231. In a Lonely Place (1950)

Directed By Nicholas Ray

Synopsis

Dix takes a girl home to relate to him what happens in some trashy novel that he has to write a film script based on. The girl leaves his apartment and dies later that night. Dix is of course the main suspect. Laurel, a neighbour, states that she saw him after the girl left, and he has an alibi. Dix and Laurel fall in love, and Laurel witnessing Dixes violent temper gets doubts about his innocence. Her paranoia leads her to try to leave him, making him violent towards her... at that moment the phone rings, and the true killer has confessed. It doesn't make a difference to Laura, Dix walks away.

Review

If there is something that can be said about films of the 1950's, it is the fact that they are noticeably more adult than films in the 40's. This is a perfect example of that, and the tendency for navel-gazing emerging out of Hollywood. The last three Hollywood films here have been focused on actors, screenwriters etc.

This is most definitely Bogart's most complex character on screen until now, his portrayal of a basically good guy who is also inexcusably violent is a very believable one. This isn't some one dimensional psycho, he truly loves his girlfriend and his friends, he is a good writer, but he is also violent.

Few films have been so nuanced in their portrayal of a violent characters, Dix is not a monster, he just does monstrous things. The ending of the film is also admirable, Dix couldn't kill Laurel, but Laurel wouldn't just take it in her stride, so Dix catching himself in violence feeling ashamed and leaving, with the notion that he lost everything because of his temper is the only right one. Great film.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The title is also one of the songs on the Smithereens' 1986 debut album, Especially for You. The lyrics include a reference to one of the pivotal lines in the film: "I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me." It is also the title of a 1980 Joy Division song, later re-recorded and released as a B-side to New Order's Ceremony single and was a B-side by Bush. The song "Morning Glory", from Versus' 1998 album Two Cents plus Tax, includes a reference to the film's title in its lyrics, and quotes one of the sentences from the line "I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me." in each of the song's three verses. The country band Rascal Flatts's song "While You Loved Me" is also an homage to the film's signature lines.

Interesting dinner party: