They Drive by Night (1938 film)

Last updated

They Drive by Night
"They Drive by Night" (1938 film).jpg
British lobby card
Directed by Arthur B. Woods
Written by Paul Gangelin
Derek Twist
Screenplay byJames Curtis
Based on They Drive by Night
1938 novel
by James Curtis
Produced by Jerome Jackson
Starring Emlyn Williams
Ernest Thesiger
Cinematography Basil Emmott
Edited by Leslie Norman
Music by Bretton Byrd
Production
company
Warner Bros. - First National Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros. (UK)
Release date
  • December 1938 (1938-12)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

They Drive by Night is a 1938 British black-and-white crime thriller film directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Emlyn Williams and Ernest Thesiger. [1] [2] It was produced by Warner Bros. - First National Productions and based on the 1938 novel They Drive by Night by James Curtis.

Contents

The picture is not to be confused with the 1940 American film They Drive by Night , based on a different novel and featuring George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, and also a Warner Bros. film. This British film also has the alternative title, perhaps only in the United States, of Murder on the Run.

Plot

"Shorty" Matthews having recently been released from prison visits his girlfriend in London only to discover she has been murdered. Fearing he will be wrongly accused of being the culprit he disappears amongst the long-distance lorry driving community. Meanwhile, the real killer, unassuming ex-schoolteacher Walter Hoover, continues to prey on London women. As Shorty had feared he has become the main suspect. He returns to London with old flame Molly to prove his innocence.

Cast

Production

James Curtis adapted his own novel They Drive by Night to provide the screenplay for the film. The female victims of the book were prostitutes and to prevent censorship this aspect was watered down.[ citation needed ] Additionally, the book featured scenes of police brutality that were excised altogether. [3] The film was made by Warner Brothers at the recently purchased Teddington Studios as a quota film under the Cinematograph Films Act 1927. [4]

Release

While it gained a certificate to be released in the US the studio cited an inability to get a negative out of the UK. As such it did not receive a US theatrical release. [4]

Reception

Box office

The film made a profit of £10,557. [5]

Critical

On release in the UK it was well received critically[ citation needed ] with author Graham Greene being a notable fan. Of the film he cited how close it came to French cinema with its realism and lack of romanticism. [3]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This gripping and exciting thriller has been admirably produced and directed. Great care has been taken with the backgrounds, which are strikingly realistic. The strange night life on the trunk roads with the open all-night cafés (pronounced "caffs") is contrasted with the gay and flashy palais de danse. The cheap lodging-house is set over against Mr. Hoover's luxurious but eerie flat. The sinister opening – a group of people waiting outside a prison for the bell which tolls for the execution of a murderer – is repeated in the closing sequence, after a climax in the Grand Guignol tradition." [6]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "outstanding", writing: "Splendid, atmospheric black thriller: the sleeper of its year." [7]

Leslie Halliwell's 1977 edition of The Filmgoer's Companion cites the picture as the director Arthur B. Woods' most notable film and also a film of note for Ernest Thesiger. [8]

Home media

The film is currently[ when? ] unavailable on DVD. However, the novel was reissued by London Books with an introduction by Jonathan Meades in 2008. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emlyn Williams</span> Welsh writer, dramatist and actor (1905–1987)

George Emlyn Williams, CBE was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Thesiger</span> English actor (1879–1961)

Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

<i>Yield to the Night</i> 1956 British film by J. Lee Thompson

Yield to the Night is a 1956 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell and Michael Craig. It was written by John Cresswell and Joan Henry based on Henry's 1954 novel Yield to the Night.

<i>The Green Man</i> (film) 1956 British comedy film by Robert Day

The Green Man is a 1956 black and white British black comedy film directed by Robert Day and starring Alastair Sim, George Cole, Terry-Thomas and Jill Adams. The screenplay was by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, based on the play Meet a Body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Curtis (British writer)</span> British writer

James Curtis was a British writer who was best known for his novels, They Drive By Night and There Ain't No Justice, both of which were made into feature films.

<i>The Gentle Sex</i> 1943 British film by Leslie Howard

The Gentle Sex is a 1943 British black-and-white romantic comedy-drama war film, directed by Leslie Howard and Maurice Elvey and narrated by Howard. It was produced by Concanen Productions, Two Cities Films, and Derrick de Marney. It was Howard's last film before his death.

