Film Review: In a Lonely Place

Nicholas Ray’s classic piece of film noir in which Humphrey Bogart plays a heavy drinking, brawling and tormented screenwriter, who becomes implicated in a murder charge. While under suspicion, he gets embroiled with a Hollywood star (Gloria Grahame). There was some speculation that the central relationship between Bogart and Grahame reflected Ray’s own disintegrating marriage with the star.

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith

Directed by: Nicholas Ray

Runtime: 94 minutes

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

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REVIEW: IN A LONELY PLACE 

Nicholas Ray’s classic film noir is about screenwriter Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart) who has something of a bad temper and is not unfamiliar with violence. Meeting with his agent, Mel Lippman (Art Smith), Dix is persuaded to adapt a book for the big screen and is told to go home and read it. Dix invites a hat-check girl Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart) home with him to summarise the story and save him reading it. Arriving home, Dix and Mildred pass a neighbour, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) before Mildred summarises the book in Dix’s apartment. He gives her money for a cab home as he is too tired to drive her himself. The next day police detective Brub Nicholai (Frank Lovejoy) takes Dix downtown for questioning by Captain Lochner (Carl Benton Reid) after Mildred is found murdered with Dix being the prime suspect. Dix’s neighbour, Laurel, confirms the girl did leave Dix’s apartment alive and her alibi seems enough to satisfy the police. Dix and Laurel get to know one another in the aftermath but the closer they get, the more Laurel starts to doubt Dix’s innocence.

The film initially seemed more akin to a comedy with Bogart’s sardonic exchanges with Stewart being particularly amusing. Dix is a volatile customer when provoked and displays his violent tendencies before and after Mildred’s murder. Under questioning, he is cool but seems to show an absence of concern and emotion. Getting to know Laurel, Dix is soon in love and it seems a story of true romance will run a smooth course but Laurel becomes suspicious and with the police still sniffing around for clues, Dix becomes irritable and paranoid. Will his relationship with Laurel survive? Is Dix innocent or guilty of the murder?

I thoroughly enjoyed In a Lonely Place. Bogart is fabulous in the lead role, his performance rivalling his iconic appearance in Casablanca. Grahame is equally good as the love-struck but suspicious Laurel. The film will keep you guessing right up until the conclusion. The ending is the film’s high point though, filled with surprise and tragedy, it leaves a bitter taste but the overall experience is an unmissable one.

In a Lonely Place is a well-scripted, brilliantly acted film noir that deserves the acclaim it has built up over time. Bogart and Grahame are a wonderful pairing and the combination of romance and dark thriller bounce off each other well. The unexpected ending is the perfect way to round off this masterpiece.

Verdict: 5/5