One Paragraph Movie Review: In A Lonely Place

Two hundred and fifty-fourth film: In A Lonely Place, a good, moody, short noir film from 1950 that’s part doomed romance and part murder mystery. A decent way to spend an hour and a half, and an extremely good way to spend the first twenty minutes, where all the good lines are. Set in Hollywood, Bogart as screenwriter Dixon Steele calls a movie director he doesn’t like a ‘popcorn salesman’, and an ex-girlfriend at one point asks him “Do you look down on all women, or just the ones you know?”. That’s some good, solid shade and I am absolutely here for it. This thing loses a little bit of oomph halfway through though, and I found myself missing the snappy dialogue and gruesome crime scene photographs of the first bit, but generally speaking a good yarn with great lighting and blouses I want. Two and a bit dinner party strangles out of five.