In a Lonely Place

In a Lonely Place, featuring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, takes place during the Hollywood era of the 1950s.  Dixon “Dix” Steele was a famous screenwriter, but is somewhat washed up.  As he tries to find another inspiration, he invites Mildred Atkinson, an innocent energetic coat-check girl at his favorite bar, to come to his house to tell him potential plots.  Dix becomes tired and sends Mildred home.  Shockingly, Mildred’s body was found discarded over an embankment that same night.  Unfortunately for Dix, there are no suspects besides him for this murder.  While there is a heightened suspicion and uneasiness, Dix’s alibi and neighbor, Laurel Gray, begins to spend more time with Dix.  Laurel is an aspiring actress herself and desires to be with Dix.  Laurel and Dix seem to complement each other.  Laurel trusts that Dix was not involved and eventually begins to care for him in a wife role.  Their friendship develops into romance and eventually they become engaged a couple of years later.  During their supposed happiest times, the detectives contact Laurel and inspire doubt regarding Dix’s innocence.  Laurel pushes them aside and devotes herself to Dix.  However, could Laurel be marrying a violent murderer and be the next victim of Dix’s aggressive rages or will she take everybody’s advice and leave Dix?

The reason this movie falls under "film noir" was not obvious to me until halfway through the middle.  Of course this movie has elements of "typical old Hollywood" (either people working in the film making industry or related to it), but more than that, this film possesses a somewhat disturbing eerie sense.  Not all film noir movies have this element, but the general creepy feeling comes from the shadows (mostly the dark contrast to the light), the moral ambiguity of the characters (who is innocent and who is guilty of the murder), and the regular surprises in the plot (somebody usually has a dirty little secret that is revealed).  This movie has these elements which allows it to fall into the "film noir" category; however, In a Lonely Place does not revolve around a detective nor does it have a typical femme fatale.... or does it?