<i>Grand National Night</i> 1953 film

Grand National Night is a 1953 British second feature ('B') thriller film directed by Bob McNaught and starring Nigel Patrick, Moira Lister and Beatrice Campbell. It was produced by George Minter and Phil C. Samuel, and written by Val Valentine and Bob McNaught based on the 1945 play of the same title written by Campbell and Dorothy Christie.

<i>Murder in Soho</i> 1939 British film

Murder in Soho is a 1939 British crime film directed by Norman Lee and starring Jack La Rue, Sandra Storme, Googie Withers and Bernard Lee. The screenplay was by F. McGrew Willis. It concerns a murder in the Central London district of Soho.

<i>Value for Money</i> 1955 British comedy film by Ken Annakin

Value for Money is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring John Gregson, Diana Dors, Susan Stephen and Derek Farr. It is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Derrick Boothroyd.

<i>Three Men in a Boat</i> (1956 film) 1956 British film by Ken Annakin

Three Men in a Boat is a 1956 British CinemaScope colour comedy film directed by Ken Annakin, starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, David Tomlinson and Shirley Eaton. It was written by Hubert Gregg and Vernon Harris based on the 1889 novel of the same name by Jerome K. Jerome.

<i>Doctor at Large</i> (film) 1957 British film by Ralph Thomas

Doctor at Large is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas starring Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice and Shirley Eaton. It is the third of the seven films in the Doctor series, and is based on the 1955 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon.

<i>Violent Playground</i> 1958 film by Basil Dearden

Violent Playground is a black and white 1958 British film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing, and David McCallum. It was written by James Kennaway.

<i>Piccadilly Incident</i> 1946 British film

Piccadilly Incident is a 1946 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Coral Browne, Edward Rigby and Leslie Dwyer. It was written by Nicholas Phipps based on a story by Florence Tranter.

<i>The Night of the Party</i> 1934 British film

The Night of the Party is a 1934 British mystery thriller film directed by Michael Powell and starring Leslie Banks, Ian Hunter, Jane Baxter, Ernest Thesiger and Malcolm Keen. In the United States it was released as The Murder Party. It was made at the Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush. The art direction was by Alfred Junge, later a regular contributor to the films of Powell and Pressburger.

<i>Just My Luck</i> (1957 film) 1957 British film by John Paddy Carstairs

Just My Luck is a 1957 British sports comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom, Margaret Rutherford, Jill Dixon and Leslie Phillips. It was written by Peter Cusick, Alfred Shaughnessy and Peter Blackmore.

<i>They Drive by Night</i> (novel) 1938 novel by James Curtis

They Drive By Night is the second novel by British author James Curtis published in 1938. It is a crime thriller set in 1930s London and the North of England dealing with working-class themes in a Social realism style.

<i>The Heart Within</i> 1957 British film by David Eady

The Heart Within is a 1957 British drama film directed by David Eady and starring James Hayter, Clifford Evans and David Hemmings. A Jamaican dockside worker goes on the run in London suspected of the murder of another Jamaican.

<i>Never Back Losers</i> 1961 British film by Robert Tronson

Never Back Losers is a 1961 British 'B' crime film directed by Robert Tronson and starring Jack Hedley, Jacqueline Ellis and Patrick Magee. It was written by Lucas Heller based on the 1929 novel The Green Ribbon by Edgar Wallace. It was one of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series, produced at Merton Park Studios in the early 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Danzigers</span> American producers of 1950s British films/TV

Edward J. Danziger (1909–1999) and Harry Lee Danziger (1913–2005) were American-born brothers who produced many British films and TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

<i>Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard</i> 1939 British film

Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard is a 1939 British comedy-drama film directed by Fred Elles starring Mary Clare in her only title role and Nigel Patrick in his film debut. It is based on the Mrs Pym novels by Nigel Morland, and written by Morland, who re-used the title for a 1946 book.

References

  1. "They Drive by Night". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  2. "They Drive by Night (1939)". Archived from the original on 18 January 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 "London Books". www.london-books.co.uk.
  4. 1 2 "BFI Screenonline: They Drive By Night (1939)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  5. Chapman, Llewella. "'The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England". Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10. Vol. 19, no. 4. Edinburgh University Press. p. 470-494 at 490.
  6. "They Drive by Night" . The Monthly Film Bulletin . 6 (61): 2. 1 January 1939 via ProQuest.
  7. Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 160. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  8. Halliwell's The Filmgoer's Companion (1977), Leslie Halliwell (Hill & Wang)