In a Lonely Place
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Movie Reviews of In a Lonely Place
Movie Review: "Your Own Worst Enemy"
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a most excellent movie, for any era - and if you are an old movie enthusiast and haven't seen this, it's a rare one in all respects..
"In a Lonely Place" ranks, in my opinion, as one of Bogart's best complex character work after having seen it for the first time not long ago. It's odd that a movie of this magnitude seems to take a lesser position in the press than does "The Maltese Falcon", "To Have and Have Not", which were fine film work to be sure, but the depth of emotion and character portrayal done by Bogie in this movie is simply outstanding, in my view.
Dix Steele is a talented, once powerful but now struggling Hollywood screen writer - whose soul is, indeed, lost in a "lonely place" from which he is powerless to extract himself. Evidence of his personal failures is everywhere; they surround him, follow him. His personality is such that it is easy for even those who know him best to suspect him of murder when a young woman he barely knew turned up dead after being at this apartment under totally benign circumstances.
The story line is truly ahead of it's time; it may even have been one of the first films to address the agony of a mental illness that takes control of a person who in all other respects seems normal until something triggers his violent, suspicious responses all of which seem to be tied to an unwarranted insecurity. Adding to the remarkable insight of this story, he seems to know what his problem is. He even retreats occasionally in the midst of a sudden, uncontrolled outburst as though he recognizes what he is doing; yet it is not enough to save him. He loses his dignity, his pride; and literally all of his relationships to it, including the love and respect of a woman he has waited a lifetime to obtain and who tries to return his love; his entire existence goes down before it. It is painful to watch, and therefore, we are given the stark, "lonely" insight of how it must be to live with it. Perhaps "live through it" each day might be a better choice of words.
Flawlessly written and connected, it keeps the viewer in a state of animated suspense. The love interest is enchantingly portrayed by Gloria Grahame in her heyday, who does a remarkable job as the beautiful, bright and unusual woman living in the same apartment complex who becomes romantically entangled with Dixon; but they are doomed from the beginning; the very mystery that appeals to her finally turns to fear and drives her away from him - even as his own choice of scripted screenplay words eerily forecast the demise of their hopeless love:
"I died when you left me, I lived for a few weeks while you loved me...."
Movie Review: Inside Tinseltown
Summary: 5 Stars
"I used to think that actors made up their own lines" remarks a casual acquaintance. Movie screen-writer Dixon Steele retorts: "When they get to be big stars, they usually do". This 2003 DVD was quietly released in 2003, without any fanfare. There should have been some. Nicholas Ray's powerful direction of 1950's "In A Lonely Place" is a gaunt inspection of "inside Hollywood", complete with ruthless studio bosses, boozy actors on-the-skids, and one motion picture screen-writer who's fed up with it all. Dixon Steele meets a young girl at his favorite restaurant, and invites her home to read a story he's considering adapting for a movie. The girl is pretty, but it's just business to him. She's seen leaving his Hollywood apartment by his quiet neighbor, Laurel. When the girl is found murdered the next day, the police naturally want to talk to the bad-tempered, wild-living Dixon Steele. Did he fly-off-the-handle again, and knock off the girl? Humphrey Bogart stars as Dixon Steele. Flush from success in the late 1940's, Bogart had set-up his own film production company, Santana Productions, and was releasing movies through Columbia. In this period, Santana made three films in a row. Two were real stinkers, but "In A Lonely Place" is now film classic. Humphrey Bogart, still in his prime, had perhaps the role of a lifetime. Yes, he was great in "Casablanca", but here, as Steele, nothing is held back. Like Bogart himself, the character of Steele is acerbic, raw, and violent. A brawler in real life, Bogart wasn't afraid to illuminate his darker side in a gutsy portrayal of a neurotic, almost psychotic reprobate. Ray's direction is flawless, and this is his finest work(It's even better than his marvelous "Rebel Without A Cause"). His wife(at the time) Gloria Grahame co-stars as Laurel, the neighbor. A fine cast includes Robert Warwick, Frank Lovejoy, Morris Ankrum, Myron Healey, and in a small part, Jack Webb. The DVD is spotless, with a Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Extras include "In A Lonely Place Revisited", a featurette on restoration, and a Bogart photo montage. Just a few years later, Bogart's health would decline, and meaty roles would become somewhat rare. But here, just before that happened, is an electrifying performance by a motion picture icon at the top of his game. A quality DVD,a great story, and amazing multi-level theater. I think I'm going to watch it all again.Movie Review: Film Noir + Emotional Depth
Summary: 5 Stars
Nicholas Ray's film noir is a departure for Humphrey Bogart and for the film noir genre itself. Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart), a washed-up screenwriter with a flashpoint temper and a violent streak, is equal parts Rick Blaine and Fred C. Dobbs. Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) is the antithesis of the dumb blonde.
