This "Theater of Life" series short looks at traffic problems in Los Angeles, California, as described and experienced by Sgt. Charles Reineke, a traffic enforcement officer with the Los Ang... Read allThis "Theater of Life" series short looks at traffic problems in Los Angeles, California, as described and experienced by Sgt. Charles Reineke, a traffic enforcement officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.This "Theater of Life" series short looks at traffic problems in Los Angeles, California, as described and experienced by Sgt. Charles Reineke, a traffic enforcement officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
- Self - Narrator
- (as Police Sgt. Charles Reineke)
- Out-of-Gas Motorist
- (uncredited)
- Motorist
- (uncredited)
- Driver of Ford Deluxe Convertible
- (uncredited)
- Irate Motorist
- (uncredited)
- Irate Motorist, Honking Horn
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I say that because in 1946 with the first of new cars rolling out of Detroit that year in four years because of the war, America really took to the highways. Let us also not forget all the driving restrictions of all those old cars still out there during the war. We as a nation were going to enjoy that new prosperity symbolized by the automobile and the vast quantities thereof.
Reineke got a bit personal here as he describes his job and how his profession is not one of the most beloved. That's the truth, but the other side of that story is the thousands of little hole in the wall towns known as speed traps and the revenue from ticketed drivers support the place.
Still traffic safety then as now is a problem, a bigger problem 66 years after this film was made. How many cars on the road now, I shudder to think.
Traffic With The Devil got an Oscar nomination for Documentary Short Subject. Kind of dated now to say the least, but the message is timeless.
Director Gunther Von Fritsch was not known for his comedy work, but with this short, musing on the problems and joys of automobiles, he produces a movie that veers from comic to tragic -- corpses lying on the road show us the latter.
It's an early version of the movies they showed us in driving class back when I was a teenager: BLOOD ON THE ROAD, and so forth. Those, however, started off horrifically and got worse. This one lures you in and then hits you with the deadly facts.
Did you know
- TriviaCharles Reineke, the officer on the motorcycle, was actually a sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department Traffic Unit when this short movie was made.
- GoofsAfter a deadly accident, the narrator says, "But now his epitaph is only a pin at the intersection of Washington and Vermont", as an officer places a pushpin in a map. However, the simultaneous closeup of the Los Angeles map shows the officer placing the pin somewhere west of Olympic and Normandie, about a mile and a half northwest of the stated intersection.
- Quotes
Officer Charles Reineke: [voiceover] Of all the thankless jobs... You're supposed to be here to protect people, but they act like a cop was their natural enemy.
Officer Charles Reineke: [a couple looks at him with suspicion, with a child in the back seat sticking out his tongue; then a pretty woman driving a car smiles at him] Well... most people, that is. People who don't hate cops are scared of cops; they should be scared without 'em. You have to get off the highway occasionally, or you find yourself leading a parade.
Officer Charles Reineke: [pulls off road up to a vantage point overlooking the highway] That's what it is - a parade. Twenty-seven cars passing there every minute; average speed, 51 miles an hour. Forty years ago, it was eight cars a day; top speed, 26 miles an hour. Fifty years ago, there were wagons averaging 26 miles a day. Sixty years ago, that road was a cattle trail. People traveling a thousand miles like they once went 50. Speeding up their lives. People going a mile a minute to work, or play, out for the job, or getting away from it all. Going home, or looking for greener pastures. A new generation, freed from limitations of time and space. A nation on wheels - a nation going places. Give him a car, and every man's a king on the highway.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Theatre of Life: Fact-Films from Real Life - Traffic with the Devil
- Filming locations
- 5820 South Alameda Street, Los Angeles, California, USA(traffic in front of McCullough Tool Co.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 19m
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1