Killer inside me
(Warning: details from the novel and film discussed in explicit detail)
Reading Dorothy B. Hughes' 1947 novel In a Lonely Place and watching Nicholas Ray's 1950 adaptation is like experiencing the difference between night and day: Hughes' novel takes place mostly at night it seems, in dense fog; you often confuse the misty Los Angeles evenings for Dix Steele's twilight view--occasionally there's the glare of a passing streetlamp, but it quickly fades into the haze.
Ray's film feels as if it takes place mostly in sunlight; even its interiors radiate the glow of studio kliegs--the film is described as a noir but if we adhere to strict definitions it breaks one rule of noir: not a lot of shadows onscreen. The look of Ray's films can diverge from the norm (see his debut work They Live By Night) but in this case he opts for the standard-issue brightness of a Hollywood production--why?