DJJOEINC Review of They Live by Night

They Live by Night (1948)

Heartbreak and heartache- noir has a heart

[10/10 · 7 August 2007]

They Live By Night - tearjerker noir.Nicholas Ray's first movie - is the story of a naive young couple in love and on the run.Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell have intense chemistry.Granger's character is a crook by habit- he has no love for crime- but is driven by the naive notion that he needs to raise enough money to hire a bigtime barrister to help clear his name-not realizing that breaking out of jail has added time to his sentence.After his escape he meets the daughter of one his partner's brother.The sparks fly from the first meeting.Howard DaSilva is perfect as the leader of the trio of escapees.The movie has some great location shots and one of the truly tragic and engaging plots.This movie was shelved for 2 years by Howard Hughes.The DVD has a featurette and a commentary by Eddie Muller and the star of the movie Farley Granger.Yet another swell flick from the recent Warner's noir set. A