https://i3l m .fun/
https://f a h ras .co .za
https://raud .co .rw/

I first saw "In a Lonely Place" at the 2016 Noir City D.C. film festival where it was introduced by film scholar Foster Hirsch. I had recently read Dorothy Hughes' novel on which the film is loosely based and tried, on first viewing, to relate the film and the book. This is one valuable way of approaching the film but there is much more to it. I learned a lot watching the film again, eight years after first seeing it, here on Archives.

The film operates on many levels, as a crime story, a love story, a picture of the shallowness of Hollywood and more. The film tells of the failed love relationship between a down on his luck Hollywood screenwriter with an explosive temper, Dix Steele, played by Humphrey Bogart and an aspiring minor actress, Laurel Gray, played by Gloria Grahame. The two live in the same Hollywood complex. They meet and become involved when Dix becomes a suspect in the murder of a young woman.

The film tracks the course of the criminal investigation and the course of the relationship between Dix and Laurel as Dix becomes rejuvinated by the relationship and able to put himself into his writing after many years. Laurel, coming off a failed relatonship, thinks she has found love.Gradually, Dix's violent, near psychotic character takes its toll.

The movie is beautifully written and acted and is a character study of Dix and Laurel, shifting in emphasis from one to the other mid-course. The "lonely place" is the human heart with the two protagonists for all the love they may wish to have locked within themselves and unable to get together. The film is sad and tough.

"In a Lonely Place" has become highly regarded both in the large world of film and in film noir. Eddie Muller, the "Czar of Noir" ranks it as no.1 of his "25 noir films that will stand the test of time" and commenting aptly on its "profound darkness of the soul." The movie is on the Film Registry maintained by the Library of Congress and appears on many lists of "great" films. It has been the subject of much critical analysis.

I loved the film when I first saw it years ago but got much more from it when watching it again after many years. It is fortunate to have this film available on Archives.

Robin Friedman

Both Gloria Grahame and Bogart are on top form in this taught melodrama, the pace is good and the viewer is connected more and more with Gloria grahams character and as such never really knows what the truth is till the very end.