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In a Lonely Place
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In a Lonely Place
Columbia TriStar
1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat / 94 min. / Street Date March 18, 2003 / $24.95
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy,
Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith, Jeff Donnell, Martha Stewart, Robert Warwick
Cinematography Burnett Guffey
Art Direction Robert Peterson
Film Editor Viola Lawrence
Original Music George Antheil
Written by Andrew Solt, Edmund H. North from the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes
Produced by Robert Lord
Directed by Nicholas Ray
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Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
One of the most soulful films noir, and a very personal film from Nicholas Ray,
In a Lonely Place is about the difficulty of holding a precious relationship together under
external pressure and internal suspicion. Humphrey Bogart plays an emotionally volatile writer in a
relaxed and unforced way that reveals more of the actor than we usually see: a
cantankerous and stubborn man capable of great kindness, but who overreacts violently to boors and
sensed disloyalty. Gloria Grahame is radiant as the cool but faithful neighbor who becomes his
temporary muse,
only to see her love ruined by fear and distrust. The whole enterprise is atypical for 1950
Hollywood, especially Bogart's other formulaic productions for Columbia. Even in the quirky realm of
film noir, this low-key romantic tragedy stands out for its quality and lack of commercial
compromise.
Synopsis:
Screenwriter Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart) becomes a murder suspect when a hatcheck
girl is murdered after leaving his apartment. His refusal to enact a show of emotion raises the
suspicions of the Beverly Hills police, putting the main detective on the case, Brub Nicolai (Frank
Lovejoy) in a tight spot, as he and Dix used to be Army buddies. Dix is initially overjoyed because
the lovely neighbor who provides him with an alibi, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame), responds to his
romantic overtures; he's a demanding man and the cool, intelligent blonde appears to be a perfect
match. But Dix's
background of petty brawls and his continuing streak of volatility frighten Laurel and make the
cops more eager to trap him. He senses Laurel's anxiety and turns paranoid; either the strain
of the investigation is ruining their chances as a couple, or perhaps, as Laurel is beginning to
fear, he really is a dangerous maniac.
I was born when you kissed me, I died when you left me, I lived a few weeks
while you loved me.
Nicholas Ray was adept at putting together fascinating character studies with a social basis.
His most famous is of course Rebel Without a Cause, but his real achievements are the
smaller movies with bold themes - Bigger than Life, The Lusty Men, They Live by
Night, On Dangerous Ground, Bitter Victory. Even awkward pictures like Wind
Across the Everglades tend toward the unique, interesting end of filmmaking. A dull Nick Ray
film is a rarity.
In a Lonely Place expresses passions - what really goes on between a man and a woman - that just
weren't being shown in other films of the time. Dix Steele and Laurel Gray are complicated people
who don't react with perfect character consistency. Impulsive Laurel stretches the truth at a police
questioning, providing Dix with an alibi based on her sense that he's no killer. She's in search of
a strong, creative man who can love her very deeply. The chemistry they create together puts them
both in traditional domestic roles, into 'a place' where they seem deeply happy. 2
But Laurel's no
Joan of Arc: the relentless suspicion of the police and the jealous advice of her masseuse wear
down her resistance to doubt. Their true love is a fragile miracle, not a storybook tower of
strength.
Dixon Steele is one of Bogart's most complicated characters. He's a decent man with an artistic
temperament and a contrary habit of suppressing his feelings beneath a sometimes-unstable
surface. He's cordial to the slightly dense hatcheck girl, whose fate seems as
unjust as that of the then-sizzling Black Dahlia murder case. Dix likes to behave as though the police
investigation doesn't affect him, and enjoys riling the cops with his lack of emotion and 'I'm more
sophisticated than you are' put-downs. But the murder definitely does disturb the secret man
inside, the one Dix himself does not know. Without his being aware, the crisis brings out his
frustrated, violent nature.
Steele is far from perfect, and needs a nurturing, creative existence to counter his essential
isolation and proclivity for violence. He doesn't like the world much, as he shows by his
willingness to brawl when provoked. His motto might be, 'I'm a Stranger
Here Myself', Nicholas Ray's recurring personal credo.
Dix is also a romantic who appreciates Laurel and openly declares his love for her in no uncertain
terms. He's crazy about her, and there's a period where they seem to be a match made in heaven. But
the investigation he pretends to slough off affects him in other ways, bringing out resentment
and paranoia. Theirs could have been a timeless love, but for bad
timing and impossible pressures.
