Synopsis
The Bogart suspense picture with the surprise finish!
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
1950 Directed by Nicholas Ray
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Behind the Mask, Tehlike isareti, В yкромном месте, Nakna nerver, Na usamljenom mestu, Matar ou Não Matar, Vreemde ontmoeting, La muerte en un beso, Διψασμένος για Ηδονή, Manden uden hæmninger, Gudu difang, El derecho de matar, Pustka, Dipsasmenos gia idoni, Hermot pinnalla, No Silêncio da Noite, Late at Night, Paura senza perché
"I was born when she kissed me, I died when she left me, I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
of course, but so many other immortal lines here. one of the rawest films the studio system ever produced.
Scenes from a Noir Marriage
or as Netflix might categorize it: "existential romance"
this is what we talk about when we talk about Bogart.
poor Ray & Grahame... i thought those crazy kids were gonna make it.
5 Reasons why this film is a masterpiece:
1. It's the best film Nicholas Ray ever made; a noir-tinged drama rendered in dark visuals of exhilarating beauty.
2. It showcases probably the greatest performance of Bogie's career as the short-fused screenwriter Dix Steele, a character he imbues with a neurotic edge that is frightening in its intensity.
3. This dialogue: 'I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me'.
4. Gloria Grahame is in it.
5. It just 'is', OK?!
A paranoid phantasmagoria of broken people, shattered Hollywood dreams, violent American character, Bogart and Grahame personals, New Deal and shifting political space of the era, romantic longing cut short. One of the most perfect bad trip movies, probably because it is also one of the most romantic.
"the act of a sick mind with the urge to destroy something young and lovely."
perhaps the most brutal and devastating hollywood break-up film, simultaneously an ostensible murder mystery noir where the answer doesn't bring any relief only more pain and a romance melodrama poisoned with paranoia, violence and self-loathing. a filmmaker and a killer become one and the same because both carry the impulse to take what's in their imagination and bring it into the real, tangible world.
1950. Two genre-defining noirs follow Hollywood's postwar darkness to its logical conclusion by setting their stories among Tinseltown's decayed soul. Sunset Boulevard is one of Billy Wilder's expertly crafted closed loops, a vision of Hollywood as an empire not merely in decline but founded upon an ideal of constant obsolescence, locking its brightest luminaries into grotesqueries of opulent rot as fame left with age. Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place, however, is open-ended, going so far as to abandon its original tidy, if nasty, coda in favor of a grim ambiguity that suggests cycles broken into new and even more terrifying iterations.
Ray films Hollywood not from its rotten core but its desiccated, metaphorical outskirts. It gets underway in a…
I’ve always considered myself more of a Mildred Atkinson than a Laurel Gray—perky, opinionated, and perhaps a bit too earnest. And like Mildred (and Laurel, as it seems), I have an unfortunate knack for finding trouble (ranging from uncommonly bad luck to serious danger); nothing as calamitous as the peril Mildred experienced, but one could say instead of trekking to the taxi stand, I found myself involved with my own Dixon Steele.
Other than Mildred’s innocently effervescent humor, particularly the scene at Dix’s Beverly Hills apartment (in a refreshing, yet brief turn by Martha Stewart), the jokes in In a Lonely Place are imbued with sarcasm and sinister mirth, much like the story’s central figure, screenwriter Dixon Steele (an immortal…
"A good love scene should be about something else besides love. For instance, this one. Me fixing grapefruit. You sitting over there, dopey, half-asleep. Anyone looking at us could tell we're in love."
Dear In a Lonely Place,
Now that we've known each other for quite a while, I would like to ask you: Do you want to marry me? Because you're beautiful, brilliant, funny, mysterious, soulful, emotional and sexy—everything I like in a film, and I fear I cannot live without you anymore, nor do I want to.
Until death do us part?
Anna
Watched last week and forgot to add, looked at my phone a lot but got the gist
Starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, In A Lonely Place is an impressive achievement in the way that it combines it's genres while at the same time investigating a complex psychological character. Director Nicholas Ray together with cinematographer Burnett Guffey strikingly light Bogart’s face in a way that makes him frequently appear to be inhumanly terrible, and Andrew P. Solt’s screenplay of Dorothy B. Hughes' 1947 novel additionally proportions the two leads satisfactorily.
Bogart’s portrayal of the excruciatingly miserable yet agreeable loser Dixon Steele is often humorous as he unhurriedly demonstrates the vast breadth of his characters dark dispositions, and the actor takes delight in the role with a radiant show of perceptible excitement. It's a memorable character with resentment never being far from his surface and gives rise to him being a harmful and hazardous stimulus of vehemence. In a Lonely Place is a fascinatingly perverse murder mystery as well as a romantic drama.
"There's no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality."
Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place is a film that defies easy classification. It's often designated a noir by virtue of its chiaroscuro lighting and its apparent focus on a murder investigation, though these elements encompass only a fraction of the grab-bag of conventions that typify the retroactively constructed genre. In another sense it could be designated a so-called backstage film, though the viewer is only privy to a sliver of the workings of the Hollywood industry (primarily the fashioning of a screenplay and a fair amount of interfacing between a writer and an agent). Perhaps the most befitting way to categorize In a Lonely Place is as an unintentional…
Es difícil valorar brevemente todo lo que hay aquí. Tras acabarla solo pienso en volver a verla, y esto es clave: extraordinaria en todos los sentidos, maravillosa en su profunda amargura. Esa escena en la cocina... obra maestra.
Parts of this movie straight up play out like a horror film. Bogart is absolutely unhinged. By the time the mystery actually gets solved, it doesn't even matter any more.
This film builds its plot perfectly. The events boil until they explode at the climax and we are left feeling helpless as the credits roll. The performances in this are amazing, and you can really tell that these actors dove completely into these roles. A lot of the visual elements don’t do anything more than the average noir film, but they definitely do not take anything away from the film. The sound and the dialogue in this film are unforgettable and will haunt and live with me for much time to come.
This 1950s noir thriller should've clicked for me a lot more than it did. Not to say I didn't enjoy this, as there was lots to live. My biggest gripe is that I didn't feel as invested as I thought I should be, I have no idea why. The acting is stellar, and the ending perfectly captures the film. Might need a re-watch in years to come.
I have a ton of respect for Humphrey Bogart but never really understood him as a romantic lead. Oddly enough, him playing against type as the romantic lead with a hidden dark side WORKED for me.
Streaming on Amazon Prime
I wouldn’t want anyone but you.
Id give ANYTHING to whisper in Humphrey Bogart’s ear!!!
WOW that was drama! The suspense! The chemistry!
New fave! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I love this movie and I love that late in his career Bogart was willing to dive into a character who is so unlikable. We kind of root for him because it is Bogart, but he has a hair trigger temper and as exciting as it may be to be around him at times, we know long term nothing good is going to come from it. As we meet Dix (Bogart) he has just got in a brawl with a director who insulted Dix's washed up, alcoholic actor friend. He has been offered a job and he takes home the restaurant hostess who has just finished reading the book he is supposed to write a script for. He asks for…
Man, Bogart is so great in this noir. Bogie plays Dix Steele (that name!), Hollywood screenwriter and all-around callous asshole, who gets embroiled in a murder investigation when the girl he takes home ends up dead leaving him as the most likely suspect. Bogart is pitch perfect as Steele, he’s charming when he wants to be, and smart, and competent, and even likable (he has plenty of loyal friends who’ll stand for him at his worst), but he’s also something of a monster, with a violent, unpredictable temper and a mean, cold streak - you’re never exactly sure where you stand with him.
All that, plus a little crackling dialogue and a strong supporting performance from Gloria Grahame, even if the direction (from Nicholas Ray no less) is sometimes a bit pedestrian and the score is occasionally offputting. But that finale ...
Imagine the waves this would've made if they'd adapted the the original course of the book. Bogart gives an intense performance, and Grahame's paranoia is palpable throughout.
Hershey 20,912 films
I’m sick of sorting through concerts, series, and other non-movies. Anything with more than 1,000 views on Letterboxd that’s longer…
Hungkat 694 films
Essential movies for lonely people out there (like me) if you want to feel something in this big big world.…
Peter Stanley 1,235 films
All the films from all the editions, including those subsequently removed, presently totalling 1235. An easy way of seeing how…
Dave Vis 250 films
Letterboxd's Top 250 movies, based on the average weighted rating of all Letterboxd users. I removed all stand-up specials, stage…
Tobias Andersen 8,776 films
Rules: Generate a number (from 1 to x) via: www.random.org
See how many number of films there are in the…
Josh 1,392 films
Updated: April 16, 2021 Created: January 13, 2013 View More Lists Follow Me
——————————————————————— CRITERION CHALLENGE 2021 ➔ ———————————————————————
The…
MundoF 13,615 films
It’s an LGBTQ+ world and these are my other LGBTQ+ lists on Letterboxd:
➡️Minor Interest Films: In the Closet: A…
Drew 1,000 films
This is the January 2021 edition of the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? list of the 1,000 greatest films.
Current…
vincent price was 6′4″ 51 films
A year ago I would constantly tell myself I wanted to get into classic films more, but all my attempts…
Jack Moulton 1,497 films
Members Represented: 3,235
It's simple: Post your #1 ever (no runners-up or ties please) in the comments and I'll add…
M 1,001 films
List made from the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. This list just from the 2020 edition,…