In A Lonely Place

Academy Award winner Humphrey Bogart (Best Actor, <i>The African Queen</i>, 1951) stars as Dixon Steele, a down-on-his-luck studio scribe who reluctantly agrees to adapt a trashy bestseller to the silver screen. Rather than read the book himself, Steele convinces a star-struck hatcheck girl, Mildred Atkinson, to accompany him home and tell him the story in her own words. Later that night, Mildred is found murdered and Steele-who has a history of violent behavior-becomes the prime suspect. Fortunately for him, his sexy neighbor, Laurel Grey (Gloria Grahame)-who is physically attracted to the writer-lies to the police by providing Steele with an air-tight alibi. But is he truly innocent of Mildred's death or is Laurel destined to become the next victim of Steele's violent temper?

a Lonely Place is now recognized as a masterpiece of film noir. Bogart plays embittered writer Dixon Steele, who has a history of violence and becomes a suspect in a murder case at the same time that he falls in love with a failed actress, played by Gloria Grahame. Many Bogart biographers and actress/writer Louise Brooks agree that the role is the closest to Bogart's real self and is considered among his best performances.[94] She wrote that the film “gave him a role that he could play with complexity, because the film character's pride in his art, his selfishness, drunkenness, lack of energy stabbed with lightning strokes of violence were shared by the real Bogart”. The character even mimics some of Bogart's personal habits, including twice ordering Bogart's favorite meal of ham and eggs.