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One of several films that might fit into a subset called “trucker noir,” Raoul Walsh’s They Live By Night is a classic Warner Brothers production featuring the studio’s leading stars at the time, a variety of big-budget set pieces, and a mesmerizing, over-the-top portrayal of mental disintegration by Ida Lupino toward the film’s end. Lupino plays Lana Carlsen, the selfish sociopath married to the bumbling Ed (Alan Hale), a former trucker turned wealthy owner of a transport company. Lana fixes her roving eye on down-on-his-luck trucker Joe Fabrini (George Raft), but Joe’s already head over heels for waitress Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan) whom he intends to marry; the romantic chemistry between Raft and Sheridan is convincing and their snappy dialogue is steadily amusing. Humphrey Bogart plays Joe’s married brother and driving partner Paul, but Bogart fans should be aware that his screen time is limited (Raft was still the bigger star at this time). The brothers struggle against price gouging, accidents (Warner gives us not one, but two dramatic truck crashes), and repossession by the bank, but it’s Lupino who gets the primary crime plot, and it’s a doozy. “The doors made me do it!”
