Rent They Drive by Night (1940)

Haulage Pre-noir (spoiler). - They Drive by Night review by Steve

This tough Warner Brothers road film takes the premise of the Bette Davis vehicle Bordertown and welds it onto the chassis of AI Bezzerides' pulp novel, The Long Haul. George Raft and a subdued Humphrey Bogart play wildcat truck drivers forever getting gypped by the  corrupt buyers.

Ann Sheridan contributes the sexy, snappy backchat that's compulsory for a waitress in a diner in a Hollywood film. The sassy hash-slinger wins Raft's attention away from Ida Lupino, the wife of the wealthy company boss who she's looking to turn into an insurance payout. The last third of the film is stolen wholesale by Lupino as the deadly femme fatale.

She is willing to destroy herself to take Raft down with her. Her disintegration in the witness box is a stunning tour de force. Alan Hale is excellent as the unlucky husband. It's similar to Jules Dassin's noir classic Thieves Highway (1949), also from a Bezzerides story. But it swerves around the politics.

This just a haulage melodrama, loaded with atmosphere and interesting social history. Raoul Walsh keeps the action always rolling forwards. The laconic dialogue is classic Warners. There's a weary, gloomy pessimism on board which gives this the haunting despair of film noir, though a few years short of the noir big bang.