In a Lonely Place (1950)
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In a Lonely Place Movie Review
In a Lonely Place is a 1950 noir film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. It is a pretty good noir, though far from great.
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“I lived a few weeks while you loved me. Goodbye, Dix“
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It follows a screenwriter with violent tendencies. When he is suspected of murdering a girl, his neighbor saves him and the two start dating, but eventually she starts suspecting him as well. Now this is so obviously more a romance film in a way than a noir picture. That’s because the film lacks those noir thrills and is never truly dangerous or atmospheric.
It is a love story, but a doomed love story. It explores celebrity life, violent characters and dark relationships really well. It gives us a terrific relationship between the two characters and such a powerful ending. But I never really suspected him to be a murderer and thus the entire movie was very expected in almost every plot point and not particularly intriguing.
What In a Lonely Place does best is the characterization because its two characters are both superbly developed. And I loved the almost sole emphasis on just the two of them alone as that led to their stronger relationship. Dixon is a very interesting, realistic character and highly complex. And Laurel is highly sympathetic and likable, though I did wonder why they portrayed her at first almost as a femme fatale and eventually entirely got rid of that.
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Humphrey Bogart is reportedly a similar person himself as the character who he played here. If that’s the fact, then he is very unlikable as is his character. However, that led to a better performance from him as he found himself in the role and thus gave a complex, emotional performance that ranks among his best works.
But Gloria Grahame shouldn’t be forgotten as she mostly is not talked about enough in reviews, but in my opinion is even better and more memorable than Bogart himself. That’s because she also fitted the role so well and she did give one truly fantastic performance and especially in her more subtle and moving scenes she excelled.
In a Lonely Place is well directed by Nicholas Ray and mostly very well paced. I found the first half a bit too long and I would have likened more if the two met and started dating sooner. But still the movie is very engaging to watch and very effective in emotion particularly.
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It also has reliably terrific dialogue and I did like those long conversations the most. I loved how subtly and realistically both characters and actors acted and thus their relationship felt quite real and all the more powerful. The cinematography and score are also very strong, but I just wish that the film was more surprising and atmospheric.
In a Lonely Place needed more thrills and it is entirely predictable. It is more of a doomed romance film than true noir. But it succeeds in its romance as it is so subtly depicted, both characters are so well developed and the performances from Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame are both fantastic, ranking as some of their best works.
