05.05.05
Movie Review: In a Lonely Place (1950)

This look-behind-the-scenes-in-Hollywood makes Sunset Boulevard seem cheerful and upbeat by comparison.

Humphrey Bogart, in what has to be one of his finest and most nuanced performances, plays Dix Steele, a screenwriter who is an anti-social bully and slave to “artistic integrity”. Having not worked on a picture in several years, he’s given the chance to adapt a popular novel, which he doesn’t bother to read, instead bringing home a nightclub hatcheck girl to outline the plot for him. When she turns up murdered the next morning, Dix becomes the number one suspect.

Gloria Grahame (at the height of her Novocaine’d upper lip popularity) plays Laurel, a starlet just past her prime who serves as Dix’s alibi. And of course, they fall in love. The sexuality of their relationship is surprising for the 1950’s- they go from strangers to living out of each others apartments within a matter of days.

Their relationship is very appealing- it humanizes the both of them. Unfortunately, after a relentless police investigation and revelations about Dix’s past, which result in the return of his erratic behavior, the seeds of doubt are sewn in Laurel’s mind about his innocence regarding the murder. Ultimately, the ending is just as sad as the title would suggest.