They Live by Night (1948)'s comments

Do you want to let us know what you think? Just login, after which you will be redirected back here and you can leave your comments.

Torgo

Nicholas Ray's debut noir leans more toward the drama & romance side of the spectrum - mind that if you expect a hard-boiled Bogart type of crime film.

3 years 1 month ago

Before he made Rebel Without a Cause, Nicholas Ray plunged head-first into the disaffected youth genre with his freshman effort, They Live by Night, the story of really naive teens who run off together, he (Farley Granger) just broken out of prison by a gang of toughs and on the run for crimes he took part in, she (Cathy O'Donnell) a bored girl next door who falls in like with him. They don't really know anything, including the fact they have no hope of settling down. It's quite edgy and forward-thinking at times, with helicopter shots lending some frantic energy to the escape scenes and the inferred sex and violence. And bold in that it never shows you any of the crimes, always cutting to the aftermath and to the film's real focus - the relationship. At the same time, I found it unbearably old-fashioned and syrupy at times, the Hollywood score in particular, and the mannered line delivery in those breathless romantic scenes. It's like Ray was reaching for a more realistic piece of cinema, but couldn't see his way out of an older, more theatrical way of doing things. And I hate every character's name/nickname with a passion I didn't know I had inside myself.

3 years 10 months ago