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"In a Lonely Place" by Dorothy B. Hughes----Ever read it?

I just finished the novel "In a Lonely Place," source material for the film by Nicholas Ray with Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame.

Wow! The book was really good, an inside the head view of a psycho killer, written by a woman. And while the film is also good and considered one of the best upscale film noir examples from the '50s---the movie is different from the book in plot, motivation and details. Only a few aspects of the novel are evident in the movie: character names, a WWII fighter pilot background for Dix and the cop who was once in his platoon, the cop's wife (but they cast someone very different from the wife's description), and a couple other things.

Dix Steele in the novel is irredeemable. He's a Tom Ripley before Tom Ripley, living in another guy's apartment, wearing his clothes, driving his car, telling everyone Mel has gone to Rio...He quickly becomes obsessed with his neighbor, Laurel Gray. She likes him, but not as much as he likes her, and she is quickly suspicious because she knew Mel and his going to Rio is weird. Inside, Dix seethes with resentment against women, his uncle who only gives him $250 a month to live on, and anyone who he perceives to be wealthy and living a life of leisure. He is a terrible person and I can understand why the studio, producers, director and Bogart himself would recoil from playing such an awful guy.

And thus, the script is created using tiny nuggets of the original source material, to make Dix Steele a character people could maybe sympathize with, and to not alienate too many fans who prefer him as a hero.

Anyone familiar with both the novel and the film? What do you think?

by Anonymousreply 30April 20, 2021 4:36 PM

Never read the book but I like the movie. It sounds like a remake staying closer to the source material could be good.

by Anonymousreply 1March 7, 2021 3:58 PM

Hi R1---Yes, at this point we're used to antihero protagonists in tv and movies. A guy as deeply horrible as Dix Steele is common now, Travis Bickle, Walter White, Tony Soprano, Dexter, and on a smaller scale, Nurse Jackie and Don Draper and hundreds more.

I'd like to see if filmed in the same period with the same type of Spanish patio apartments and desolate beaches, little drive ins and diners.

Now I'm going to think about who should be cast as per the book's descriptions.

by Anonymousreply 2March 7, 2021 5:36 PM

Yes, recently!

I'm reading another book by Hughes now, The So Blue Marble, her first book, published in 1941. It's not very good and I wouldn't recommend it.

But apparently her best work is her last, The Expendable Man (1963). I'm anxious to read that next.

by Anonymousreply 3March 7, 2021 6:21 PM

I loved The So Blue Marble, it is part of that genre of the 1930s and 40s that could be called "screwball mysteries". Writers like Frederic Brown, Craig Rice, Roger Shattuck (a female writer's nom de plume, as was 'Craig Rice'), Frank Gruber, Stuart Palmer, Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Jonathan Latimer, and others. A number of B movies were made from their works in the 40s and 50s. Ride the Pink Horse and Fallen Sparrow by Hughes were both made into good movies.

by Anonymousreply 4March 7, 2021 6:32 PM

^ Perhaps The So Blue Marble holds up as an example of the screwball mystery genre. But compared to In A Lonely Place, it leaves much to be desired.

by Anonymousreply 5March 8, 2021 3:43 PM

I read the book last year and loved it.

by Anonymousreply 6March 8, 2021 3:48 PM

Never read anything by her but have seen the movies of In A Lonely Place, Ride The Pink Horse (starring/directed by Robert Montgomery ) (which I recommend, it's really good), and The Fallen Sparrow. I have heard about the differences between film and book re IALP. The book sounds good.

by Anonymousreply 7March 8, 2021 4:37 PM

I'm going to check this book out. I haven't ready very many of the, but I've been interested in reading those hard-boiled noirs from the 1940s and 1950s.

by Anonymousreply 8March 9, 2021 5:07 AM

R8~~~I am dropping off my copy today at the Park Branch library, you can scoop it up this afternoon.

R3---I have the Expendable Man on hold

R7--I am going to look for the Pink Horse movie. Will also put this novel on hold

by Anonymousreply 9March 9, 2021 4:52 PM

Has anyone read the other books in this box set? My library doesn't have In A Lonely Place 😡 (thank you OP), but I am intrigued by this box set of Women Crime Writers from the 1940s.

It contains: Laura by Vera Caspary, The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis, The Blank Wall by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding and, OF COURSE, In a Lonely Place.

I've seen the movie Laura, but I'm not familiar with the other two books in the set? Have any of you read them

There's also a set from the 1950s that I'm curious about. That set contains: Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong, Beast in View by Margaret Millar, The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith, and Fools' Gold by Dolores Hitchens. I'm not familiar with those books either, thoughts?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 10March 9, 2021 6:32 PM

R10----Oooh I've read The Blunderer! I went on a real Patricia Highsmith binge some years back and read everything in the library I could. There was also a few Iris Murdock books I enjoyed that had similarities to PH and DBH---the sort of random encounters that led to groups of friends infiltrated by the stranger, dramatic intrigues, same and opposite sex affairs, more crossed paths, involvement in crimes including murder, lives crumbling in the cascade of events that follow, desperate reactions. I like these seemingly nice, middle to upperclass people exposing their underbellies and being drawn into crime.

