In A Lonely Place (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] [1950]

The media could not be loaded.  There are many hidden classics in the noir genre that are waiting to be rediscovered by modern audiences. In a Lonely Place is so contained and concise that it could almost be a stage play, while very nearly being a super-metafictional experience.Bogey plays Dixon Steele (yeah, Dick Steele) a Hollywood screenwriter with a very short temper in need of inspiration and a hit. His latest assignment is to adapt a popular novel but he can't be bothered reading it. Instead he pays a girl to recite the story to him until he gets the gist and can wings it from there. When he sends the girl home she is never seen alive again and Dix is the main suspect.His neighbor Laurel vouches for him, but secretly has doubts about his innocence. They begin a turbulent affair, which is just the inspiration Dix has been looking for and he fires out his script with many changes along the way, though the studio just wanted a straight adaptation. Laurel's suspicion of Dix builds as his rage reaches a critical mass and their relationship begins to buckle under the pressure. This is noir after all. Doom slowly permeates everyone's life and there are never happy endings.The themes of artistic aloneness and alienating Hollywood culture remain timeless to this day. Based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes the first writer of the movie was himself tasked with delivering a straight adaptation but a rewrite deviated from the material and came up with something new. Bogey loved the script and there are many who say that his own propensity for sudden rage made him the perfect actor for the role of Dixon Steele. The acting and connections between the characters give this film a lot of rewatch value. You really get pulled into their world and dark affair. There are a couple of weaknesses though. The score is often intrusive and tonally inappropriate and a few of the sets are disappointingly sparse. It doesn't spoil the atmosphere too much though.In a Lonely Place is most certainly one of my favorite film noirs and will never be lonely sitting on my shelf.The Blu-ray is in very good looking 1.33:1 1080p with LCPM mono sound. From Criterion's own description - "This new 2K digital transfer was created on a Spirit datacine from a new 35mm fine grain master positive made from the original camera negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 35mm soundtrack negative at Chace Audio by Deluxe in Burbank, California, under the direction of Grover Crisp and Bob Simmons. Additional restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX4."There is a commentary by Dana Polan of the BFI, a documentary from 1972 called I'm a Stranger Here Myself featuring a mentally and physically frail Nicolas Ray struggling to finish his last movie with a bunch of college kids, a documentary on Gloria Graham and her very unusual life, a 1948 episode of a radio suspense drama adaptation of In a Lonely Place which sticks closer to the novel, a 2002 documentary hosted by Curtis Hanson (now himself mentally and physically failing much like Nicolas Ray) in which he visits the location of Dixon Steele's apartments and reminisces about his experience watching the movie as a teenager, and a trailer.

One of Humphrey Bogarts best ,and Gloria Grahame is excellent 10 out of 10

Warning: Spoilers ahead. Firstly, the audio and video quality are excellent and the many special features are interesting. However, the film is a complete travesty of an excellent book by Dorothy B Hughes.The book is an engrossing portrait of a psychopathic serial killer (called Dix) who rapes and strangles young women. The film is an indulgent, unconvincing depiction of the director's (Nicholas Ray) marriage break-up. Dix (played by Humphrey Bogart) turns out not to be a killer at all (a last minute alteration made by the director), just someone with anger management issues.At the start of shooting, Nicholas Ray was married to the female lead, Gloria Grahame. By the end of the shoot, they were separated. Interesting as this may have been to Ray, it hardly justifies re-writing the plot of the film. The killer turns out to be someone who hardly features.The performers are excellent so, if you have not read the book, I dare say there is some enjoyment to be derived from the film. But it does not add up to anything more than a piece of personal therapy for Nicholas Ray.

I came to this one later than Bogart's more well known classics such as Casablanca,The Maltese Falcon,The Big Sleep etc. as it's not as well known but this deserves to be ranked up there with any of those.His performances as a hard nosed cynic with a wry humour and well hidden softer side gave him an appeal that made him one of the biggest and most enduring stars of Hollywood's golden years.However,in this film his character has the full-on intensity of a man who is always on the edge of violence that makes for one of the great performances of that or any other era. In a word, superb.Now it's been restored and released on blu ray it's worth every penny to give away your dvd and buy again. And if you don't own it or haven't even seen it then don't hesitate-get it and you won't be disappointed.

One of Bogey's best this although not as well known generally. He holds the screen with is presence very well.Any Bogart fan should have this in collection. The bluray is nicely presented and picture and sound very good indeed.

Bogart thought this film was a failure, but time has proved him wrong! This is a classic film noir, and one of the best films of all time! Bogart and Grahame are superb together, and the rest of the cast is excellent! I have not read the book so I can't make comparisons, but as a film, they don't come much finer than this! It is not only one to watch, but an essential one to keep, since it repays repeated viewings!

Cool noir movie

Humphrey Bogart is great! A classic. The Criterion release is flawless