In a lonely place

Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart), a neurotic and deeply disturbed screenwriter on the down-hill slide is accused of murdering the hatcheck girl of his favourite hang-out. To his surprise, he is supplied with an alibi by his next door neighbour, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame). Brub Nicholai (Frank Lovejoy), the investigating officer and a former war buddy of Dix, remains unconvinced and exerts pressure on his friend in order to make him crack. Meanwhile, Dixon and Laurel embark on a romance, but the extreme pressure Dixon must endure both from the police and the studios, soon brings out his violent temper. As the romance disintegrates, so too does Dixon’s mental state. During filming Gloria Grahame’s relationship with director Nicholas Ray ended, and many saw in Bogart’s character a reflection of Ray’s own personal turmoils. Bogart himself drew away from the immaculate persona so often used in his previous films to create a flawed and hounded human being. Critical of Hollywood mores (although it was scripted by Andrew Solt, a recent emigre screenwriter who was absolutely charmed by it), the film bears none of the strange fascination for the studio setting contained in an other Hollywood insiders film made the same year: ‘Sunset Boulevard’. Adapted from the novel ‘In a Lonely Place’ by Dorothy B. Hughes. Reference: Bernard Eisenschitz. ‘Nicholas Ray: an American Journey’ Faber and Faber, 1990.