The Devil Is Driving (1932) User Reviews

Dickie Moore is Adorable

[Maleejandra · 7/10 · 30 May 2009]

"Beef" Evans (James Gleason) works in a crooked garage. He takes in hot cars because he wants his wife and son to have the best things in life, but his wife worries about the consequences of his actions. Rightfully so. His new hire, "Gabby" Denton (Edmund Lowe) has his own concerns, and starts investigating the details of the racket.

I saw this movie screened at Cinevent 41, and for most of the movie, the sound was out of sync. If I were too bored, I would have left, but I couldn't miss out on seeing Dickie Moore in a rare film. Even when his voice didn't match his expressions, I found myself awwing for his innocence in spite of his predictable role in the story.

This is a standard programmer with strong ties to the crime drama genre. If you're a fan of cars and pre-codes, find a copy.

The devil is in the details

[boblipton · 5/10 · 27 June 2005]

A potentially fascinating story about love and the rackets is rendered into second feature mush by pedestrian direction. You have snappy dialogue, a midget, a criminal gang masterminded by a deaf-mute who communicates via pantograph within the first ten minutes. You're talking about von Sternberg meets Todd Browning here, and the director can't think of anything more interesting than have James Gleason murdered by carbon monoxide poisoning offscreen, which, of course, makes him sit up straight and stare ahead. And poor little Dickie Moore, with his legs chopped off. But it's OK, Edmund Lowe thrashes the baddies at the end and marries Wynne Gibson.

Heck. I've given it all away. You'd never expect a happy ending like that. Save your heart from such shocks and give this one a miss.

That Carbon Monoxide Will Get You Every Time!

[malvernp · 7/10 · 21 May 2022]

The Devil Is Driving (TDID) is a little known pre-code movie that is currently available for viewing on the Criterion Channel. It is of interest to us today primarily because of its unusual casting. Traditionally offered leading man roles around that time, Edmund Lowe------known mainly to fans of old films for his salty Sergeant Quirt part in the acclaimed Raoul Walsh silent version of What Price Glory (1926) and as the sophisticated society doctor in the all-star MGM classic Dinner at Eight (1933)-------plays an ordinary nondescript auto mechanic (!) who just happens to get involved in some very extraordinary activities that take place in the garage where he works. And seasoned veteran comic actor James Gleason, who over the years accumulated a hefty resume of scene-stealing humorous wise-cracking character parts, plays it more or less straight as the garage's manager as well as a kindly and loyal husband, father and friend. Both Lowe and Gleason stand out in the fast moving and unusual film.

The garage forms the principal setting for this tale, and much credit must go to the director and cinemaphotographer for making TDID both highly realistic and very exciting. Much of the camera work is startling and inventive---well above the usual standard associated with what was probably budgeted as a "B" movie.

Wynne Gibson does her usual thing as the hard-boiled blond with a heart of gold. She was quite believable and effective as Lowe's love interest. A supporting juvenile part was very well played by the talented child actor Dickie Moore.

It is astonishing to realize that Paramount Studio likely produced this little gem as a minor programmer to be shown as the bottom end of a "double bill" theatrical presentation. Nonetheless, TDID is well plotted, absorbing and constantly interesting. TDID is definitely worth being checked out as one of the better pre-code "B" films of the period.

Lively Pre-Code Gangster Romp...Accelerated Pace & Above Average

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 27 May 2022]

A Pre-Coder for the Whole Family with Child-Star Dickie Moore (Our Gang) on Hand for Much Lightheartedness and Finally Pathos.

It's a Quickly-Paced Inner-City Tale of a Mechanics Garage a Front for a Stolen Car Ring.

The Action is Fast and Furious and the Inner-Gang Machinations make for some Off-Beat and Colorful "Characters"".

There is a Deaf and Dumb Psycho who Uses an "Auto-Pen" to Communicate Between the Gang. He Looks Like He Stepped Off the Set of a Bela Lugosi Movie and Wandered Where He Could Look the Most Out of Place.

