In A Lonely Place – ‘hedunit?’
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Personally, I find ‘whodunits’ uninteresting by and large. Nicholas Ray’s “In a Lonely Place” starring the great suave Humphrey Bogart is technically a whodunit, but on a lot of levels, it isn’t. It’s more – it is what you would term a ‘hedunit?’ and one of the better thrillers I have seen. Of course, trivially shoving it into the thriller genre wouldn’t be doing justice to the film, which has an original film-noir quality to it – the mood, the story, the lighting and camerawork, even the acting. Made in 1950, it might have been one of the first few films of this genre, at least in the US. And then there are some who would classify it as a Hollywood-on-Hollywood film, referring to its unavoidable self-referencing quality. Like most great films, this one also surfs the loose boundaries between several genres.
The film is about the largely apathetic Hollywood screenwriter Dix Steele – a war veteran, who comes under the police scanner as a suspect in a murder. His beautiful neighbor, who is a struggling actress, proves to be his alibi and they fall in love, which in itself seems like a great achievement for the insecure, egoistic Steele – sharing something with another individual besides himself, even if he dominates the relationship, and in actuality, the only shared entity is his space.
The film opens with Steele’s eyes watching for traffic in the rearview mirror of his car as he drives alone through the infamous Los Angeles traffic – an image of visual contrast – a lonely man in a crowd, and by extension, in his environment – the very plastic Hollywood. This sentiment seems to be carried into the next scene where a boy seeks Steele’s autograph and his friend tells him that he, referring to Steele, is nobody and Humphrey Bogart, with an internal smile, agrees with the boy’s friend. Apart from the apparent humor, the scene underlines Steele’s insecurity. The film is sprinkled with such scenes, like when Steele’s acquaintance Det. Nicolai tells him that he got married, Steele asks him why.
At the beginning of the film, we can see Steele, refusing to sell out to the “popcorn” directors of Hollywood, as he is more interested in creating good, meaningful cinema. He seems headed for a lonely life, much like his drunk friend (and he has very few) – the old Charles, who used to be an actor, and keeps showing up in the film, as if to remind us, the viewers as to what is at stake for Steele. The walls of Steele’s bedroom are also full of portraits of old men, posing alone in profiles.
It is not surprising then that Steele invites a young woman who has read a book that he has to adapt into a screenplay, to his house late one evening. She is very talkative and he soon gets fed up with her. He sends her home after paying her twenty dollars, akin to a customer paying a prostitute for her services. His motive for inviting her in the first place remain unclear to the audience. This is the first in a series of scenes where Ray plants seeds of confusion in the audience’s mind. Even though we have seen the woman leave Steele’s house, we can’t be sure he didn’t murder her.
Steele plays up the mystery with his naïve agent. Is he joking, or is he serious? The cops discuss Steele’s history of violence as the music turns racy. In the middle of the film, Steele and his neighbor go for a drive in an eerily similar setting as one described by the cops for the murder. Steele’s masochistic streak can’t be denied as he proceeds to narrate to Nicolai and his wife how the murder might have taken place. Ray lingers the camera on the horrified couple as we hear Steele’s voice. A harsh streak of light then highlights the gleam in his eyes. This masochism comes through again as he and his neighbor kiss for the first time. Instead of capturing it as a tender moment, Ray chooses to shoot it such that Steele is standing over his neighbor, and his arms are on her neck.
The relationship between Steele and his neighbor is characterized by his domination of her. There is an almost comic scene where she asks him where he’s been, and he asks her to mind her own business. He also belittles her, albeit in a humorous way, in front of the Nicolais. She starts off as a strong character, but as she falls in love with him, she takes on the audience’s POV, just like the Nicolais and Steele’s agent. She apologizes to Mrs. Nicolai on his behalf, even though, he never seems apologetic. Towards the end of the film, Steele swings like a pendulum between sweetness and apathy towards her. Maybe this is the extent of the effect of love on his insecure, troubled self. He fixes her breakfast, and the irony comes through as he tells her that the best love scene in a film is the one where people don’t tell each other how much they love each other.
Ray dollies the camera into his neighbor’s face for a close up as she has to make a decision whether to allay her fears of him being the murderer and marry him or to run away. She is unsure as they kiss in a shot that portrays that emotion very characteristic of the noir genre – doubt. When his agent visits her, you can tell she has made her decision as she stands behind these two potted plants placed next to each other, but at different levels, contrasting the many plants placed next to each other at the same height at the happily married Nicolais. This is also the first time we see a grilled window at her place in the background, even though Steele’s place is full of such structures, imprisoning him there on a level.
The saddest scene in the film occurs in the bathroom of a restaurant after Steele has just struck his father figure – his agent, and he asks him if he is hurt. Bogart’s unspoken pain as they shake hands before parting ways is brilliant. The film works partly because of this and overall Bogart’s ability to portray this duality of emotions without words and using solely those sad, tired eyes. Another scene that comes to mind is the novel hesitation in his otherwise confident gestures, before he goes over to his neighbor’s house for the first time. And then there is the answering of the phone in the climax. Bogart takes his time, prompting us the audience to jump up and want to answer it ourselves. Gloria Grahame, as Steele’s neighbor does a good job in playing the sensual noir woman initially, and then slowly melting under Steele to a weak little thing, before finding courage again.
There is an underlying theme of voyeurism. We first encounter this when the young woman is at Steele’s place and he gazes at his beautiful neighbor as she gazes back. The lovers talk about this when they meet for the first time at the police station. We next see voyeurism in a comic setting as Steele’s agent snoops around his apartment to see if he is working on his script, and is caught by his girlfriend. Part of the reason the film worked for me was that this was film noir, but portrayed in everyday life. Yes, it is shot in high contrast and the shadows are hard and often, but there aren’t too many broad brimmed hats, or veils. The characters wear casual clothing for the most part and yet, this feeling of uneasiness still comes through, because of the acting.
Tags: humphrey bogart, in a lonely place, nicholas ray
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Very well written post. I liked the way you’ve mentioned the camera angles and the mood of the characters. Looks semi-spooky. Should really be worth a watch!!
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