THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT

Director: Raoul Walsh

Stars: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Alan Hale

Year: 1940

Rating: N/A

A classic melodrama with a stellar, star-making performance by Ida Lupino, They Drive by Night was also Humphrey Bogart's last supporting role; after this film, he was fast bumped up to the lead in subsequent films and on his way to becoming a film legend.

George Raft stars here, as Joe Fabrini - who, with his brother Paul (Bogart), are long-haul truck drivers working long hours for a shady boss, hoping to one day save up enough money to be able to work for themselves. They drive a truck they're behind in payments on, and never have any money thanks to a boss who's behind in paying them ... but soon get him to pay, at which time they pay off their truck and finally start buying their own loads, trying to make it a go on their own.

But when a bad accident leaves the truck destroyed and the brothers without an income, Joe takes a job garage manager job at the company of old buddy Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale) - who, unfortunately, has a scheming, social-climbing wife named Lana (Lupino) ... who has been hell-bent, since meeting him, on climbing into an affair with Joe, as well.

Joe manages to dodge Lana, having no interest; he's fallen hard already, in fact, with former waitress Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan), and as soon as he can help his brother get back on his feet and set aside some money, he and Cassie plan to marry.

But what he doesn't know is what lengths Lana will do to get him - and keep him. And boy, do things get ugly when he learns.

The film benefits greatly from Ida Lupino as Lana, who comes dangerously close to melodrama with her performance ... yet never quite steps over that edge. She's amazing here, in a role originally written with Bette Davis in mind (and it shows) - and after years in small roles at small studios, this was the film that made critics and fans alike truly discover her at last.

The ending of the film is too pat - a bit too "convenient" - but overall, They Drive by Night is a great melodrama featuring excellent performances ... especially by Lupino and Sheridan, whose acting chops in some scenes downright outshine their (mostly) testosterone-filled counterparts. *** - Reel Cool