"Silver" is a Platinum Blonde Looker that Struts Around Like a Mini-Mae-West.

The Sex and Violence are on the Softer-Side of Many Pre-Coders. A Few Play on Words and that's it.

Even a "Little-Person" Makes the Opening Scene.

The Car Chases are a Highlight as is the Overall Audience-Friendly Tone.

Not Much to See Here as a Pre-Code Movie, but Nonetheless its Entertaining for its 1 Hour Running Time and Keeps You On Your Toes.

Slightly Above Average and...

Worth a Watch.

George Rosener as Milton Parsons.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 9/10 · 27 June 2005]

SPOILERS AHEAD. I must disagree with my IMDb colleague Bob Lipton, who says that Dickie Moore gets his legs chopped off in this movie. There's a very convincing special-effects sequence in which little Dickie's go-cart gets run over by a stolen car, and there's some dialogue in hospital about Dickie being crippled, but in the last scene he's walking quite nicely. (Child actor Moore gives a very impressive performance here, unlike several cinema brats I could mention.)

'The Devil Is Driving' is a neat B-picture crime drama, in which the spiral ramp of a service garage figures several times in the plot. I was impressed with Henry Sharp's travelling shot of a speeding car up this ramp. Edmund Lowe starts the movie by cheeking a midget bridegroom (step forward, Tod Browning), so I figured Lowe was playing an unsympathetic character, but he turns out to be the hero. James Gleason plays slightly more crooked than usual, as a character improbably named 'Beef' even though there's clearly not much beef on Gleason's frame. Gleason's character gets murdered halfway through the movie, but Gleason remains on camera (in close-up) for some process shots as an automotive corpse, 'driving' a car down that ramp and into traffic. Speaking of undersized actors, little Charles Williams has a larger role than usual here, as a brash newsreel cameraman.

Among the great pleasures of 1930s Hollywood films are unexpected performances by obscure bit-part actors who are just occasionally given a chance to shine. The real discovery of 'The Devil Is Driving' is George Rosener (who?), as a sinister deaf-mute henchman of spiv villain Alan Dinehart. If this movie had been made ten years later, Rosener's role would have been tailor-made for the great character actor Milton Parsons. As it is, Rosener -- who strongly resembles Parsons -- gives an astonishingly virtuoso performance in a role with no dialogue at all.

Why isn't this programmer better known? And why didn't Rosener get better roles? I'll rate 'The Devil Is Driving' 9 out of 10.

Has one of the most macabre scenes I've seen in a film made prior to 1960

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 25 March 2022]

This is a zippy little precode with a most unusual plot line.

Gabby Denton (Edmund Lowe) is the irresponsible type. He blows all of the money that he won gambling and now needs a job. He asks for a job as mechanic at his brother-in-law. Beef's (James Gleason's) garage and gets one. It's not long before Gabby figures out that Beef is in cahoots with some car thieves in the same building as the auto repair shop. Here I have to get into architecture, because it has a major place in the plot. Beef's garage is in an eight story building. The repair shop is on the second floor, the auto paint shop that is fronting for the auto theft ring is on the sixth floor and a speakeasy is on the seventh. There is a circular ramp/driveway that connects the floors together so you can drive from the street all the way to the seventh floor if you wish.

Thrown into this mix is the marvelous Wynne Gibson as Silver, a saucy blonde who is the girlfriend of the titular head of the auto theft ring, Jenkins (Alan Dinehart). Gabby ends up towing her wrecked car one day, and the two embark on an affair punctuated with lots of precode dialogue that consists of rhetoric so ribald that I'm surprised it made it to the screen.

Gabby: What are you sitting on?

Silver: Please judge, do I have to answer that?

Gabby figures the car thieves and Beef's involvement - he's doing it for extra cash for his wife and kid - is Beef's business. But then one day Beef's son and Gabby's nephew is run over by a speeding car and Gabby ties it to a stolen car that was speeding up the ramp where the garage is moments later. At this point, things get dicey.

