Year of Release : 1950 (August) Duration : 1 hour 34 minutes (94 minutes)
Genre: Mystery, Film-noir USA: Not rated TV rating : PG
Production Company : Columbia Pictures
In A Lonely Place – Everybody suspects him because he’s got the ‘killer instinct.’
"Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place is the grayest, most morally ambiguous of film noirs—and arguably the most self-reflexive."
- J. Hoberman
Village Voice
Based on Dorothy B. Hughes’ novel, ‘In A Lonely Place,’ this is a mystery drama by the eminent filmmaker, Nicholas Ray. The film focuses on two principal factors - a murder mystery and a character study. The unexpected final minute surprise paved the way for the popular catchphrase, which was widely used in the publicity posters.
A lonely Hollywood screenwriter, Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart), is suffering from creative fatigue. He gets the job of writing a screenplay based on a useless but best-selling novel. An exhausted man, Steele seeks the help of Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart), a hatcheck girl from a nightclub, to read the book. The next morning, the girl is found brutally murdered and, naturally, Steele is the police’s prime suspect. However, attracted by the charming writer, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame), a neighbour, gives false evidence to the police in favour of Steele. Laurel induces Steele to restart his writing career with renewed vigour and a warm friendship turns into a sweet romance between the two. But, Steele’s unemotional response to the news about the murder and his disreputable past, make the police strongly believe that he is the potential killer. Soon, Laurel also witnesses Steele’s violent behaviour from close quarters and this creates a spark of doubt in her mind too…
Humphrey Bogart, already known as a ‘noir icon’ (mystery movie star), got a wonderful opportunity to explore a more complex and contradictory role.
This movie is listed in the All Time 100 Movies List compiled by the prestigious Time Magazine.
This unusual movie focuses more on the investigation’s devastating effect on a fragile romance than on the murder mystery!
("I was born when you kissed me. I died when you left. I lived a few weeks while you loved me." - Humphrey Bogart to Gloria Grahame)
The romance-tinged dialogues of this movie were hypnotically chanted by the 50’s audience.
Alongside ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ this is one of the earliest attempts ever made in the film industry to portray Hollywood in an unglamorous fashion.
For director Nicholas Ray, the film posed the challenge of taking crime dramas beyond their usual formulas and into a more mature sphere.
Written by Srini