They Drive by Night | |
---|---|
Directed by | Arthur B. Woods |
Written by | Paul Gangelin Derek Twist |
Screenplay by | James 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 |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
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.
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.
"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.
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]
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]
The film made a profit of £10,557. [5]
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]
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]
George Emlyn Williams, CBE was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.