The Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, directed by Archie Mayo starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwoods stage play of the same name. The screenplay was written by Delmer Daves and Charles Kenyon, and adaptations were later performed on radio and television as well.

Gabrielles mother, a French war bride who fell in love with Jason when he was a young, handsome American serviceman, left her dull defeated man and moved back to France when Gabrielle was a baby. She now sends poetry to Gabrielle, who dreams of moving to Bourges, where her parents first met, to become an artist. Alan tells his story how he wrote one novel, and then lived in France for eight years with a wife he stole from his publisher, trying to write another and Gabrielle is instantly smitten with him.Gabrielle shows Alan her paintings the first time she has shown them to anyone and reads him a favorite Franois Villon poem. Boze Hertzlinger Dick Foran, a former football player who works at the diner and has wooed Gabrielle in vain, grows jealous of Alan, who decides to leave forthwith. He mooches a ride from wealthy tourists Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm Paul Harvey and Genevieve Tobin but after only a few minutes on the road they encounter Duke Mantee Bogart, a notorious gangster fleeing a massive police pursuit, whose car has broken down. Duke and his gang seize the Chisholms car and drive to the diner, where Duke has arranged to rendezvous with his girlfriend, Doris. Alan, the Chisholms, and their chauffeur John Alexander soon make their way back to the diner as well. ........

Source: Wikipedia