In a Lonely Place (1950) ***1/2

 Release Date: May, 17, 1950

Running Time: 94 minutes

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Martha Stewart

Directed by: Nicholas Ray

Humphrey Bogart proves that if anyone can make such a despicable character likable he can. That is a battle any seasoned actor would struggle with when tasked to play the role of Dixon Steele, a screenwriter struggling to write a hit film while simultaneously battling a raging temper that can turn deadly at any moment. Also, there is a romance involved, just to make things even more interesting.

Dixon hasn’t had a hit film in years, something that his agent reminds him at every turn. However, Dixon also refuses to take a sure-fire hit, adapting a best selling novel, because he doesn’t want to follow the one requirement stipulated with that assignment, remain faithful to the book. A young woman, the hat-check girl at the restaurant Dixon is dining in, Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart), has read most of the copy on the book and, with Dixon’s invitation, accompanies him to his apartment with the intention of walking him through the story. Afterwards she leaves on her own only to turn up murdered later that same night. The prime suspect is Dixon but his neighbor, Laurel (Gloria Grahame), saw the girl leave while Dixon stayed at home, providing him with a solid enough alibi to keep him from being arrested. A romance blossoms between the two but things soon turn dark as Dixon demonstrates that his temper is hot enough to possibly lead to murder. Soon, Laurel begins to doubt his innocence.

One of In a Lonely Place’s strengths is that it doesn’t tell you who killed the girl until the very end. At no point are we sure Dixon didn’t do it. We believe Laurel’s provided alibi but not that Dixon couldn’t have slipped away unseen and committed the murder anyway. The resolution is not made clear until things are revealed in the last couple of minutes and Bogart does a good job at keeping us guessing. Midway through the film in a fit of rage Bogart sideswipes a car while driving recklessly. When the other driver is acceptably upset with the damage to his vehicle things degenerate to Bogart beating him mercilessly, even to the point of picking up a rock with the intent of bashing the guys head in. Only the cries of Bogart’s passenger stop him from doing it. There is no question that he is capable of murder in the heat of anger. What we aren’t shown is if he could do it dispassionately. 

Bogart doesn’t play Dixon like a man who is innocent of the murder. Quite the opposite in fact. He is friends with one of the officers investigating the crime, Brub Nicolai (Frank Lovejoy), a man whom Dixon served with during the war. Brub invited Dixon over to dinner one evening and the interchange between Dixon, Brub, and Brub’s wife (Jeff Donnell) is chilling as Dixon relays in great detail how the murder could have been done. The scene is disturbing and effective at showing not only how good of an imagination Dixon has but that, alibi or no, he could easily have done it. It is easily one of the best scenes in the whole film. 

The romance between Dixon and Laurel starts to sour as Laurel starts to seriously doubt Dixon’s innocence after the brutal attack on the motorist. She begins to dread seeing him, yet he remains oblivious of this and presses her to marry him. She agrees but makes plans to flee rather than become his bride. Gloria Grahame portrays her uncertainty and fear perfectly which makes the final moments of this film all the more tragic. We feel her pain and fear even as she realizes that whether he is innocent or not he is still a dangerous man. 

In a Lonely Place is an acting powerhouse with tremendous performances by all the leads. It leaves you guessing at every turn without spoiling the surprise until the very last moment. Bogart manages to make Dixon Steele a likable character despite a growing sense of dread as we start to see just what he is capable of. Gloria is shot for shot at his level as the woman who falls in love, then slowly trades that love for fear of the man who is capable of anything. It is a well made film that is riveting from frame one and never lets up until the very end.

The Wagons Roll at Night (1941) **1/2

 Release Date: April 26, 1941

Running Time: 84 minutes

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Albert, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Leslie, Sig Roman

Directed by: Ray Enright

Eddie Albert stars as Matt, a local grocery clerk turned hero, then lion tamer in The Wagons Roll at Night. Pair that with an unscrupulous circus manager played by Humphrey Bogart, a drunken lion tamer incapable of keeping an aggressive lion named Caesar from escaping his cage and terrorizing a mother and infant, and a unconvincing love plot marred by murderous jealousy and you can see why this film doesn’t incite much excitement. 

The story is pretty straight forward. Nick Coster (Humphrey Bogart) owns and manages a circus. Through some carelessness Caesar the lion escapes and manages to enter a grocery store. The clerk on duty, Matt, manages to subdue the beast long enough for him to be recaptured. He is heralded as a hero for this, having also saved the lives of a woman and her infant. The resulting publicity leads Nick to hiring Matt as a new back-up lion tamer banking on the new found fame to draw in audiences. Also, Nick needs someone in the position because the current lion tamer, Hoffman, is an alcoholic and has become unreliable. Hoffman (Sig Roman) takes this personally and sets out to sabotage the new upstart. However Matt does well in the position and Nick fires Hoffman, while keeping Hoffman’s lions.

Hoffman refuses to accept Matt’s apology for taking his job and starts a fight that leaves Hoffman injured by Caesar. Fearing being accused of intentionally injuring Hoffman Matt is taken into hiding from the police by Nick’s girlfriend Flo Lorraine(Sylvia Sidney), to Nick’s family home even though Nick strongly objects to his family intermingling with the circus performers. There Matt meets Nick’s sister Mary and the two fall in love much to Nick’s strong objections. This leads to some clashing between the two men that ultimately turns deadly.

Eddie Albert was a relative newcomer when he starred in this film having hit the scene just three years prior. Even this early in his career he had charisma on screen that would help him become a bona fide star early into the 1940’s. Even so he is a little out of his comfort zone coming across as a little too naive. He would be completely overshadowed by Bogart and Sylvia Sidney were the two not badly miscast in roles outside their wheelhouse. At this point in his career Bogart was still mostly a secondary character actor best at playing gangsters and hoodlums. Here he is supposed to be a businessman running a somewhat successful circus and it never quite clicks. Likewise Sylvia comes across at times like she is in over her head and is never convincing as Nick’s love interest. 

There are plenty of good things to be said about this Stunt work with the lions is mostly convincing for its time, especially in the earlier scenes. The finale is harrowing and well staged if a little hammed up by Bogart’s performance. Eddie Albert is, as always, watchable even as he is a little green around the ears. 

This is an interesting period in Bogart’s career, just a year away from his big breakout in Casablanca. He was already trying to get away from the cliched mobsters he had made a career out of playing in the 30’s so taking a role like this makes sense for him. However he struggles with making it a truly memorable performance that could have elevated him and this film above merely passable entertainment. He would soon find his footing and become the star he is now known for but he wasn’t quite there yet. In the end, The Wagon’s Roll at Night is an average film, forgettable to all but the die hard Bogart or Eddie Albert fans.