WARNING Contains Spoiler! Many postings on this website describe 'In a Lonely Place' as film noir. This particular film does not have any of the criteria that a film of this genre must meet. The plot needs to be intricate as in the Chandler classics 'The Big Sleep' and 'Farewell my Lovely' yet this movie has the simplest and oldest plot known to man - girlfriend sees another man, innocently as it turns out, boyfriend gets jealous and kills girlfriend; the stuff of B-movies. Apart from Bogart this is just a souped-up humdrum B-movie. Additionally some of the acting from the female players Martha Stewart, Jeff Donnell and Gloria Grahame is very poor and fails to convince; I've seen better from local 'rep' players. The producing company was Bogart's own Santana Productions and one wonders how well financed it was as some of the sets look minimalistic and cheap. The film has been described as one of the few giving a rare authentic look at what goes on in Hollywood. Although some scenes are set in a bar frequented by top screenwriter Dix Steele, Bogart, and other Hollywood bigwigs past and present they are merely window dressing. Bogart just plays Bogart. Take out Bogart and you have nothing left. A better casting would have been with B-movie stalwarts Lloyd Nolan and Lynn Bari as the leads. That, together with some adroit editing to reduce the running time, would have produced a better picture. One aspect of the movie that struck me as untypical of Hollywood was the complete absence of guns, even though there are scenes of violence, murder and suicide. An over rated bit of nothing.
Review of In a Lonely Place
