#880: RAY, Nicholas: They Live By Night (1948)

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RAY, Nicholas (United States)
They Live By Night [1948]
Spine #880
DVD


Legendary director Nicholas Ray began his career with this lyrical, dark love story, the first in a series of existential genre films overflowing with sympathy for America's outcasts and underdogs. When the wide-eyed fugitive Bowie (Farley Granger), having broken out of prison with some bank robbers, meets the innocent Keechie (Cathy O'Donnell), each recognizes something in the other that no one else ever has. The young couple envision a new, decent life together, but as they flee the cops and contend with Bowie's fellow outlaws, who aren't about to let him go straight, they realize there's nowhere left to run. Ray brought an outsider's sensibility honed in the theater to this debut, using revolutionary camera techniques and naturalistic performances to craft a profoundly romantic crime drama that paved the way for decades of lover-on-the-run thrillers to come.

95 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2017
Director/Writers


From the novel Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson.
Adaptation by Nicholas Ray.
Screenplay by Charles Schnee.
Ray was 37 when he directed They Live By Night.

Other Nicholas Ray films in the Collection:

#810: In A Lonely Place (1950)
#507: Bigger Than Life (1956)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

 The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film scholar Bernard Eisenschitz.

Commentary

From 2007 featuring film historian Eddie Muller and actor Granger.

Interview

With critic Imogen Sara Smith.

Short piece

From 2007 with critic Molly Haskell, filmmakers Christopher Coppola and Oliver Stone, and film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini.

Illustrated audio excerpts

From a 1956 interview with producer John Houseman.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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