To begin with, this had an extremely unfortunate title for the year that it came out. Events of previous years left the public rather depressed and apprehensive of the future, and a phrase "In A Lonely Place" was so overwhelmingly depressing sounding that even Bogart fans stayed away from this one in droves. Nobody wanted to be "in a lonely place" that year, and they sure didn't want to watch a movie about somebody who was.
Of course, the title was a misnomer and wouldn't affect people in this day and age who are hardened to such phrases.
One quote says so very much about the movie and what to expect from it: "I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
Bogar's earlier roles such as Rick Blaine and Sam Spade were undeniably heroes, although with movie character flaws.
Dixon Steele, by contrast, is a controlling, unstable man whose problems are fleshed out or alluded to without apology. Bogart was an actor who inhabited these flawed men he portrayed, men who often bordered on madness. It was so fitting that one of his last roles was in The Caine Mutiny as the captain who finally did more than border on madness.
Anyway, Dix Steele is a much more complex, difficult character and Bogart makes you think he's not acting. Just watch the scene where he's describing how Mildred may have been killed as he insists Det. Nicolai and his wife re-create the killing (in their own home) to be convinced of Bogart's brilliance.
The question in this film is not whether he committed the unspeakable act he's accused of, but only whether he was capable of it.
The characters who Nicholas Ray and screenwriter Andrew Solt give us are terrifically flawed individuals doomed by their own fates. Steele is controlling, paranoid and unabashedly vicious, but Gloria Grahame's character somehow tames him for a brief period.
In a Lonely Place works on many different levels. There's the romance between Dix and Laurel. We also get a scathing look at the superficiality of Hollywood, exemplified by Mildred's moth-like attraction to Steele's "fame" that directly leads to her murder. It's also frequently categorized as film noir, and the murder investigation, with Dix remaining a prime candidate despite Laurel's alibi, is constantly lingering in the background.
Like other great noir protagonists, Dix Steele is unable to overcome his fatal flaw and adapt to the outside world. More atypical is that it's not death or imprisonment that Steele must face, but loneliness after knowing and feeling the happiness that a change of temperament could have yielded.
This is a film I could go on and on and on about, but best that you just see it for yourself.
Of course, the title was a misnomer and wouldn't affect people in this day and age who are hardened to such phrases.
One quote says so very much about the movie and what to expect from it: "I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
Bogar's earlier roles such as Rick Blaine and Sam Spade were undeniably heroes, although with movie character flaws.
Dixon Steele, by contrast, is a controlling, unstable man whose problems are fleshed out or alluded to without apology. Bogart was an actor who inhabited these flawed men he portrayed, men who often bordered on madness. It was so fitting that one of his last roles was in The Caine Mutiny as the captain who finally did more than border on madness.
Anyway, Dix Steele is a much more complex, difficult character and Bogart makes you think he's not acting. Just watch the scene where he's describing how Mildred may have been killed as he insists Det. Nicolai and his wife re-create the killing (in their own home) to be convinced of Bogart's brilliance.
The question in this film is not whether he committed the unspeakable act he's accused of, but only whether he was capable of it.
The characters who Nicholas Ray and screenwriter Andrew Solt give us are terrifically flawed individuals doomed by their own fates. Steele is controlling, paranoid and unabashedly vicious, but Gloria Grahame's character somehow tames him for a brief period.
In a Lonely Place works on many different levels. There's the romance between Dix and Laurel. We also get a scathing look at the superficiality of Hollywood, exemplified by Mildred's moth-like attraction to Steele's "fame" that directly leads to her murder. It's also frequently categorized as film noir, and the murder investigation, with Dix remaining a prime candidate despite Laurel's alibi, is constantly lingering in the background.
Like other great noir protagonists, Dix Steele is unable to overcome his fatal flaw and adapt to the outside world. More atypical is that it's not death or imprisonment that Steele must face, but loneliness after knowing and feeling the happiness that a change of temperament could have yielded.
This is a film I could go on and on and on about, but best that you just see it for yourself.
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