marry his fiance.Lana in a fit of rage reveals she killed her husband for him.Joe is shocked and leaves.Lana thinks Joe may head for the police so she beats him to the punch and claims to the police it was Joe that made her kill her husband under duress.A trial ensues and Lana,worn down in body and spirit, takes the stand.She just stares into oblivion and starts to rant on to herself and the crowded courtroom.It turns out to be a bizarre confession and Joe is set free,while Lana goes back to a long incarceration;very much insane.
The movie ends with Joe wanting to leave the Carlsen firm and strike out on his own again.But the workers,with a little bit of help from Cassie,talk him out of going.Fade to black.
This story grabs you right from the beginning.The two main characters of Joe and Paul are very likable,as are most of the other drivers,Joes girlfriend Cassie,and Mr Carlsen played very well by Alan Hale Sr.(father to the future skipper of the SS Minnow!).So when a bad element is thrown into the mix it really stands out.Lupino plays a beautiful part here of a frustrated wife who is hemmed in by her matrimonial obligations and longs for something she can't nor will never have.Her frustration goes to anger then is vented in cold blooded murder then ultimately it drives her insane.That moment in the garage as the camera is focused strictly on her face and we watch her thought processes right before our eyes is just plain great acting...period.
Raft,along with Cagney and Robinson,were the top tough guys of this era(Bogie would soon join the group).Raft,like Cagney,had great talent in the dancing department(see his film "Bolero"/34,for a taste) and he was at the top of his career at this point.Unlike Cagney and Robinson though,Raft really did have connections to racketeers and openly admitted several times he had been financed during his career by more than one crime figure to make it in Hollywood.
Bogart was still a supporting player but that would change within a year or so as "High Sierra","The Maltese Falcon" and finally "Casablanca" would shoot him to super stardom.Ann Sheridan was a talented but underrated actress who could act very well(see "Kings Row",1942) and also
sing(see "Thank Your Lucky Stars",/43).Ida Lupino was a rising star at this time but a good solid performer.Her breakthrough role would come in 1947 with "Escape me Never", but she became a director during this era and never looked back.She continued to act and direct in films,as well as in countless television shows over the years.
Technically speaking the film print here is very good and has been transferred well.Extras included are a featurette on the film,its trailer and a nicely restored three strip Technicolour short of 1940 called "Swingtime in the Movies".
All in all the film sports a solid cast,a decent and engaging script and good direction by veteran Raoul Walsh.This is Raft at his peak,and a good chance to see rising stars Bogart,Sheridan and Lupino in their pre-star days.A good film addition to any DVD collection.
 Gotta Love That Lupino! July 9, 2009
Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
Wonderful film about working class men driving trucks for a living. They meet nice girls and.... bad girls! One bad girl is Ida Lupino who lusts after George Raft but is married to the boss. One nice girl is Ann Sheridan who is eligible to be married and will make a good wife. Of course Bogart is the good husband with the nice loyal wife. What's the bad girl going to do! The doors made me do it is a classic line. Find out what it means!
They Drive by Night June 7, 2009
Victor F. Antoine
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's a good movie which I have yet to see on TCM or AMC but it is no Dead End. Humphrey Bogart is almost an after thought. Yet it was enjoyable.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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