IN A LONELY PLACE

1950/ Director: Nicholas Ray/ Writers:Dorothy B. Hughes (story), Edmund H. North (adaptation)

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith, Jeff Donnell, Martha Stewart

It has been said that the character of “Dix” Dixon Steele in Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place comes closer to conveying Bogey’s real character than any other of his film roles. Steele is a once successful screen writer who has not had a hit in years and now is cynical and inclined to drink heavily and sulk. His disposition is moody and prone to violence. It is a small wonder that he becomes the main suspect when a young girl is found murdered after she spent her last night alive at his apartment reading a book meant for adaptation. Steele is so burned out and bitter at the shallow movie industry that made him a celebrity he cannot even read the book himself.

Gloria Grahame plays Steele’s neighbor Laurel and she is drawn into his cynical charm easily as they spare back and forth with witty barbs and jabs. As the film develops she becomes more and more aware of Steele’s very dangerous side and soon begins to wonder if he is in fact the killer or not. Steele seems to take delight in giving confusing information to the cops who he sees as unable to solve the matter alone, at one point over dinner with a cop buddy reinacting the way the murder may have taken place with sadist relish.

Obviously Steele is a troubled man with a history of violence and we find out a history woman beating as well. He is soon irrationally jealous and suspicious of Laurel and the tensions gets more severe as she tries to get away secretly. The movie ends with Steele being cleared of the charges but losing Laurel because of his own possessiveness and violence. Originally Ray and screenwriter Andrew Solt had Steele murder Laurel in a rage at the same time he is cleared of the murder he was suspected of originally. Ray saw this as simply too nihilistic and felt marriages and relationships could end on some less solemn note. Interestingly during production Ray and his wife, Gloria Grahame herself, were as privately as possible ending their rocky marriage. Ray often slept on the sofa in the studio office and a contract was written up stipulating what duties, and what duties only, Mrs. Grahame were responsible for while on the set in the presence of her director husband. Who knows if this real life drama had any influence on the hastily improvised ending Ray suddenly felt compelled to add on even after the more tragic ending had been shot and approved.

The film was produced for Bogart’s Santana Productions at a time when the big film studios began to see independent studios as threats to their power. It is a fine performance by Bogart. He is funny, brooding and menacing. Some of the dialog and interchanges seem a little over the top at times but they are all the more engaging for that reason. I tend to like the types of performances given in older films though they seem exaggerated by todays post method acting standards. It is considered a film noir classic though it is hard to really fit into a niche neatly. Didn’t fare too well at the box office but has become a cult classic by virtue of its quality alone. And aren’t those the best kind of movies anyway? Ones that bomb and get no awards when they are released but get all the respect they deserve day in and day out for decades. The film has since justly received all the honors it deserves including one of the highest any film can receive… a haphazard review here on my measly blog.

A SELECTION OF QUOTES FROM A LONELY PLACE. ALL QUOTES FROM IMDB.

Mildred Atkinson: Before I started to go to work at Paul’s, I used to think that actors made up their own lines.
Dixon Steele: When they get to be big stars, they usually do.

Sylvia Nicolai: Well, he’s exciting because he isn’t quite normal.

Brub Nicolai: Maybe us cops could use some of that brand of abnormality. I learned more about this case in five minutes from him than I did from all of our photographs, tire prints and investigations.
Dixon Steele: Nobody can call me the things he did.

Laurel Gray: A blind, knuckle-headed squirrel. That’s REAL bad.

Dixon Steele: There’s no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality.

Dixon Steele: I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.
[last lines]

Laurel Gray: [tearfully] I lived a few weeks while you loved me. Goodbye, Dix.
Frances Randolph: Remember how I used to read to you?

Dixon Steele: Uh huh. Since then, I’ve learned to read by myself.
Dixon Steele: Go ahead and get some sleep and we’ll have dinner together tonight.

Laurel Gray: We’ll have dinner tonight. But not together.
Dixon Steele: It was his story against mine, but of course, I told my story better.

Mel Lippmann: What does it matter what I think? I’m the guy who tried to talk Selznick out of doing “Gone with the Wind”!
Actress in Convertible: Dix Steele ! How are you? Don’t you remember me?
Dixon Steele: Sorry, can’t say that I do.
Actress in Convertible: You wrote the last picture I did… at Columbia

Dixon Steele: Oh, I make it a point to never see pictures I write.
[referring to the book Dixon is supposed to adapt into a screenplay]
Mildred Atkinson: Oh I think it’ll make a dreamy picture, Mr. Steele. What I call an epic.
Dixon Steele: And what do you call an epic?
Mildred Atkinson: Well, you know - a picture that’s REAL long and has lots of things going on.

