react if she refuses. Mel comes over to celebrate while Dix is away, only to find out that Laurel does not want to go through with the marriage and is making plans to escape to New York. She urges Mel to bring Dix’s completed script to a producer. At a dinner to celebrate the engagement, Dix is annoyed to learn that Mel has submitted his script without his consent. Dix then intercepts a telephone call meant for Laurel at the table, angrily discovering it is Martha and slugging Mel when he tries to intervene. Back at Laurel’s apartment, Dix flies into a rage when he sees that she has removed her engagement ring. After briefly calming down, Dix answers the phone, learning of Laurel’s intended flight to New York. He again becomes violent, almost strangling Laurel before regaining control of himself when the phone rings again. It is Nicolai, who informs Dix and Laurel that Kesler has confessed to Mildred’s murder. However, both Dix and Laurel realise that it is too late to salvage their relationship. Laurel watches in tears as Dix slowly walks away across the courtyard to his apartment. Cast Humphrey Bogart as Dixon Steele Gloria Grahame as Laurel Gray Frank Lovejoy as Det. Sgt. Brub Nicolai Carl Benton Reid as Captain Lochner Art Smith as Mel Lippman Martha Stewart as Mildred Atkinson Jeff Donnell as Sylvia Nicolai Robert Warwick as Charlie Waterman Morris Ankrum as Lloyd Barnes William Ching as Det. Ted Barton Steven Geray as Paul, Headwaiter Hadda Brooks as Singer Jack Reynolds as Henry Kesler Background When Edmund H. North adapted the story, he stuck close to the original source and John Derek was considered for the role of Steele because in the novel the character was much younger. North's treatment was not used. Andrew Solt developed the screenplay with regular input from producer Robert Lord and director Nicholas Ray, and the end result is far different from the source novel. Solt claimed that Bogart loved the script so much that he wanted to make it without revisions – Solt maintains that the final cut is very close to his script – but further research shows that Ray made regular rewrites, some added on the day of shooting. In fact, only four pages of the 140-page script had no revisions. The film was produced by Bogart's Santana Productions company, whose first film was Knock on