it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This is an outstanding film. It is well directed, and the cat is given an excellent script.Martha Stewart had very few film roles, but makes the most of a few brief moments with Bogie before her murder. That crime then dominates the entire film plot, with Grahame even questioning who done it? Watch for a young James Arness in the police station as a sort of junior officer serving coffee, housekeeping, and doing other chores.Jeff Donnell is very effective as an actress in this one too. She is a detectives wife who is busy analyzing Bogart and Grahame. Bogart is really a character here, violent and uncontrolled at times, and always in a hurry. Why the speed? Watch the movie to find out.The leading cast is so good, that you have to watch intently to pick up on clues leading to the surprise at the end.

In a Lonely Place is one of the two successful movies produced by Santana Productions, company owned by Bogart himself and named after his yacht. Humphrey appears in a role of down-on-luck screenwriter Dixon Steele who struggles to write a good script. Without saying anything else that might be considered a spoiler, his acting was highly praised by back-then movie critics and is considered as one of his best movies ever made. I personally don't agree with these critics and found his acting a bit .. weird, maybe because he was visibly getting old and his wild lifestyle started to take its toll on him.What is also important to mention is how did Gloria Grahame get the main role (which later become one of her finest ever)? Well, Laurel Gray was initially supposed to be portrayed by Humphrey's wife (and fine actress indeed) Lauren Bacall but she was contracted to Warner Bros and they decided to not release her of their contract for the movie produced by independent Santana Productions in a fear of becoming a threat to their monopoly. The second option was casting Ginger Rogers (the big star of 30's and 40's) but director Nicholas Ray stepped in and decided to cast his own wife - Gloria Grahame. That later turned out to be one of the few good decisions he has made in regard to this movie. Despite the Gloria's fine acting, her marriage with Ray was deteriorating, ending up with Ray catching Gloria in bed with his 13 year old son.. well, she sure was a man- eater, lol.At last but not least, we have to compare the final version with its novel predecessor by Dorothy Hughes. In a novel, Dixon Steele is only pretending to be a screenwriter, in fact he is just living lavish lifestyle thanks to money from his rich uncle. He is also helping his friend Det. Stg. Brub track a serial killer and is later exposed that the serial killer is no one else but Steele himself. All this that happened in a novel did not happen in a movie itself so if you haven't watch the movie yet, don't worry - the story is a bit different. Writer Hughes describes Steele as a violent psycho and misogynist (back then wide known American social issue) and who knows, maybe Humphrey didn't have to play this part much ;) The ending itself was also changed (thank you Ray!) and in my personal opinion that affected the movie in not exactly favorable way. I won't describe the different but let's say that tragic ending would suit the whole movie better.To sum this up, movie is definitely worth watching. Besides Gloria Grahame, I'd like to point out fine acting of Frank Lovejoy and Martha Stewart whose presence I enjoyed a lot. Altogether 85%.

Speaking as a Bogart fan, this movie just didn't click for me, and I'm not going to blame the leading male for its serious flaws and weaknesses. I found it ironic that the story revolved around a Hollywood screenwriter who was grappling with a script because this script must have involved quite a bit of struggling, possibly from a lack of inspiration on the part of the writer.Bogart aside, I have seen Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, and Art Smith in other films, and they were much better in them. In Grahame's case, perhaps it was the collapse of her marriage to Director Nicholas Ray that seriously weakened her lackluster performance here, but it could have been the very poor, lethargic script as well. Art Smith as the prison physician in "Brute Force" demonstrated how well he can do in much better circumstances.Very rarely do I appreciate Hollywood films about Hollywood. They always seem self-absorbed to me as someone who is 3,000 miles away from the place, not only physically but culturally. Perhaps I am incapable of understanding the occupational hazards and tribulations of Hollywood folks during the often difficult process of film making. I have yet to reach a conclusion about this. The jury is still out.For me, the film opens well and finishes on a dramatically compelling and thought provoking note, but I found it very tiresome for at least an hour in between. In my view, the actors were emotionally detached from their characters, most likely as the result of a limp script that, for the most part, lacked energy. Maybe if Bogie took that carefully carved grapefruit and smashed it into Graham's face or threw a pot of hot coffee at her, I would have been jolted out of my yawning listlessness. At any rate, I found this film to be extremely overrated and at or very near the bottom of my Bogart movie list.

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.