Drunk Driving

Here's an unusual episode of MGM's long-running CRIME DOES NOT PAY series. It concerns Dick Purcell, a man who is about to get a major promotion..... and who gets into a drunk driving accident in which three people are killed.

Other reviewers have called it a driver's ed film, and there's something in that; certainly the images of the covered corpses are similar to the ones I've seen in films made specifically for that purpose. However, those films never contain much of a story, nor a character who weeps in front of a crucifix. It's all the more effective for that.

In this early example of an instructional film, we open on the stirring close-up of a police badge. Then, we hear the blare of sirens, and then we see a solemn expert who speaks to us about the dangers of drunk driving - and offers photographs to back up his word. Just as we prepare to swear off drinking for the rest of our lives, he offers this dramatic reconstruction, and it's flash-back time.

John Jones is a nice guy who works for a refrigerator firm. This is our first tip-off that he's not too bright. He's just landed a $20,000 contract, and the boss is sending him off to the east coast, to train for his upcoming management post. Elated by this news of his promotion, Jones rushes with his buddy to the bar, and drinks 3 straight bourbons. Then, wisely, he drives home, stopping only to hit the bumper of a woman when he runs a stop sign. (When he gives her his card and says insurance will pay for the damage, she says "Oh no you don't! All these people on the sidewalk saw what happened! We'll settle this right here!")

Arriving home to his elated wife and her mother, they decide to go to dinner at a place called "The Plantation," which is some miles away. He drinks one martini in celebration with his wife and mom, and drains another two in secret. (This after paying a $25 fine for the first accident.) He keeps speeding and speeding and HE'S GOING TOO FAST AND THEN...BOOOOOOOOOM!

Naturally, his wife dies...plus her mom...plus the baby in the truck he hit...plus God knows who else. It's all too much. He cracks up, crying hysterically (and quite annoyingly). Dissolve back to stern-faced expert, who delivers lecture. And then it's all over.

OK, I've had my fun. What do you really expect from an educational movie? Entertaining as an artifact, and also as one of the first works of David Miller, who later directed Kirk Douglas in Lonely Are The Brave. This movie plays under the label "One-Reel Wonder" on TCM.

John Jones (Dick Purcell) is a man who is going places with his job. After learning about about his promotion, he and a co-worker go out for some drinks. On his way home, he's cited by a cop for driving under the influence. However, this warning means little and Jones just chalks it up to being a mistake. A short time later, Jones again has a few drinks and drives--but this time it all ends in tragedy.

This is one of many episodes of the MGM series "Crime Does Not Pay". For the most part, they're very good short films with a strong anti-crime message. Occasionally, like in "Drunk Driving" they might come off as a bit heavy-handed--but it is still quite effective and well made. Plus, hopefully some folks might have seen this and actually learned from it.

UPDATE: I bought the Crime Does Not Pay DVD collection and re-watched this particular Oscar-nominated short. I actually thought it was better and more effective when I re-watched it. I originally gave this one a 6 but feel I was a bit hasty. I think an 8 is more appropriate. Sadly, however, films like this probably have done little, if anything, to curtail drunk driving, as drunk drivers are too selfish and deluded to believe it can happen to them.

And, by the way, Purcell's acting was just terrific and very effective as the boob who thought he could drink and drive.

Drunk Driving (1939)

**** (out of 4)

This entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series earned an Academy Award nomination and also features Richard Lane who is best known for playing Inspector Farraday in the Boston Blackie series. The film centers on John Jones (Dick Purcell) a man who doesn't realize how much of an impact a few drinks can have. He ends up getting in a minor wreck but blows this off. Days later he has a few more drinks and decides to drive his wife and her mother to a restaurant but this times things don't go as well. I've said countless times that this is one of my favorite series and I think this here is one of the best that it has to offer. I've heard people call the series predictable and melodramatic and they are but their point and goal is to teach viewings against doing wrong things. It's interesting to see this film take such a strong stand again drunk driving considering a lot of Hollywood movies at the time were showing drunks in a comic fashion and there were movies that showed drunk driving for laughs. I've seen at least ten films in this series but don't recall any of them being this strong on a subject. The director does a great job during that final driving scene because he just builds up the tension because we know something bad is going to happen. Purcell would die five years after making this film at the age of 36 due to a massive heart attack he suffered after a round of golf. I haven't seen too much of his work but I thought he was very good here especially his breakdown towards the end of the film. Dix has a supporting role but turns in fine work.

This short, nominated for an Oscar, has a dated feeling to it and the melodramatic tne common to the CRime Does Not Pay series of shorts, but for all that does have a point and makes it: the operation of heavy machinery while drunk is most unwise and can prove to be very costly. This runs on Turner Classic Movies as filler between films and almost certainly airs in March as part of the 31 Days of Oscar they do annualy. Worth watching.