“When I close my eyes, I see this thing, a sign, I see this name in bright blue neon lights with a purple outline. And this name is so bright and so sharp that the sign – it just blows up because the name is so powerful… It says, Dix Steele.”
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
In a Lonely Place is a 1950 American film noir directed by Nicholas Ray[2] and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, produced for Bogart’s Santana Productions. The script was written by Andrew P. Solt from Edmund H. North’s adaptation of Dorothy B. Hughes‘ 1947 novel of the same name.[3]
Bogart stars as Dixon (Dix) Steele, a troubled, violence-prone screenwriter suspected of murder. Grahame co-stars as Laurel Gray, a lonely 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, similar to two other American films released that same year, Billy Wilder‘s Sunset Boulevard and Joseph L. Mankiewicz‘s All About Eve.[4]
Although less famous 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.[5] It is now considered one of the best films noir of all time, as evidenced by its inclusion on the Time “All-Time 100 Movies” list[6] and Slant Magazine‘s “100 Essential Films”,[7] and it is ranked number one on Slant’s “The 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time”.[8] The BBC ranked it number 89 in their list of the 100 greatest American films of all time.[9] 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.”[10][11]
Hollywood Noir… I liked this, but I need a rewatch as well. Bogart is great. His character’s name is Dix Steele. Amazing name. Makes you want to drink and smoke. It’s a little longer than 90 minutes so perfect run time in my mind. That’s it. That’s the review.