Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Spoiler-free premise
Violent screenwriter Dixon Steele becomes a murder suspect while neighbor Laurel Gray offers an alibi and enters a precarious romance with him.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Hollywood screenwriter Dixon Steele invites a hat-check clerk home to summarize a novel, then becomes the chief suspect when she is killed. Neighbor Laurel Gray confirms the woman left alive and begins a relationship with Dix while doubts about his temper grow.
Why it belongs
In a Lonely Place directs noir inward, with Bogart and Grahame making romantic trust buckle under violence that may not belong to the central mystery.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Humphrey Bogart's wounded Dix makes love and threat occupy the same gesture. Courtyard apartments, police rooms, driving reenactments, typed pages, kitchen shadows, and George Antheil's score keep intimacy under observation.
Major award wins
No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.
Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.
Institutional reference ranks
Sight & Sound211IMDb Top 250—AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score
Great Cinema Master List scores
Greatness8.8
Engagement6.7
Ease7.4
English · Not Rated Narrative Feature Mood: Tense & Absorbing
