Review of In a Lonely Place (1950) by Jerome C — 07 Jul 2008

If the AFI decides to manage a list of the 100 Boldest Movies, films that take great risks and make choices that make them the powerful little gems that they are, it will be a crime if they don't acknowledge In a Lonely Place. This film was made in 1950, and the first thing it does is make a frustrated, complicated screenwriter out of Humphrey Bogart, the leading action and thriller star of the time, always a cop or a crook in some respect. Then, it does something truly brave for a film in 1950: It sets up all the trappings of a murder mystery and uses those plot points to create a purposefully ambiguous undertone for the story to state something very profound about people judging people. The film's scenes of violence are very sad instances of a character's personal drawbacks and emotional pain. We understand why Bogart loses his temper, and in a silently vindictive way, we enjoy what he's doing, but unlike a tough gangster movie or a cop drama, we hope against it, because we learn to know and like the characters so well that we just know what this uncontrolled rage will lead to.

Everything in the movie is natural. That's its irresistible charm. It lets everything happen the way it truly would. Bogart and Grahame give performances that feel so contemporary, because they transcend the classical stagelike bombast of old film acting. They look, talk and walk like real people, and they are perhaps some of the greatest work by any actors in the 1940s and '50s.

The script comes straight from the heart and draws characters that many, including myself, can relate to, perhaps shamefully, perhaps encouragingly. It's one of the most affecting love stories I've ever seen, and one that's not afraid to take the tough way out of anything.