I was looking at 30s--50s women crime author collections online th other day, may go back look for the ones you mentioned. Are they box sets or omnibus style in onne book?

by Anonymousreply 11March 9, 2021 7:49 PM

The film slyly alludes to its divergence from Dorothy Hughes' book by having Dix Steele write a screenplay based on a novel that he never reads. The LOA collection is a treasure. In the biographical material, it states that Hughes was an accomplished poet. The economy of her writing reflects this.

by Anonymousreply 12March 9, 2021 7:56 PM

Very interesting. I love the movie but now I'll have to check out the book and the author's other works.

by Anonymousreply 13March 9, 2021 8:01 PM

Haha, R12, that's a really good point. In the novel, Dix can't be bothered to write, that's just his grift to work Uncle Fergus for a monthly stipend. In the movie, he can't be bothered to read the source material for his screen play.

DBH is a master of terse prose. She had a pattern of leaving out certain words so sentences would be minimal. One of the ways she reminded me of PH was the way she'd repeat certain phases/ideas. For Dix, 9 out of 10 times he took a shot of booze, "...he didn't want it...". In PH novels, people are always eating scrambled eggs and several characters have more than a passing interest in snails.

by Anonymousreply 14March 9, 2021 8:06 PM

There's a podcast devoted to "noir, hardboiled and detective fiction" called Point Blank.

Here's part 1 of their episode on Hughes's In a Lonely Place, where they also discuss alcoholism in detective fiction.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 15March 9, 2021 8:32 PM

R15~~~THANK YOU!

by Anonymousreply 16March 9, 2021 11:11 PM

^ You're welcome. I'm glad you started this thread.

[Quote] ...There was also a few Iris Murdock books I enjoyed that had similarities to PH and DBH...

Do you remember the titles? I want to add them to my reading list.

I love dark psychological fiction.

by Anonymousreply 17March 9, 2021 11:36 PM

Dorothy Hughes fans must read THE EXPENDABLE MAN. It has one of the cleverest literary tricks ever written and you won't see it coming. Any other fans of the book here, please don't give it away!

INA LONELY PLACE is ripe for a film remake. So much about the underbelly of post-WWII Hollywood that wasn't really of interest to the original film makers. Lots of great roles for character actors.

by Anonymousreply 18March 9, 2021 11:45 PM

R18 I agree, I think that these novels have such an interesting character to them that would be great for a filmmaker who'd really want to sink their teeth into the era.

Speaking of noir remakes, I am slightly curious about Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Nightmare Alley. I've never read the book, but I've just ordered a copy and I'm quite looking forward to it. I've heard that it's a lot darker than the film adaptation starring Tyrone Power, as one would expect.

by Anonymousreply 19March 10, 2021 3:54 AM

"There's also a set from the 1950s that I'm curious about. That set contains: Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong, Beast in View by Margaret Millar, The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith, and Fools' Gold by Dolores Hitchens. I'm not familiar with those books either, thoughts?"

The Blunderer is great. I recommend it. Beast in View is supposed to be very good but I haven't read it yet.

by Anonymousreply 20March 10, 2021 3:59 AM

R10 I read "The Horizontal Man" by Helen Eustis. It was a real disappointment, with a twist that is too easy to predict early on.

by Anonymousreply 21March 10, 2021 6:15 AM

I decided to not get the Women's Crime Writers set after all, because it's not currently available at any book store (even Amazon) that I can order from. So I ordered In A Lonely Place separately (I also ordered Leave Her to Heaven, which was 50% off, but that's neither here nor there. My copy has just shipped, I am excited to get it.

Thanks, OP!!

by Anonymousreply 22March 13, 2021 4:19 PM

The Expendable Man is fantastic.

I will not reveal the famous twist, but it really makes the reader question their standard operating assumptions. I do not think I ever felt so implicated by any book.

by Anonymousreply 23March 13, 2021 4:47 PM

It took a long time to get it from the library but I am now in the middle of "The Expendable Man" and it is so good! Really a short, tight, all around great story that is still relevant! How has it not yet been made into a film?

The first part can be from the perspective of Hugh seeing the world as he travels, then when the story shifts, the viewer sees the whole picture and how society falls apart.

I want to see this!

by Anonymousreply 24April 20, 2021 3:04 PM

"Expendable Man" is only available from my library as an e-Book. I only have a laptop computer -- is it possible to download and read an e-Book on that, or would I need a Kindle or the like?

by Anonymousreply 25April 20, 2021 4:04 PM

Try searching this site called Scribd, you can get a free trial. It may be on there.

by Anonymousreply 26April 20, 2021 4:06 PM

No luck, R26 -- thanks anyhow.

by Anonymousreply 27April 20, 2021 4:14 PM

R25/27 Check with your library about doing a download. SFPL also has this thing called hoopla which seems to expand the availability of materials.

by Anonymousreply 28April 20, 2021 4:17 PM

I read In a Lonely Place a loong time ago, thanks for reminding me of Hughes! Also, to everyone else, I'm going to read all the recommendations. Wonderful topic, thanks!

by Anonymousreply 29April 20, 2021 4:33 PM

Also, I just downloaded "Expendable Man" on kindle for $3.99. My podunk library didn't have it.

by Anonymousreply 30April 20, 2021 4:36 PM
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