In a Lonely Place (1950)

In a Lonely Place is a 1950 film noir directed by Nicholas Ray, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, produced for Bogart's Santana Productions. The script was adapted by Edmund North from the 1947 novel of the same name by Dorothy B. Hughes.

Bogart stars as Dixon Steele, a troubled screenwriter suspected of murder. Grahame co-stars as Laurel Gray, a neighbor who falls under his spell. Beyond its surface plot of confused identity and tormented love, the story is a mordant comment on Hollywood mores and the pitfalls of celebrity and near-celebrity, like two other American films released that same year, Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and Joseph Mankiewicz's All About Eve.

Although lesser known than his other work, Bogart's performance is considered by many critics to be among his finest and the film's reputation has grown over time along with Ray's.

It is now considered a classic film noir, as evidenced by its inclusion on the Time magazine "All-Time 100 List" as well as Slant Magazine's 100 Essential Films. In 2007, In a Lonely Place was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Synopsis

Dixon "Dix" Steele (Humphrey Bogart) is a down-on-his-luck Hollywood screenwriter who has not had a hit "since before the war." While driving to meet his agent, Mel Lippman (Art Smith), at a nightclub, Dix's explosive temper is revealed at a stoplight along the way in a confrontation with another motorist that almost becomes violent.

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