This is a great precode with a marvelous cast. I always loved Edmund Lowe as the extremely flawed guy who is the private eye or the reporter or in this case just an average Joe who gets mixed up in a dangerous situation. This was a most unusual role for James Gleason, and you need to watch the film to see what I mean. Dickie Moore as Gleason's son is cute as a button. And Alan Dinehart as the titular head of the theft ring always excelled as the slimy weasel with a refined veneer. When you see the real brains of the ring - George Rossener - you figure out why there's a front man. He's playing a deaf mute, but he is also no fun to look at and has a perpetual scowl on his face.

Then there are the strange little things that make the film such as the autopen that the mute gangster uses to communicate with Dinehart and a wedding chapel that is across the street from the garage where everybody who gets married gets interviewed by a radio host and then there is the little person groom at the beginning of the film who gets the last laugh.

I'd highly recommend it as a great example of a precode film. It has everything - including that macabre scene I mentioned in the title. If anything sticks with you years after you see it, it will be that one scene.

Mechanics to the mob must speed up to do their job.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 25 July 2017]

Edmund Lowe and Wynne Gibson have spectacular chemistry in this tale of a mob mechanic and a mob moll who get together on the bumpy road to love, especially when he can't convince her to sit up in the truck with him and takes her on a joy ride in the anchored car that tosses her around like a sack of potatoes. Lowe, the brother of pretty Lois Wilson, works with his brother-in-law James Wilson and is adored by his happy nephew, the adorable Dickie Moore. He tugs nobly at the heart strings when a sudden brush with one of the stolen cars from the racket Gibson is involved in speeds suddenly towards him, causing near tragedy. This, as well as several other violent segments, really keep you gripped, one involving a deliberate murder that is completely shocking. It's a well written pre-code romantic crime drama with elements of comedy that will keep you hooked. Alan Dinehart as the big boss and George Rosener as a mute brute add some sinister villainy and are totally convincing in their parts. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams is the stereotypical dumb lug who adds a few of the unbelievable moments, especially when he comes across a heinous crime about ready to happen and has no idea of what he's witnessing.

It's nice to see Gleason involved in a part that involves romance but casts him against type without the acerbic comedy bits that made him a scene stealer but left little room for versatility. Gibson, sort of a poor man's Mae West, gets out some great wisecracks, and Lowe matches her quip for quip. There are only a few moments that are hard to swallow, but the fast moving script and action packed drama make those easy to forgive. A bit with a dwarf getting a raspberry while marrying a normal sized woman might be considered offensive today, but there's a great pay-off involving that gag. The finale may have you guessing as to what is going to happen, and even if you guess right, you're going to be thrilled by how it is paced and excited by the outcome, even long before it happens.

Exciting and very strange!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 12 January 2020]

"The Devil is Driving" is one of the stranger films of its era. First, it's unusual because the usually dapper Edmund Lowe is cast as an auto mechanic! Lowe was much like Adolph Menjou--a fashion plate and sophisticated sort of guy and seeing him in overalls is unusual...though he was such a good actor, it worked anyway. Second, the setting is very strange. The story unfolds in the oddest hot car outfit imaginable. Think about it...a multistory highrise in the big city...with a parking garage and garage....and hidden garages in the higher floors where the repaint and strip the cars they steal! The bosses (and this is pretty weird) are in the floors above...one of which is a mute who is murderous and might just be the big boss covering as the other man's servant! Weird is definitely the word for all this.

Problems occur when the bosses hire two particularly stupid and unsavory characters. The pair end up nearly blowing everything because they aren't careful and later they run over the head mechanic's son! But it gets worse...and I don't want to say more since it would ruin the exciting (and brutal) finale.

Overall, this is a great film because it's so unusual and shockingly violent at times...and will never bore you! See this one.