Humphrey Bogart stars in "In A Lonely Place" (1950)

It's remarkable thinking that In a Lonely Place is 71-years-old this year. The older I get, the older classic Hollywood gets, and yet, many of their films never truly seems to age. They remain timeless, which, unfortunately, is more than can be said of many of our current day films that just sort of swirl down the drain and vanish into the sewers.

Go to my Classic Hollywood page to find all my Classic Hollywood reviews!

Bogart plays Dixon Steele, a screenplay writer in Hollywood, but one with a bit of a mad temper on him, and a propensity to loathe any of the books that directors want to hire him to adapt for the silver screen. One late night, he actually takes a cute little cloakroom girl named Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart) home for no other reason than she has read the book that he's been hired to adapt and he has no interest in reading it. So he brings her home so she can simply give him a rough synopsis of the story. She, of course, is suspicious of him at first, but then settles in eagerly to her storytelling. She finishes and he sends her home, or rather, around the corner to catch a cab, and he goes to bed, after making eye contact with his lovely neighbor across the way, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame).

At 5am that very same morning, he is startled awake by his friend and police officer Brub Nicolai (Frank Lovejoy) who has bad news. Miss Mildred Atkinson has been murdered and Dix is the chief suspect. Except that his neighbor, Laurel, saw Mildred leave, and so now they decide to work together to prove Dix's innocence. Except that, as time progresses, Laurel's faith in him starts to flag. His temper is violent, and he blames everyone but himself for his outbursts. He even frightens Brub's charming wife Sylvia (Jeff Donnell) because there's just something just a little off about him. Is he guilty? Is he innocent? And yet, right now, he's doing the best writing he's done in years on that screenplay simply because he has Laurel in his life. But nothing is ever easy.

Based on a book by Dorothy Hughes, In a Lonely Place is a stupendous venue for Bogart and he really shines in the role of Dixon Steele. The dialogue above is a solid example, a disturbing portent of things to come. The audience wants to like him and believe he's innocent, but he's terrifying all the same.

There is quite a bit of sensuousness to the story, such as the audience is never sure who sleeps where once Laurel and Dix's relationship commences, just as we're not sure if he's actually guilty. But the Hays Code was still in force, and it was part of the Breen era (a nod to PEPS), so they stayed within set boundaries. It was chilling enough with those boundaries in place.

Gloria Grahame is an actress I've never encountered before, and we're lucky to have her because Lauren Bacall was hopeful for the role but she couldn't get out of her contract. Instead, we have a unique pairing of this blonde bombshell type actress possessing some serious acting chops, who did happen to be Director Nicholas Ray's wife but also deserved the role on her merit. 

Here's the scene where Dixon convinces his friend Brub and Brub's wife, Sylvia to act out his imaginings of Mildred's murder. I get goose pimples all up and down my arms from the look in his eyes. The ending of the film is equally powerful, which I won't disclose because, boy, would that be a terrible spoiler to do to a person.

There's a bit part for classic actor Robert Warwick who Bogart met in the 1920s and who he insisted on having a role written for him. Apparently, Warwick was a little down and out at this point, so it warms me to think of Bogart's fondness for the man, and he gave a terrific performance.

Frank Lovejoy is wonderful, as always. I've heard him so many times in the radio series Suspense that he's become like an old friend. And I adored Martha Stewart in the role of the victim. She brought this bubbly, enthusiasm to the story. And of course, Art Smith as Mel Lippman, Dixon Steele's agent. That man is genius with his lines and the freedom to add a tinge of comedy. He strikes me as the type to have an ulcer and play it up for laughs.

But one of the marvelous gems is Hadda Brooks as the nightclub singer. What a gorgeous voice!

In a Lonely Place is currently available in high-quality on Amazon Prime for free streaming or I found it on YouTube while hunting down scene clips. I was enthralled from start to finish by its solid sense of film noir and I commend Director Nicholas Ray for his casting and filmography choices. I also appreciate his re-filming the ending at the last minute so it is not like the original ending or like the book. His reasoning was that he didn't want murder to be the only possible conclusion, and I agree with him. There, you have a small spoiler, but without true specifics.

Another Bogart film to try is The Two Mrs. Carrolls from 1947, another chilling tale. You can find my review for it HERE.