Midnight Taxi

Brian Donlevy goes undercover as a cab driver to catch counterfeiters in "Midnight Taxi" from 1937.

Something was definitely going on with taxis in the '30s - there are so many films about them. Most concern the fight between independent cab drivers and cab companies, and cabbies involved in nefarious activities.

In "Midnight Taxi," Donlevy plays Chick Gardner, a Fed out to catch a gang of counterfeiters using taxis to make and pick up deliveries. He wins the confidence of the head man Strickland (Alan Dinehart), but his associate, played by Gilbert Roland, continues to be suspicious of him. Frances Drake plays Gilda Lee, who works in Strickland's antique business, which is a front for the counterfeiting.

This is a good movie that starts out with a powerful sequence: a taxi forces a car off the road; the car explodes, and the driver is killed. The taxi driver (Harold Huber) pushes his own cab down the same hill, then rolls down the hill himself. The driver was about to turn on Strickland, so he's killed, making it look like an accident.

The exotic-looking Frances Drake is effective as a loyal employee; Gilbert Roland is terrific and so handsome as "Flash," who hates Chick. Sig Rumann, Lon Chaney Jr.,and Regis Toomey (the latter two in small roles) round out the cast.

Donlevy is natural, charming, and believable in this role - and if I'm not mistaken, he played a cab driver in another movie. Gosh, who knew being a cab driver was so tough in the '30s. It's probably not any easier given the competition they have today, but hopefully less violent.