They Drive by Night
| Program section: | Trucker Noir |
|---|---|
| Directed by: | Raoul Walsh |
| Year: | 1940 |
| Country: | USA |
| Length: | 95 min. |
| Cast: | George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Gale Page and others. |
Screening:
- 19. 8. 2026 | 20:30 - Kašpar Sternberg's Courtyard / CZ subs /
Produkce: Warner Bros.
Scénář/předloha: Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, A.I. Bezzerides
Kamera: Arthur Edeson
Hudba: Adolph Deutsch
Raoul Walsh’s They Drive by Night is rarely classified as a film noir, likely due to its genre ambiguity. Over the course of its 95-minute runtime, it shifts between a trucker movie, melodrama, thriller, courtroom drama, and even a comedy. Surprisingly, however, it works more than satisfactorily as a whole. Walsh shot the film in the same year as the better-known High Sierra, which, however, did not hit theaters until January 1941. Both films introduced audiences to the duo of Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. For They Drive by Night, however, Bogart’s partnership with George Raft is more important; Raft, as is well known, turned down several roles that went on to make Bogart a star. That is one reason why it is surprising that the film is dominated by Raft as Joe, a truck driver who wants to make something of his life. It is he who actively drives the narrative forward, while his brother Paul – played by Bogart – spends most of his time sleeping in the passenger seat, and when he does get behind the wheel on rare occasions, it ends tragically. (mh)
