They Drive by Night

Director: Raoul Walsh

Overview

Humphrey Bogart and George Raft star in They Drive By Night as a pair of truck-driving brothers who attempt to break away from their corrupt bosses and begin a business of their own. After Bogart is hurt in an accident, Raft has to return to the company, but once he arrives, the boss's wife (Ida Lupino) falls in love with him. Lupino kills her husband with the intent of hooking up with Raft, yet he rejects her overture. Following his rejection, she accuses him of her husband's murder. They Drive By Night has also been shown in a computer-colorized version.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/27/2017
UPC:	0888574489359
Original Release:	1940
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	19,393

Special Features

Making-Of featurette Divided Highway: the story of They Drive By Night; Vintage musical short Swingtime in the Movies; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Humphrey Bogart	Paul Fabrini
Ida Lupino	Lana Carlsen
George Raft	Joe Fabrini
Ann Sheridan	Cassie Hartley
Gale Page	Pearl Fabrini
John Litel	Harry McNamara
Roscoe Karns	"Irish" McGurn
Henry O'Neill	District Attorney
George Tobias	George Rondolos
Charles Halton	Farnsworth
Joyce Compton	Sue Carter
John Ridgely	Hank Dawson
Paul Hurst	Pete Haig
Charles Wilson	Mike Williams
Norman Willis	Neves
George Lloyd	Barney
Lillian Yarbo	Chloe
Eddy Chandler	Truck Driver
Pedro Regas	Mexican Helper
Frank Faylen	Driver
Ralph Sanford	Driver
Saul Gorss	Driver
Michael Harvey	Driver
Eddie Fetherston	Driver
Alan Davis	Driver
Dick Wessel	Driver
Al Hill	Driver
Charles Sullivan	Driver
Eddie Acuff	Driver
Pat Flaherty	Driver
Mike Lally	Driver
Don Turner	Driver
Ralph Lynn	Driver
Charles Sherlock	Driver
Frank Mayo	Driver
Dutch Hendrian	Driver
George Haywood	Policeman
Claire James	Party Guest
Marie Blake	Waitress
Vera Lewis	Landlady
Frank Wilcox	Reporter
J. Anthony Hughes	Reporter
Joe Devlin	Fatso
William Haade	Tough Driver
Phyllis Hamilton	Stenographer
Jack Mower	Deputy
Carl Harbaugh	Mechanic
Mack Gray	Mike
Richard Clayton	Young Man
Max Wagner	Sweeney, the Driver
Demetrius Emanuel	Waiter
Dorothy Vaughan	Matron
Brenda Fowler	Matron
Billy Wayne	Electrician
Matt McHugh	Electrician
Howard Hickman	Judge
Wilfred Lucas	Bailiff
Alan Hale Jr.	Ed J. Carlsen
Eddie Fetherstone	Actor
Adolph Deutsch	Composer

Technical Credits

Richard Macaulay

Jerry Wald

Raoul Walsh	Director
Richard Macaulay	Screenwriter
Jerry Wald	Screenwriter
Mark Hellinger	Producer
James Gibbons	Special Effects
H.F. Koenekamp	Special Effects
John Holden	Special Effects
Byron Haskin	Special Effects
Edwin DuPar	Special Effects
James Gibbon	Special Effects
Hal Wallis	Producer
Oliver Garretson	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Humphrey Bogart has very little to do in They Drive by Night, except feeling sorry for himself. Instead, the film belongs squarely to George Raft, who, for once didn't turn down a great role. (He passed on, among others, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.) But what good fortune that both worked for Warner Bros., that most blue-collar oriented of all the Hollywood studios. More than anything, They Drive by Night is a working-class movie -- working-class chic, perhaps, what with Ann Sheridan in full Hollywood war paint despite playing a roadhouse waitress -- and embodies all the hopes and aspirations of what they used to call the "working stiff." Raft doesn't necessarily want to become a millionaire like his friend, Alan Hale, and certainly want nothing to do with the latter's grasping wife, never mind what she is willing to do for him. All he wishes for is a little business of his own, to punch his own time clock and do an honest day's work without answering to anyone. And when he finally achieves that goal -- through the circuitous road route the screenwriters have mapped out for him -- he is just what you knew he would be: the most democratic of bosses. Imagine what they would have done with such a plot and such a character over at posh, other-worldly MGM. Ida Lupino, meanwhile, overacts her hysteria in the climactic courtroom scene but the great Warner stock company is out in force to make sure that They Drive by Night is the slam-bang action-drama that its press book promised.