In A Lonely Place movie storyline. Screenwriter Dixon Steele, faced with the odious task of scripting a trashy bestseller, has hat-check girl Mildred Atkinson tell him the story in her own words. Later that night, Mildred is murdered and Steele is a prime suspect; his record of belligerence when angry and his macabre sense of humor tell against him. Fortunately, lovely neighbor Laurel Gray gives him an alibi. Laurel proves to be just what Steele needed, and their friendship ripens into love. Will suspicion, doubt, and Steele’s inner demons come between them?
In a Lonely Place is a 1950 film noir directed by Nicholas Ray[2] and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, produced for Bogart’s Santana Productions. The script was written by Andrew Solt from Edmund North’s adaptation of Dorothy B. Hughes’ 1947 novel of the same name.
Bogart stars as Dixon Steele, a troubled screenwriter suspected of murder, and Grahame co-stars as Laurel Gray, a neighbor who falls under his spell. Beyond its surface plot of confused identity and tormented love, the story is a mordant comment on Hollywood mores and the pitfalls of celebrity and near-celebrity, similar to two other American films released that same year, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ All About Eve.
Although lesser known than his other work, Bogart’s performance is considered by many critics to be among his finest and the film’s reputation has grown over time along with Ray’s. It is now considered a classic film noir, as evidenced by its inclusion on the Time “All-Time 100 List” as well as Slant Magazine’s “100 Essential Films.” In 2007, In a Lonely Place was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
In A Lonely Place (1950)
Directed by: Nicholas Ray
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith, Jeff Donnell, Martha Stewart, Robert Warwick, Morris Ankrum, Steven Geray, Hadda Brooks, William Ching
Screenplay by: Andrew Solt
Cinematography by: Burnett Guffey
Film Editing by: Viola Lawrence
Costume Design by: Jean Louis
Set Decoration by: William Kiernan
Art Direction by: Robert Peterson
Music by: George Antheil
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: May 17, 1950
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