In a Lonely Place

“I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.” There are some films noir that can be equally appreciated as love stories, the more notable examples being Notorious (1946), Moonrise (1948), They Live By Night (1948), and, perhaps the most beloved of all, In a Lonely Place. All the required elements of romance and tension come together beautifully in Nicholas Ray’s film, the story of a volatile Hollywood screenwriter whose neighbor falls in love with him while he’s being investigated as a murder suspect. Circumstantial evidence implicates Dix Steele (Humphrey Bogart) in the killing of pretty, young Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart), who was seen in Steele’s apartment just hours before her corpse was found on the side of the road. The witness? Steele’s neighbor Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame), whose involvement in the case brings her in contact with Steele, who quickly charms her into a relationship. Unfortunately, as Laurel falls deeper in love, she becomes more exposed to Steele’s anger management problems and violent tendencies, which make her begin to doubt his innocence. As Steele senses Laurel pulling away (“I love you but I’m afraid of you,” she tells him), his behavior becomes more erratic until a final confrontation determines their fate. Art Smith plays Steele’s loyal agent Mel Lippman, whose devotion Steele rewards with a punch in the face, and Frank Lovejoy plays Brub Nicolai, Steele’s pal on the police force. Watch for the sudden burst of homoerotic energy when personal masseuse Martha (Ruth Gillette) rubs down a naked Laurel while calling her “angel,” bashing men, and asserting that Laurel would be lost without her (“You don’t have anybody else”).