The script by Andrew Solt from Dorothy B. Hughes's novel has all the crisp, Chandleresque dialogue of the best film noir but with an emotional intensity not usually associated with the genre. The film works better as a romance between two damaged people than as a crime drama. George Antheil's score works wonders at underscoring their anguish.
Dix's agent Mel Lippmann (Art Smith) asks the old hack to dinner to consider adapting a Harlequinesque romance novel that hack director Lloyd Barnes (Morris Ankrum) is eager to shoot. On the way to the restaurant Dix nearly gets into a fight with a passing motorist and upon arrival at the bar DOES mix it up with some sonofaproducer who calls Dix's old buddy Charlie (Robert Warwick) the washed-up drunkard actor that he is.
The semiliterate coat check girl Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart) gushes about the novel that Dix is up for adapting, so rather than read it, Dix invites her to his apartment to tell him the story. She has to break a date with her boyfriend to do so but as Dix says, "There's no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality."
When one of Dix's old war-buddies-turned-police-detective Brub Nicolai (Frank Lovejoy) pays Dix a visit at 5 a.m., he thinks it's because the producer's son filed a complaint. He's wrong. The coat check girl has been murdered and thrown in a ditch.
Dix's best defence is new neighbor Laurel Gray who saw the girl leave Dix's apartment alone. Dix falls for Laurel because she has a nice face. But she's a little more cautious.
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.
There are plenty of laughs supplied by Art Smith, Robert Warwick, and Ruth Warren as the cleaning lady who can never get either Dix's or Laurel's apartment clean.
At its core, though, IN A LONELY PLACE is about two lonely people who clearly need but will not allow themselves to have each other.
Movie Review: Much More than just a Disturbing Murder Mystery
Summary: 5 Stars
IN A LONELY PLACE is a brilliant film from director Nicholas Ray. Humphrey Bogart with his usual cragged-faced presence dominates the screen once again. This time he is a man totally introverted and obsessed with some hidden lack of ability to express his own compassion and humanity. Bogart plays an elusive Hollywood screenwriter named Dixon Steele that becomes the focus of a police investigation of a murder in this atmospheric and unsettling film. What makes the film so unsettling is Bogart's performance. He is a very enigmatic, private and tired man who at times seems so detached from reality that it is frightening. Yet Bogart in this role still posses a virile and cynical coolness of style that is so appealing and it is one that only he can pull off with his screen charisma bringing this character to reality and believability. In the film Bogart lives in a complex of courtyard apartments. The police investigation interferes with a relationship that Bogart has with Gloria Grahame who lives in the same complex. Bogart comes to be intrigued (and visa versa) by her and truly falls in love with her. Yet it is the police investigation that continues to intensify Bogart's inner struggle as a human being with his need to love and be loved and escalates his volatile and violent outbursts which confuse and distance Grahame from him.
IN A LONELY PLACE examines such human qualities and frailties of love, trust and loyalty. It explores and exposes the effects of our interpretations, perceptions and misconceptions and ultimately demonstrates that our own human flaws can lead to perpetual loneliness of the heart if left unchecked. IN A LONELY PLACE is an outstanding and important film.
Movie Review: A man lives in it. A girl is found dead in it. A relationship begins in it. (recommended)
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a lonely place in the heart of bipolar screenwriter Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart). He has tried to fill it with booze and by surrounding himself with weak and absolvitory personalities called friends. But the void is still there -- until he is questioned for the murder of a woman he took home the prior evening.
From the opening scene, it is apparent that Dixon has a temper. Frequently, his extended fingers are around someone's neck, fists are pummeling someone's face, or his sharp tongue is cutting someone's dignity. The lengthy assault rap sheet makes him prime suspect in the murder investigation. His insolent attitude doesn't win any mercy.
Fortunately, an airtight alibi walks out of the interrogation room and into his lonely place. "I was born when she kissed me." Neighbor Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) elevates him from his writer's rut and inspires hope and joy. Initially blind to his imperfections, she begins to have second thoughts about the whirlwind relationship after Dixon erupts into a volcano before her very eyes. Then she begins to fear for her own life.
Leaving a volatile and possessive Dixon is not as easy as hopping on the next plane. "I died when she left me" is a line from his most recent script inspired by the love of his life. "I lived a few weeks while she loved me," the quote continues. Will the two find happiness in marriage or will she be found strangled in A LONELY PLACE like the girl before her?
Movie quote: "Do you look down on all women or just the ones you know?"