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By PAUL BRENNER
"I was born when she kissed. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while
she loved me." These are the lines signaling hope and hopelessness in Nicholas
Ray's emotional rollercoaster ride "In a Lonely Place" -- now available in a
crisply restored version from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.
Humphrey Bogart is the screenwriter on the skids -- but still "an exciting guy"
-- who becomes the chief suspect in a brutal Hollywood murder. Bogart, as the
aptly named Dix Steele, is a hard-as-nails cynic whose disdain attracts the
female denizens of Paul's Bar. Gloria Grahame is the bottom-feeder starlet who
provides his alibi and eventually the inspiration that sparks his finest work,
but almost causes her own demise. Cops amass a bevy of circumstantial against
Dix in the grand tradition of HUAC, complete with an old pal-turned-cop as an
informer. Under the masterful direction of Ray, they people a gripping drama
that explores the tensions of a love stretched to the breaking point by doubts
and suspicions.
Special features include a documentary on the film, hosted by director Curtis
Hanson; a featurette on the restoration process; "The Bogart Collection" (a
series of posters and lobby cards from Bogart's Santana Productions at
Columbia); and trailers for "In a Lonely Place," "The Lady From Shaghai," and
"The Big Heat." |
