THEY LIVE BY NIGHT

US, 1949, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, Howard de Silva.
Directed by Nicholas Ray.

They Live By Night is based on the Depression novel, Thieves Like Us, remade under that title by Altman in 1973 with Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall in the central roles. The film bears resemblance to Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney, which in turn was influential on Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde. They Live By Night is also reminiscent of the basic Romeo and Juliet theme and with its attention on criminals reminds audiences of West Side Story.

This film was Nicholas Ray's directing debut. It made an impact and he began a successful career, ranging from dark melodramas to Samuel Bronston spectaculars like The King of Kings. Ray made an autobiographical film with Wim Wenders, Lightning over Water (1981), just before he died. Ray also appeared in small roles as an actor e.g. Wenders' The American Friend and the film version of Hair. The film is an impressionistic love story with Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell sympathetic in the central roles. It is also a Depression gangster robbery thriller - and is interesting in comparison with the many later films on this theme. Though seeming dated now, the film is an interesting, offbeat piece of Americana.

1. The reputation of the novel? The film and its remake? The influence of Fritz Lang? The Bonnie and Clyde Story? Nicholas Ray's style? Comparisons with Robert Altman's treatment in the '70s?

2. The work of Nicholas Ray, his reputation? The blend of the film noir and lyrical tragic romance?

3. Black and white photography, period, the importance of camera work and light and darkness? The atmosphere of the '30s? The musical score? A piece of Americana in feeling and theme?

4. The significance of the introduction about the boy and the girl and their never having been properly introduced to the world? The importance of the boy/girl theme? The basic love story? The emphasis on the innocence of the couple? Innocence moving to experience? The boy and the girl as victims of their times? Of others? The inevitability of pain and disaster?

5. The atmosphere of the '30s: the Depression, affluence and poverty, the pressures of society? The blame for the effect on innocent victims? The American dream and wealth? Crime and easy money? Crime and revenge? Criminals taking chances? Prison? The police? The desire to survive? The toughness needed for this? The romanticising of toughness?

6. The opening with the group escaping from prison? Intimations of violence, especially with Chicamaw? Chicamaw and his companion as violent men? Chicamaw and his reputation, his worry about newspaper reports, his one eye? His hold over the boy and his companion? Hiding out? Plans for further crime? The importance of the brother and Mattie and her husband? The quietness in hiding out? The risk of discovery by the police? The boy mending the car? The brother and his drinking? The girl and her help? The interaction amongst the group? The pressures? How well delineated each character? Mattie and the deals about her husband? The plan of the robbery? Mattie’s husband not being released? The importance of the dialogue focussing on the phrase 'thieves like us'?

7. The boy and his being with the group, the escape, the farmer as hostage? His encounter with the girl and the attraction? Working together, talking? Gradually falling in love? His ease in telling the girl his story? Sixteen and the killing? The experience of prison? A nice boy victimised and never having had a chance? Attitude towards the law? His participation in the robberies? His buying of the ring and his trying to get rid of the ring-seller at the time of the robbery? Tenderness, the dance, the meals, the proposal? The marriage ceremony and its squalor but their transforming it? Their dreams and going to Mexico? The child? His involvement in the robberies, driving, the accident? The decision to go to Mattie? Their not knowing they were being betrayed? His wanting to leave the girl, writing the note, the tragic death?

8. Chicamaw and his hard line, the robbing of the banks, the cars and the getaways. the accident, the shooting of the police? The news of his death? The atmosphere of American crime and violence?

9. Mattie and her toughness, disappointment about her husband, the couple going to the motel, her decision to betray them to the police, her worry about her conscience. talking to the boy about the girl? The police and the justification of her information?

10. What was the audience left with - the entertainment and insight of crime robbery, the Romeo and Juliet tragic story, American style?