They Drive by Night

They Drive by Night
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRaoul Walsh
Hugh MacMullen (dialogue)
Screenplay byJerry Wald
Richard Macaulay
Based onLong Haul
1938 novel
by A. I. Bezzerides
Produced byMark Hellinger
StarringGeorge Raft
Ann Sheridan
Ida Lupino
Humphrey Bogart
CinematographyArthur Edeson
Edited byThomas Richards
Music byAdolph Deutsch
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • July 27, 1940 (1940-07-27) (NYC)
  • August 3, 1940 (1940-08-03) (US)
[1]
Running time
93 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$539,000[2]
Box office$1,596,000[2]

They Drive by Night is a 1940 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, and Humphrey Bogart, and featuring Gale Page, Alan Hale, Roscoe Karns, John Litel and George Tobias. The picture involves a pair of embattled truck drivers and was released in the UK under the title The Road to Frisco. The film was based on A. I. Bezzerides' 1938 novel Long Haul, which was later reprinted under the title They Drive by Night to capitalize on the success of the film.

Part of the film's plot – that of Ida Lupino's character murdering her husband by carbon monoxide poisoning – was borrowed from another Warner Bros. film, Bordertown (1935) with Paul Muni and Bette Davis.[citation needed]

  1. ^ a b They Drive by Night at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ a b Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 20 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551