Humphrey Bogart is Dixon Steele, an embittered and washed-up Hollywood screenwriter who pays hat-check girl Mildred Atkinson (Martha Stewart) to help out with a script read-through one night.
When she’s found dead the next morning, Steele comes under suspicion until his actor neighbour, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame), gives him an alibi.
Dix and Laurel fall in love but police suspicion sours the affair, as well as Dix’s violent temper which alarms Laurel.
She agrees to marry him, but after he attacks his agent Mel (Art Smith), she plans to leave him and he attacks her.
Even though the real murderer confesses they split up, their relationship destroyed by Dix’s violence.
The story of a woman slowly coming to suspect that her partner is a murderer harkens back to 1940s melodramas such as Suspicion (1941) and Gaslight (1944), but the way the relationship is depicted here is much more nuanced and adult – more frightening in its barely contained violence.
Film noir isn’t always as dark as it’s cracked up to be, but Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place is one film where the desolation cuts to the bone.
Dixon ‘Dix’ Steele
Humphrey Bogart Laurel Gray
Gloria Grahame Brub Nicolai
Frank Lovejoy Captain Lochner
Carl Benton Reid Mel Lippman
Art Smith Sylvia Nicolai
Jeff Donnell Mildred Atkinson
Martha Stewart Charlie Waterman
Robert Warwick Lloyd Barnes
Morris Ankrum Ted Barton
William Ching Paul
Steven Geray Junior
Lewis Howard Frances Randolph
Alice Talton Effie
Ruth Warren Henry Kesler
Jack Reynolds Martha
Ruth Gillette Dr Richards
David Bond Swan
Guy Beach Mike
Mike Romanoff Joe
Arno Frey
Director
Nicholas Ray
Humphrey Bogart
Gloria Grahame
Frank Lovejoy
Carl Benton Reid
Related Posts
Tommy Steele Story, The (1957) Having learnt to play the guitar while in hospital, Bermondsey boy Tommy Steele discovers his ability as a performer while…
Blue Lamp, The (1950) When veteran London policeman PC George Dixon (Jack Warner) is shot trying to arrest a couple of crooks, new recruit…
Duke Wore Jeans, The (1958) When an aristocratic family hits hard times, they encourage their son Tony (Tommy Steele) to marry a Ruritarian princess (June…
Barefoot Contessa, The (1954) The surface appeal of The Barefoot Contessa is obvious: Ava Gardner at her most glamorous as the rags-to-riches star Maria Vargas alongside…
Untamed Youth (1957) Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson star as hitchhiking chanteuse sisters, Penny and Janey Lowe, who are arrested for vagrancy…
Tommy The Toreador (1959) This lively and enjoyable lightweight musical comedy stars Tommy Steele as a seaman in Spain who takes the place of…
Rock Around The World (1957) This is the story of the early life and rise to fame of Tommy Steele. It has lousy photography and…
African Queen, The (1951) Set in German East Africa at the beginning of World War I this magnificent comedy tells the tale of an…
