The Devil Thumbs a Ride *** (1947, Lawrence Tierney, Ted North, Nan Leslie, Betty Lawford) – Classic Movie Review 11,058

‘NOT EVEN HER KISSES COULD HALT HIS FURY… when his evil brain cried KILL!’

Director Felix E Feist’s 1947 RKO Radio Pictures black and white film noir The Devil Thumbs a Ride stars Lawrence Tierney as Steve Morgan, who kills a theatre manager in a heist and hitches a lift to Los Angeles from law-abiding driver Jimmy ‘Fergie’ Ferguson (Ted North), who then stops at a gas station and gives a ride to two women, meek Beulah alias Carol (Nan Leslie) and hard-nut Agnes (Betty Lawford). Morgan takes over the driving after a police roadblock and talks the group into spending the night at an unoccupied beach house.

The Devil Thumbs a Ride is a short (62 minutes), sharp, busy, quick-moving support crime thriller with plenty of vim in the handling, and Tierney (one-time Dillinger) is a rousingly nasty villain. It is excellent of its humble kind.

Feist’s screenplay is based on Robert C DuSoe’s novel.

Also in the cast are Andrew Tombes, Henry Shannon, Glen Vernon, Marian Carr, William Gould, Josephine Whittell, Phil Warren, Robert Malcolm, Dick Elliott, Minerva Urecal, Dick Edwards, Lee Phelps, Arthur Q Bryan, Harry Depp, Sarah Edwards, Dorothy Granger, Chuck Hamilton, Perc Launders, Tom Pilkington, Victor Potel, Harry Raven, and Dick Rush.

The Devil Thumbs a Ride is directed by Felix E Feist, runs 62 minutes, is made and released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Felix E Feist, based on Robert C DuSoe’s novel, is shot in black and white by J Roy Hunt, is produced by Sid Rogell and Herman Schlom, is scored by Paul Sawtell, and designed by Albert S D’Agostino and Charles F Pyke.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,058

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