(spoiler)
Refreshingly, the book adaptation by Edmund H. North
(The Day the Earth Stood Still) and
Andrew Solt doesn't use the murder investigation to represent the McCarthy Witch hunts. Dix Steele is
a suspect because of chance and the fact that he does indeed invite suspicion. His army buddy
Brub Nicolai can't keep his official and personal roles apart, and a social invitation becomes
an opportunity to probe Dix's possible guilt. "He's just an exciting guy", is Brub's defense of Dix's
enthusiastic replay of his version of the murder, complete with breathless narration. 1
According to the short docu on the disc, the original ending was to have Dix turn out to be guilty,
a turn of events that would have robbed the character's violent streak of its 'normality' - he'd
just be another psycho killer, repeating the final twist of Curtis Bernhardt's earlier,
fumbled Bogie vehicle, Conflict.
(spoiler)
In place of a concluding twist, we get a revelation. Relationships are delicate animals -
they can be killed by the wrong words, the wrong actions. Dix and Laurel are madly in love with
one another, but that trust is destroyed when her terror and his rage go over the
edge. It doesn't matter that he's innocent, or that they are both in intense remorse over what
happened. It can't be taken back, and the romance is finished. Both will have to go back to their
personal 'lonely places.'
Ray doesn't overwhelm his picture with expressionistic touches. Burnett Guffey provides the hint
of a Detour -like eye light when Bogart goes into his excited description of the murder (which
occurred, the scene's dialogue goes, in 'a lonely place'). There's a killer off-kilter
composition in one shot showing Bogie and Gloria looking over their shoulders while seated at a
bar, that Fritz Lang might have borrowed for Gloria and Lee Marvin in The Big Heat. Most
of the film plays out in the romantic courtyard of some faux-Spanish apartments copied from Ray's
first Hollywood residence on Harper Avenue. There's enough location shooting to evoke the hazy
dawns in Beverly Hills, with the characteristic police station a recurring location. In a
Lonely Place has a nice Hollywood ambience, with Dix's regular pals (a buffoonish silent
actor, a director (Morris Ankrum) and Dix's agent (Art Smith)) hanging out at Steven Geray's
watering hole. Dix busts the place up from time to time, when he goes over
the edge.
Perhaps the most sensitive scene in the picture is Dix's moment in the men's room with his agent
Mel, after striking him. The ever-submissive Mel has reached the limit of his patience, and as
part of his apology, Dix stands guiltily before him, exuding atonement and respect. It's very
touching and more delicate than a similar scene in
The Big Knife.
Columbia's DVD of In a Lonely Place does justice to this very special noir. The film restoration
is explained in a short subject with Columbia VP Grover Crisp, showing the repair
of frames that have been torn in the film for decades. The overall polish job is a fine one, with
the breathless fadeout hitting just the right note of surprise- without the usual reel-end
damage to give it away. The sound has also been given a wonderful scrubbing, as demonstrated on the
featurette, making songstress Hadda Brooks' vocal at the piano bar something for Bogie
and Gloria to cuddle over.
Another short subject uses director Curtis Hanson to tell the story of Ray's film from the actual
Harper Avenue courtyard that inspired the film set. It's a bit long on clips, and
a deadly spoiler for anyone unfamiliar with the picture, but it gets the job done. Writer Andrew
Solt makes an appearance as well. Not bad for a docu on a picture without a surviving star
or director. The doc doesn't dwell on the fiery relationship between Ray and his once-wife Grahame;
you'll have to run to the library for the lowdown on that. Grahame later married Ray's son,
resulting in some very strange familial relationships: 'Hey, I'm my own uncle.'
The disc cover art is so handsome, I'm setting it atop my monitor until something better comes along.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
In a Lonely Place rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: New featurette, restoration demo, trailers
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: March 22, 2003
Footnote:
1. Actor Frank Lovejoy became so strongly associated with Red-baiting
Warner pictures like I Was A Communist for the F.B.I., that we forget that in 1950 he was associated
with several movies by left-wing talent who were subsequently blacklisted - Carl Foreman, Cy
Endfield. The eerily
subversive Try and Get Me! casts him as an unemployed working man who falls into a spiral of
reckless crime and a botched kidnapping, all to give his family the simple security denied him in
an America portrayed as harsh and heartless. From my reading, it looks like Nick Ray was spared
the blacklist by luck, and a positive association with RKO chief Howard Hughes. Some of Lovejoy's
mannerisms in In a Lonely Place take on an entirely different feeling, after the
unforgettable Try and Get Me! Return
2. Their relationship might not make some modern viewers happy, as Laurel
immediately becomes Dix's unpaid typist, housemaid, cook and personal assistant. Return
DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson
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