Orson-1 Like many 50's films these days, all Hitchcock for example, this film's reputation, for some reason, has overshot reality.Sunset Boulevard, released in the same year, is a much better film. It doesn't go out of its way to be different for difference's sake, as this does. Lonely Place is less than the sum of it's parts and the parts ain't very good. A slightly better than average film.I would suggest watching Beat The Devil right afterward to get this film's turgid taste out of your mind.

elvircorhodzic IN A LONELY PLACE is a film in which the action takes place in two apartments and a picturesque courtyard. The paradox in the title of the film is excellent. Souls are lonely. Incapable of changing and incapable of love. The mystery surrounding the murder of a young girl is a certain kind of trial for the main protagonists.Angry and aggressive writer who lives at the expense of success in the past and lawfully but very clever actress connects a murder mystery. Both of them are in some way involved and carry a certain burden. They fall in love and problems arise when the burden should be divided. I think they are both burned in their own idealism. The story can be viewed as a mystery, and the main male character as an enigma. Although, I can easily say that this is a character who has a problem with a lack of understanding and control of emotions. This is certainly not a heartbreaking love story but a classic noir attitude of a man with a dark place in his soul and a woman who at all costs trying to heal him. The main male character becomes a victim of its nature, the main female character are the victim of his self-esteem.Humphrey Bogart as Dixon Steele just plays well sensitive characters. At this point I would like that fact attributed experience. Characters that are not true heroes, with the specific style and tone. They are appealing and interesting, but often persecuted and sinful. Sometimes guided by greed and lust.Gloria Grahame as Laurel Gray is a change in man. A woman who can change the human temperament. Her self-esteem and fear they create an alarm that was waking up from a fairy tale in the real world close to a nightmare.This film is born and dies in a few weeks of love.

Leofwine_draca IN A LONELY PLACE is a brilliant little film but also one that's difficult to sit through because the central story is so damned depressing. This has to be one of the bleakest-ever film noirs to come out of Hollywood; it's a film so dark that it feels incredible it ever got made, with the central thrust of the tale building up to a powerhouse climax which is a near-perfect culmination of everything that's built up to that point.I'm amused to think of theatregoers heading off to see this film expecting a typical romance between big movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Graham. What a shock they must have been in for! Both actors act their socks off throughout, although it's Bogart who gets all the plaudits for playing such a complicated and unpleasant character.The central narrative is a murder mystery in which the authorities suspect Bogart of committing a crime but don't have the evidence to convict him of it. It doesn't help that Bogart plays a violent man given to violent acts throughout the movie. The screenplay keeps you guessing as to his guilt right until the end, and it's never less than well directed throughout. I thought the supporting cast were a little weak here, but when so much of the focus is on Bogart and Grahame, it doesn't really matter.

Richard E. Boardman I just finished reading the Dorothy Hughes' novel which this movie was named after and which it supposedly was based. I had not seen the movie so I rented it from iTunes right after putting down the book. I must say I enjoyed them both but also discovered they had almost nothing in common. Okay there was an LA apartment in both of them. The movie uses many of the names from the book but the personalities and roles are completely different. I knew the endings were quite different (i.e. the protagonist is guilty in one and innocent in the other) but I thought there might be one line of dialog taken from the book. No, not one line that I could tell. That aside, the movie should be judged on it's own merits and the acting and directing are excellent. I love seeing the old L.A. scenes. The plot is dated in that it is way more tolerant of male spousal abuse than you would ever see today. The ending in the movie seems to imply that the big breakup was all due to a misunderstanding over the false accusations against Bogie's character Dix. By today's standards leading lady Laurel had more than enough reason to give Dix his walking papers way earlier than she did. I think as a viewer I was supposed to be hoping they would patch things up and get together but I found myself yelling at Laurel, "Get the hell out. Now!!! You don't have to put up with that s***." And I'm a guy. Bottom line: although the book is a bit better, read it AND see the movie. They are two very different animals.