In A Lonely Place Reviews

It goes up to six stars.

Bogart plays Dix Steel, a jaded Hollywood screenwriter with a mean temper, who gets caught up in a moider. Director Nicholas Ray said of his protagonist 'Every man has within him the seed of his own destruction' and it is classic Noir. Beautifully shot and tragic, it is an existential thriller about a man who can only control his life by sabotaging it. Plus crackling dialogue and great 50's Hollywood characters. Does it get any better?

[Highly rated reviewer]

Bogart at his very best

This film has a very high reputation today as one of the best Hollywood films of the 1950's and one of the best 'noir' films of all time. It was not always so regarded and if you look up the entry in Halliwells you will find that one star is the only acolade it achieves. So who is right? Well, for my money this is certainly the best Bogart performance that I have seen, portraying a complex and flawed figure liable to fits of violence and inner turmoil. And, for the most part, he is well served by Gloria Grahame and the supporting cast. The script is excellent (as far as it goes), the black and white photography compelling and the direction from Nicholas Ray behind the camera is quite wonderful, particularly at illiciting a great performance from his star. For 90 minutes we are held spellbound in the ribbon of dreams (and nightmares) that speed by before us. But, and oh yes there is a but, this is not the incisive dissection of the Hollywood movie machine that some commentators suggest. For a start, and fully in keeping with the spirit of 'film noir', the cast of characters is not large enough. We get little sense of a wider world of Hollywood beyond the concerns of a murder and its aftermath. We get no insight into the movie 'pitch' or the real place of a screenwriter like Bogart's Dixon Steele in the movie machine. We come across one director, one agent and a few actors, one of them a rather stereotyped British alcoholic has-been probably based on John Barrymore. These rather cardboard cut-out characters move the story along with bright, brittle dialogue and little else. So what, you may say, it's still a great movie. And so it is, great 'film noir', not a great film about the world of Hollywood film-making.

Bogie at his best.

A writer with a violent temper and a record of assaulting friend or foe is suspected of murder by everybody.Except his new found love but even she starts geting scared when she sees how nasty he can be.Well written,brilliantly acted fantastic movie.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Nicely noir

Not maybe one of the best known Bogart movies, but a very good one for all that. As hard-boiled screenwriter Dix Steele, his aggression makes us perhaps dislike him, feel a little bit afraid but when his neighbour Laurel Gray – a good strong performance from Gloria Grahame – sees beyond that and falls in love with him, we start to have some sympathy for him. Is he the murderer that the police captain believes him to be, or is he an innocent caught up in someone else’s crime? It does keep you guessing till close to the end but by that time the murder isn’t the most important thing. That’s the relationship between Dix and Laurel and the director handles it very well.

Dull

I read the reviews (Great Film Noir etc.) and was encouraged by these to rent it. . Its not a patch on the 'really' great movies of that era - Double Indemnity and Bogeys other great movies (Big Sleep etc.).

WOW

Humphrey Bogart burns a hole through the screen in one of the most outstanding film noir pictures in cinema history. Murder, love, deceit, violence, brilliant dialogue and stunning ending. Must see!

Typical Bogey

It brought memories flooding back. Not one of Bogey's best, but still right up there compared with today's movies.

Gripping

What you would expect from a bogey film,

gripping stuff a bit slow though.

Typical Bogart Performance

This film held me from start to finish with Bogart's acting at the centre of an otherwise rather average film. The film has been rated very highly by others but I can't agree that this is a classic. I found the ending slightly disappointing but that said, if you like Bogart, you'll definitely enjoy this film

not his best

good but not great. and very dated in the realm of sexual politics.