Humphrey Bogart Movie:

Editorial Review:
One of Humphrey Bogart's finest performances dominates this unusual 1950 film noir, which focuses less on the murder mystery at the center of its plot than on the investigation's devastating effect on a fragile romance. For Bogart, already a noir icon, the Andrew Solt script afforded an opportunity to explore a more complex and contradictory role--an antiheroic persona in line with the actor's most accomplished and absorbing triumphs throughout his career.

For maverick director Nicholas Ray, the film posed the challenge of taking crime dramas beyond their usual formulas and into a more mature realm, as well as a chance to cast a jaundiced eye on the film industry itself. Its protagonist is Dixon Steele, a Hollywood screenwriter with an acerbic wit and a violent temper. Tasked with adapting a bestseller, he meets a hatcheck girl who's read the book, hoping to glean its highlights before writing the script. When she's found murdered, Steele becomes the prime suspect, and a tightening knot of suspicion forms around the writer.

Steele's only, inconclusive witness is a pretty new neighbor, Laurel (Gloria Grahame), and the couple fall in love even as the pressure mounts. At first the new relationship is a tonic to the hard-boiled writer, who plunges into his script with a renewed vigor and discipline. But as the police continue to shadow him, Steele's own penchant for violence erupts against friends, strangers, and even Laurel herself, whose feelings are increasingly eclipsed by suspicion that her lover is a murderer, and fear that he'll harm her.

Bogart conveys Steele's world-weariness and underlying vulnerability, and manages the delicate task of making both his romantic yearning and sudden, murderous rages equally convincing. Ultimately, that performance and Grahame's sympathetic work elevate In a Lonely Place into what has been called "an existential love story" more than a crime drama. --Sam Sutherland

In a Lonely Place [Region 2] Reviews:
so close to a 5 star!
2009-11-18 - Pretty good movie. If you like Bogart this is a must not his best role but one of his better indeed). I didn't really like the actress that played the leading lady though, but she did her job in giving the script the tension needed. I would of liked if Bogart's character Steele would of been isolated a little in the flick (psychically scenes-representing emotional isolation; maybe to make you feel a little sympathy for him becuase after all we dont know if he did it or not, adding another emotional layer for the audience),hence "in a lonely place". Last thought: ole Dix Steele is a prime patient for PTSD therapy, no?

I Lived a Few Weeks While You Loved Me
2009-10-27 - Humphrey Bogart is no hero here. He's a murder suspect. He's alcoholic, violently angry, frustrated, isolated . . . intelligent, fiercely loyal, proud, and longing for connection. This is perhaps his most nuanced, authentic performance, in one of his finest films from a purely artistic point of view. The plot centers around the possibility that he might, in a drunken rage, have killed a hat check girl he took home from a bar. Gloria Grahame plays an attractive neighbor who takes an interest. It's hard to say more without saying too much. You just have to watch it. The acting, script and direction are first-rate while the visual style serves the story effectively. Bogart's own company produced the film, freeing it from the constraints of a studio production. It was and remains unconventional. Not a success in its day or among his most popularly revived films, In a Lonely Place's stature has grown over the years. It stands as a finely-made and engrossing testament to Bogart's commitment to his art. Highly recommended.





Fantastic!
2009-08-26 - I began watching this movie on Turner Classic Movies. I wasn't able to see the end and just had to see the climax! I went online at Amazon to purchase it. I found it a great movie of its era--or any era. Most unusual. Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Graham were both perfect in their starring roles. The other cast members were also excellent. You must see it!

Brilliantly Inverts Noir Convention
2009-08-25 - This is one of my favorite Bogart films, for many of the reasons other reviewers have already mentioned.

What I especially liked was that, from my perspective, Bogart himself plays the femme fatale role, in that it is his dealings with others that lead inexorably to tragedy and/or heartbreak. While his new love and friends and business partners try to save him, his inner demons prevail and nearly bring everyone down in the process.

Also great as a Hollywood-in-the-50s film, this one is recommended.

Intelligent noir
2009-08-23 - The Bottom Line:

If you love the twisted morality and dark shadows of film-noir but are tired of watching private detectives follow convoluted plots, check out In a Lonely Place, a 1950 Bogart picture about a woman who starts to wonder if her boyfriend is capable of murder; with a very good Bogart in the lead and a brief 94-minute running time, In a Lonely Place is a fine example of the genre.

3.5/4