Capt. Lochner: Why didn’t you call for a cab? Isn’t that what a gentleman usually does under the circumstances?
Dixon Steele: Oh I didn’t say I was a gentleman. I said I was tired.

Mildred Atkinson: It must be WONDERFUL to be a writer!
Dixon Steele: [sarcastically] Oh, thrilling!

Capt. Lochner: [Dixon has replied with sarcasm to Lochner's questions] You’re told that the girl you were with last night was found in Benedict Canyon, murdered. Dumped from a moving car. What’s your reaction? Shock? Horror? Sympathy? No - just petulance at being questioned. A couple of feeble jokes. You puzzle me, Mr. Steele.
Dixon Steele: Well, I grant you, the jokes could’ve been better, but I don’t see why the rest should worry you - that is, unless you plan to arrest me on lack of emotion.

Dixon Steele: [noting the geography of their apartments] You know, Ms. Gray, you’re one up on me - you can see into my apartment but I can’t see into yours.
Laurel Gray: I promise you, I won’t take advantage of it.
Dixon Steele: [wryly] I would, if it were the other way around.

Capt. Lochner: Considering that you’ve never met Mr. Steele, you pay quite a bit of attention to him.
Laurel Gray: Hmm-hmm. I have at that.
Capt. Lochner: Do you usually give such attention to your neighbors?
Laurel Gray: No.
Capt. Lochner: Were you interested in Mr. Steele because he’s a celebrity?
Laurel Gray: No, not at all. I noticed him because he looked interesting - I like his face.

Brub Nicolai: You know, I got married.
Dixon Steele: Why?
Brub Nicolai: Oh, I don’t know. I guess she had a couple of bucks to spare.

Dixon Steele: [to Laurel] I’ve been looking for someone a long time… I didn’t know her name or where she lived - I’d never seen her before. A girl was killed, and because of that, I found what I was looking for. Now I know your name, where you live, and how you look.

Laurel Gray: [on a scene in Dix's script] I love the love scene - it’s very good.
Dixon Steele: Well that’s because they’re not always telling each other how much in love they are. A good love scene should be about something else besides love. For instance, this one. Me fixing grapefruit. You sitting over there, dopey, half-asleep. Anyone looking at us could tell we’re in love.

Dixon Steele: Anything you want to make you happy?
Laurel Gray: [whispers into his ear] I wouldn’t want anyone but you.

Dixon Steele: You know, you’re out of your mind - how can anyone like a face like this? Look at it…
[leans in for a kiss]
Laurel Gray: I said I liked it - I didn’t say I wanted to kiss it.

Dixon Steele: You annoy me!
Laurel Gray: If I do, it isn’t intentional.

Capt. Lochner: I didn’t expect you to give me more information… but certain facts contradict your original statement.
Laurel Gray: [flatly] I wish you’d say what you mean.
Capt. Lochner: Yes, let’s do that. On the night of the Atkinson murder, you looked at Dixon Steele and said you didn’t know him.
Laurel Gray: I didn’t.
Capt. Lochner: Since then, you and he have been inseparable.
Laurel Gray: He’s writing a script. I’m doing the typing.
Capt. Lochner: Do you receive a salary for this?
Laurel Gray: No. I’m doing it for love.
Capt. Lochner: [surprised] Are you in love with Mr. Steele?
Laurel Gray: For the record, I am in love with Mr. Steele.
Capt. Lochner: Are you going to be married?
Laurel Gray: [pause] If we do, I’ll send you an invitation - after all, it was you who first introduced us to each other.

Dixon Steele: Oh, I love a picnic. Acres and acres of sand and all of it in your food.
Laurel Gray: Stop griping. Just lie still and inhale.
Dixon Steele: What, sand?
Laurel Gray: No, air - and don’t let it go to your head.

Laurel Gray: [to Capt. Lochner] Yesterday, this would’ve meant so much to us. Now it doesn’t matter… it doesn’t matter at all.

Dixon Steele: You know, when you first walked into the police station, I said to myself, “There she is - the one that’s different. She’s not coy or cute or corny. She’s a good guy - I’m glad she’s on my side. She speaks her mind and she knows what she wants.”
Laurel Gray: Thank you, sir. But let me add: I also know what I don’t want - and I don’t want to be rushed.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 3:03 pm and is filed under Crime-Film Noir, Cult Films and Oddities, Drama . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.